Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

a day in the life

This week’s New Yorker magazine has an interesting look into an average day at a Netflix processing facility in Rockville, Md., following workers as they sort through movie returns and process new movie shipments. A surprising amount is done by hand, and the workers seem to do their job with impressive speed.

Fingers flying and heads swivelling, the women each open between four hundred and fifty and eleven hundred and fifty returned rentals an hour.

Tuesday is the busiest day of the week at Netflix—people tend to watch DVDs on the weekend and mail them back on Mondays—but by 11 A.M. the day’s incoming envelopes have been processed and the associates have an hour for lunch. Netflix hires associates from temp agencies, starting at nine dollars an hour. Those who can maintain a fast and accurate pace become permanent employees after three months. Benefits include a free DVD player and a Netflix subscription…

At noon, the “stuffing” process gets under way. An associate grabs a sleeved outbound disk with one hand; inserts it into an electronically addressed envelope with the other; flips the envelope closed; rips off a peel over a sticker strip; and presses the envelope shut. Stuffing styles vary. One associate’s hands move so quickly that she seems to be a fan operating at highest speed. She is among the fastest workers, with a stuffing rate of about a thousand per hour … Reed Hastings, the C.E.O. of Netflix, would not be hired as an associate. His stuffing rate is three hundred and sixty per hour.

(New Yorker: “Tear, Slap, Crack” - 08/21/06)

Speaking of Netflix, does anyone use their “Friends” feature? I’ve used it for the past year or so. It’s kind of fun to share reviews and recommendations, and to see how other folks I know have rated particular movies.