What did a Netflix rental cost in 1998?
Netflix opened on April 14, 1998, describing itself as the first internet store for DVD rentals. The catalog held 925 titles, which at the time was close to every DVD released in the United States.
The pricing looked nothing like the flat fee people remember. A seven day rental ran $4 for each of the first two discs, with delivery charged at $2 for the first disc and $1 for each additional disc in the same order. Late fees applied.
The first disc the company ever mailed had gone out a month earlier, on March 10, 1998, and it was Beetlejuice. Netflix repeated that detail in 2023 when it published the history of the service.
The flat monthly subscription with no due dates and no late fees arrived the following year, and that is the model that broke the video store. Blockbuster turned down the chance to buy the company in 2000, a decision that reads worse with every passing year.
By the end, the red and white envelope was the part of Netflix people were sentimental about. Not the queue, not the star ratings, not the recommendation engine.
How big did the red envelope business get?
Netflix shipped 5.2 billion discs in the United States over the 25 year run of the service, a total the company published when it announced the closure in 2023.
The subscriber peak sits in Netflix's own filings rather than in press coverage. The Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 reported 13.93 million domestic DVD subscriptions. The mail business never got larger than that.
At that size the operation was a logistics company wearing a movie company's name. Discs moved through regional centers timed around first class mail, which is how a disc dropped in a mailbox on Monday could be swapped for the next title in the queue within a couple of days.
The most rented title across the whole 25 years was The Blind Side, the 2009 Sandra Bullock film, which Netflix confirmed when it released its all time rental list in 2023.
Discs also paid for the pivot. While the streaming library was still thin and the licensing deals were still small, the envelopes were the part of the company that made money.
Why Qwikster broke the DVD business in 2011
In July 2011 Netflix split the combined plan that cost $9.99 a month into two separate plans at $7.99 each, one for streaming and one for discs. Anyone who wanted both went from $9.99 to $15.98.
The reaction was immediate and loud. On September 18, 2011, Reed Hastings, then chief executive, published an apology that opened with "I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation."
In the same message he announced that the DVD half would be spun out under a new name, Qwikster, with its own website and its own queue. Subscribers would have kept two accounts, two ratings histories and two credit card charges.
Netflix dropped the Qwikster plan within a month but kept the price split. Domestic DVD subscriptions never recovered. The 13.93 million on the books at the end of September 2011 was the high water mark, and the count fell in every year that followed.
The episode is still taught as a case study in how a company can lose customers while solving none of the problems they actually raised.
What did Netflix say when it pulled the plug?
Netflix announced the end on April 18, 2023, alongside its first quarter results. Co-chief executive Ted Sarandos framed it as a service problem rather than a money problem: "Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that's going to become increasingly difficult."
The money made the case regardless. The DVD business took in $145.7 million in 2022, down 20 percent from the year before, and that was roughly 0.5 percent of everything Netflix collected that year.
The company called 2023 the final season of DVD.com and kept shipping for another five months so subscribers could work through their queues before the doors closed.
Streaming accounts were untouched. Households that paid for both a streaming plan and a disc plan simply lost the disc half, and the streaming side carried on billing as normal.
What was in the last red envelope?
The final discs went into the mail on September 29, 2023. Netflix said the last one was a Blu-ray of True Grit, the 2010 Coen brothers western.
The send off was unusually generous for a shutdown. Subscribers who opted into what Netflix called the finale surprise were mailed up to 10 extra discs pulled at random from their own queues, and nobody was billed for keeping them.
Returns were accepted until October 27, 2023, but returning anything was optional. Millions of discs that had spent years cycling between strangers stayed wherever they last landed.
DVD subscriptions were cancelled automatically on the final shipping date, so no subscriber had to remember to close an account or fight a renewal.
It was a softer ending than physical rental usually gets. Redbox kiosks went dark in July 2024 in the middle of a Chapter 7 liquidation, with no farewell and no free discs.
Is the Netflix DVD service coming back in 2026?
No. DVD.com has been closed since September 29, 2023, Netflix has announced no plan to restart it, and nothing in the three years since suggests the company wants back into shipping and warehousing.
What replaced it is partly streaming and partly nothing at all. Streaming rights expire and discs do not, so the disc library held thousands of older, foreign and out of print titles that are now on no service anywhere. Anyone who used DVD.com as a film school has noticed.
Rental by mail did not die with Netflix, though it is a cottage industry now. Small operators still run the flat envelope model with no due dates, GameFly still mails games, and public libraries lend DVDs and Blu-rays free with a library card. Mail order media has a habit of hanging on: Columbia House kept taking orders until 2026.
Where to find one today: the discs themselves are worth almost nothing, so the collectible is the envelope. Original red mailers, disc sleeves and DVD.com promotional items turn up in ephemera shops, and Etsy sellers list them under Netflix red envelope. Check the seller's photos for the return address panel, which is what tells a real mailer from a reproduction.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Netflix stop sending DVDs in the mail?
Netflix mailed its last DVDs on September 29, 2023, ending a service that began on April 14, 1998. The company announced the closure on April 18, 2023, accepted disc returns until October 27, 2023, and cancelled every DVD subscription automatically on the final shipping date.
What was the last DVD Netflix mailed?
Netflix said the final disc it shipped on September 29, 2023 was a Blu-ray of True Grit, the 2010 Coen brothers western. The first disc Netflix ever mailed, on March 10, 1998, was Beetlejuice, and the most rented title across the 25 years of the service was The Blind Side.
Can you still rent DVDs by mail in 2026?
Yes, but not from Netflix, which closed DVD.com in September 2023 and has not revived it. Small rental by mail companies still ship discs in flat envelopes, GameFly still mails games, and public libraries in the United States lend DVDs and Blu-rays at no charge with a library card.