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While it is obvious that “snail mail” was hit hard by the universal adoption of email, ecommerce, and electronic bill paying, the positive effect that internet purchasing has had on the United States Postal Service is often overlooked. Shipping-driven mega-companies like eBay and Amazon have made up for these letter-losses by changing the way that people do their shopping.

Netflix has also played a key role in supporting the US Postal Service, as its pre-paid shipping policy is one of the foundations of its entire business model. This is so much the case that, in January 2006, it hired former US Postmaster General William J. Henderson to be its COO. Since hiring Henderson, Netflix has dramatically increase shipping efficiency, has succeeded in securing discounts by making sure that its mail is pre-sorted, and has eliminated some of the post-lawsuit stigma surrounding its shipping policies and guarantees.

Unless you’re a mailman, this story isn’t really of the greatest consequence. I just happen to find it interesting. For the full story on the general relationship between the Postal Service and e-tailers, click here.

Currently, the list of companies that will assuredly be offering legal movie downloads, considering offering legal movie downloads, or acutally are offering legal movie downloads, looks like this: Apple, Microsoft, Comcast, Amazon, Wal-mart (yes, Wal-mart), Blockbuster, Time Warner, AT&T, Bit Torrent, MovieLink, and CinemaNow. This list is also slowly beginning to include file-sharing networks that have come under legal pressure like Kazaa.

I have expressed skepticism about the download model in the past (see here for example), but this impressive list speaks for itself. Apparently, movie studios have been given reason to ease their worries regarding piracy and many of them seem to be on board. They do, however, hold all the power in this situation, as the increasingly competitive market for licensing will probably lead to some major concessions on behalf of the potential service providers, especially on things like price. This competition has already made big winners out of the movie studios, according to Seeking Alpha.

The last real hurdle in getting the fully-fledged never-go-to-the-video-store-or-use-Netflix-again-model off the ground is getting widespread agreement from studios to let providers offer movies that can be burned onto DVDs. Movie studios find this prospect extremely troublesome, for obvious reasons (i.e. Let’s say you can buy a movie online for 15 bucks or buy it from someone else who made DVD quality copies for 8. Which would you do?).

Sites like CinemaNow, at least, has been offering this service for a few weeks now, but it has had no real industry-wide effect, as both it and MovieLink haven’t built up much of a user base. According to My Movie Download, questions have been raised concerning, among other things, the limited selections offered by these sites.

In any case, this technology needs the big boys (like Apple) to get involved in order for it to really get off the ground. And even then, I think it will take a few years to really take over. What I don’t understand is why Netflix itself doesnt get involved somehow (perhaps it is planning to but I haven’t heard anything about it). It would have a HUGE advantage over its competitors in that it already has an enormous user base. Establishing this base is the whole battle.

Whiskers just wrote about the Netflix summer promotion “Netflix Rolling Roadshow” where the movie-rental company brings movies to you, as it defines its business, by screening a series of American classics in the places where they were filmed. That’s not a bad promotional idea in and of itself, but I don’t think it makes as much sense for Netflix as it would for a theater chain. The industry’s problem is not that people don’t watch movies, plenty of people watch movies practically all the time, though usually on TV, which is exactly where Netflix expects its customers to watch them. But the Roadshow promotion aims to build awareness of the Netflix brand by dragging people out of their homes to a, in effect, theater. That seems oddly at cross with what Netflix does for a living.

Geeky disagrees and calls it “one of the best ideas” she’s heard in a long time. Ben Edwards calls it “a great idea” and TravelPost.com thinks it’s “pretty cool.” I agree with them, just not when it’s done by Netflix.

Over the course of the next few weeks, places all over America will be visited by Netflix’s Rolling Roadshow. The Roadshow is a unique promotional tour that features free public screenings of classic American movies at the places where they were filmed. The tour will be hosted by Lisa Loeb and will also feature appearances by cast and crew members of the film. The highlight of these appearances is a musical performance by Kevin Costner and his band at the “Field of Dreams” screening in Dyersville, IA.

Here is the screening schedule:
August 2 — “The Warriors” at Coney Island, NY
August 5 — “Jaws” at Martha’s Vineyard, MA
August 8 — “Clerks” at Red Bank, NJ
August 10 — “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” at Northbrook, IL
August 11 — “Field of Dreams” at Dyersville, IA
August 16 — “The Shining” at Estes Park, CO
August 18 — “The Searchers” at Monument Valley, UT
August 20 — “Raising Arizona” at Apache Junction, AZ
August 24 — “Poseidon Adventure” at Long Beach, CA
August 26 — “Escape from Alcatraz” at San Francisco, CA

For more info and details regarding appearances and exact locations, see the official site.