I don't doubt that the post office is causing some of Gamefly's problems. That doesn't explain why it took 4 days to send me a new game once I'd received notification that they had received my return. And this was during a trial membership, during which time you'd think they'd be trying to impress me in order to get me to continue with them.

I didn't.

No one would ever get a game and claim it was lost ... Naw

Makes sense, the Netflix/Blockbuster mailers are pretty obvious but at most its a $30 Blu-Ray disk. If the Gamefly ones are as obvious then there is real incentive since the games cost on average $50-$60.

@jonthomasdesigns:
Sure it happens, but pretty much you get one and after that they won't let it slide.

@MMD

From what I understand, this is because they don't have nearly as many distro centers as netflix. According to GF my nearest shipping facility is in austin, over 1000 miles. They also like to send out e-mails asking how long it took for games to come in/out. I don't really mind the long ship times since I usually hang onto a game longer than I would a movie.

@YardanCabaret: Plus there is a nice market for used games. Just take the disc to gamestop and make a few easy bux. Not so much for used DVDs.

"Nineteen USPS employees were also arrested for theft."

Unfortunately, much of what is impressed upon us as citizens regarding mail theft is a bunch of baloney. USPS workers get caught stealing mail and about all that happens is they get fired and get probation. Obviously, a criminal record is nothing to sneeze at, but one would thing these people would be behind bars.

GameFly actually canceled my membership when they failed to receive three games I had returned over a one-year period. In comparison, their competitor, Games'n'Flix, would regularly "receive" games that I hadn't yet returned and send me a new game. If only I had known that the USPS was to blame. Postal employees stealing mail! I'm shocked!

This really isn't that surprising. When Netflix started, they were constantly working with USPS to catch the hundreds of USPS workers who thought "Mmmm, free movies!"

Gamefly has a long slog ahead of them.

I bet that's what happened to the games I ordered with my free trial. The first game showed up broken, and it took almost 2 weeks for the replacement to get to me. I don't understand how they can stay in business.

@jonthomasdesigns: that's pretty irrelevant with regards to the article. The fact remains that, although Gamefly and the USPS worked in concert to determine what was actually going on with Gamefly's product, USPS has been unsuccessful in solving (or at least mitigating) the problem. Customer theft has nothing to do with it in this case - USPS employees themselves are the ones doing the thieving.

I believe it. A while back I got a letter from the DOJ stating that they had found either a GameFly or Netflix disc at a ladies house that was stealing from the post office (she was a worker there). The letter stated "GameFly or Netflix" because apparently they found a lot of both there, and I just happened to be a member of both services at the time.

The letter informed me of when the trial dates were and I could attend if I wanted. I didnt since the trial was in California, and i live in Oklahoma.

@jonthomasdesigns: ...yeah, except for this part: "Gamefly games were still broken in the process. Nineteen USPS employees were also arrested for theft."

Call me crazy, but it seems like the days of mailing physical media around as a business model are numbered.

@PSN: kingpsyz: I received two copies of Bioshock for Xbox 360 from GameFly when I reported that I never received the game. The first one showed up a few days after I notified them about it and the second a few days after that. The report was filed one week after they said they sent it to me.

So either the first copy got lost and found its way to me after I reported it or their system somehow glitched and I got two games sent out.

Either way, while I like the service for its cheap used games and ability to rent games, I do not like how damn long it takes to get a game in. I added Bioshock to my Queue in June 2007, in the number one slot, and it took until April 2008 to actually receive it. Of course, I did receive other games in the meantime, but you'd think that I would have been able to get the game, which came out in either late August or early September 2007, a helluva lot sooner than that.

That issue, along with slow shipping and receiving severely scratched and damaged games from their "Store" is why I am no longer a member.

@tc4b: Tell me about it - if Netflix offered their entire stock on the instant queue, I would never order another DVD in the mail again

@tc4b:

As long as there's DRM encumbering digital media, physical media will be necessary.

@Yokai Monsters Spook Warfare: they'd need to support OSX first. If they made all their stuff instant queue and no mailing I'd have to cancel my membership.

I currently have Gamefly and am going to cancel this week. They are painfully slow in shipping and game availability is terrible. At one point they tried to accuse me of keeping a game and threatened to charge me for it but then it must have showed up because nothing ever happened. I've had it for 6 months now and have not been sent a game under a year old. 18 of my top 20 in queue have "low availability" and have for a couple months now. I'm just going to start buying used from Blockbuster. Plus a new mom and pop video game rental place just opened up near me. If you rent a game then decide you want to buy it, you just have to call them and they deduct the rental fee off the cost...pretty cool.

It's absolutely true. I had multiple problems when I tried out the GameFly program. There was one time where I didn't receive a game when I expected to so I let GF know. Days later, the envelope suddenly shows up in my mailbox, opened up, missing the game disc. They had a rubber band around the two pieces of the envelope.

Another time, GameFly never received a game I sent in. It was ridiculous. I would never use an online game rental service again because I do not want to be accused of stealing games.

@vladthepaler:

As long as ISPs have download limits, physical media will be necessary.

I never understood why services like Netflix and GameFly never use nondescript mailers; similar to what the credit card companies do when they mail out cards.

@MMD: I enjoyed Gamefly somewhat in 2005, but the fact that they only had ONE shipping center in Los Angles (and I lived on the Atlantic coast at the time) meant it took FOREVER for games to transit.

How about putting the shipping center in the MIDDLE of the country?

@tc4b: Not so long as ISPs get their way and bandwidth caps become the norm.

@Odiase: Credit card company letters are nondescript? Hehe... You can easily tell, its almost too plain...

@lannister80: I am a fan of gamefly, but if the post office was doing their job a lot better, I think both your issue and MMD's would have been solved.

Let's be very specific here - Gamefly is not a competitor with Netflix just like Safeway isn't a competitor with Lowes.

@twophrasebark:

Behind bars?

It's misdemeanor theft. Now, surely there is a federal law being violated, probably bumping it to a felony, that still doesn't change that it is, in essence, a misdemeanor offense.

Do you really want to send people to jail for stealing a $50 game?

45 day sentence, suspended. If even that. Sometimes bad, doesn't necessarily require jail.

@Odiase: Regardless of what they look like, if every Netflix or Gamefly mailer looks the same, potential thieves will figure it out pretty quickly.

@junip: Not a big concern for them. That would be, what? 0.5% of their userbase?

I think my mail people have stolen mail. I have an apartment locked box and several of my magazines don't get to me. Anyways the USPS tested by sending out 3 letters at different times and I was to tell them when I got them. Of cource I got them because they had something about USPS fraud on the front of the envelope.

@MMD: "According to the complaint, the investigation also found that competitors Blockbuster and Netflix DVDs were manually removed from bulk mail and not processed through machines. This led to the company's allegations of discriminatory treatment."

That seems like a very legitimate complaint. It would appear the USPS knows their machines break discs and for some reason are purposely running gamefly mail through the machines while manually sorting discs from other companies to prevent broken discs.

@tc4b: Don't underestimate the bandwidth of a mail truck full of DVDs.

Even if they switch to instant-view for all DVD movies, who has the bandwidth to download a blu-ray movie in a reasonable amount of time?

All good points, and I see the problems, I guess I was speaking more globally, like, that's the way things seem to be trending. Don't listen to me though, I'm so oldfashioned I get my movies from the Library, on VHS sometimes.

@Keavy_Rain:
same reasons I quit

@MMD: My average for getting a game is 8-15 days. As a comparison, it take 3 days for a letter to get from my parents in New York, to our Mailbox in Oregon, between both Eugene, and Portland. Not in the middle of nowhere.

It's crap service, but a better selection then local stores. I've cancelled, or changed my membership plan a few times. I hate them so much. I don't know why I keep using them.

I shipping center in L.A. isn't enough to cover all of the west coast.

@Corporate_guy: Sure, I do think that complaint is legitimate. It still doesn't solve everything, though. 4 days turnaround *once they'd actually received my disc* (not 4 days before I received the disc - 4 days before they actually mailed me one!) is glacially slow and can't be blamed on the post office.

@YardanCabaret: And Gamefly mailers are pretty obvious...

[onlinevideogamerental.info]

@Conrad:
I have a gamefly account.

Even with the slow delivery, it still saved me a ton on money on video games last year.

GTA4? Glad I rented it. I was done with it and tired of shlepping Roman around after about 8 days.

@junip: They do support OSX now. I stream on my MacBook with no problem.

@Radi0logy: A big enough concern that streaming works on OS X now...

@GTI2.0: No, but the similarities in product delivery are undeniable. When a customer is used to Netflix, then tries Gamefly, there's going to be a built expectation that they work the same way.

@corinthos: That's some genius detective work on the USPS's part.

/sarcasm

@Farquar:

"Do you really want to send people to jail for stealing a $50 game?"

No. I want them to go to jail for stealing my mail.

You don't think there's a difference between someone stealing your mail and, say, shoplifting a $50 game?

The USPS does have shady employees. I didn't receive my games or my Netflix movies a few times and went through reporting procedures. I was kinda scared because I was hoping Gamefly/Netflix wouldn't think I was the culprit. Come to find out, a postal employee was stealing the whole time and got caught. I got a notice in the mail stating this.

@corinthos: LOL. That's so USPS.

It was 2 weeks for me to get one game. That was after it took them 5 days to process my return. That doesn't fall just on the shoulders of the post office. The game itself was so badly scratched, my 360 wouldn't play it! I sent it back and reported it but it took another 8-9 days. For me 4 weeks is too damn long to wait, especially a game that slipped their "quality assurance".

Maybe the post office is slacking, maybe not. My experience is that GF needs revamped.

@MMD: Specifically, Netflix supports streaming on Intel-based macs, but not on the older PowerPC-based macs. Microsoft hasn't released a version of the Silverlight plugin for PowerPC.

@tc4b:

Not until the console producers stop using physical media as the primary means for use. According to most, the next gen consoles won't be here until after 2012. I'd say Gamefly has a while left since I doubt Sony, MS, and Nintendo, all known for their love of DRM, will be switching to a different delivery system for the majority of content any time soon.