Skip to main content

As Netflix ends its DVD rental service, Scarecrow steps in

Scarecrow Video's ad for its mail-based rental service.
Scarecrow Video

After a quarter of a century of mailing out DVD rentals to customers across the U.S., Netflix recently announced that it will be ending the service later this month.

While most Netflix customers are happy these days streaming their content from the company’s library of online offerings, there are still some folks using the long-running mail method involving physical media.

Convinced that there’s still a call for such a service, Scarecrow Video, the biggest movie and TV rental store in the U.S., has stepped up.

The 35-year-old Seattle-based business announced this week that it’s making its vast library of content available across the country as part of a mail-based rental service.

Once you’ve signed up online and been approved — a process that takes up to two business days — you can browse Scarecrow’s library or DVDs and Blu-ray discs and make your selections, ordering up to six titles each time.

Each shipment costs a$12, which includes return postage and needs to be returned within 14 days.

Scarecrow actually started its rent-by-mail service during the pandemic, according to the Seattle Times, testing it with 600 customers across 25 states. With Netflix recently announcing its intention to close its mail service, Scarecrow decided it was the right time to take its own service nationwide.

Scarecrow’s collection is bursting with an astonishing 145,000 titles. To put that in perspective, Netflix only offers around 14,000 titles globally. With that in mind, a good number of Netflix subscribers may find themselves signing up for Scarecrow as well so they can pick up the more obscure titles that they can’t find online.

Take note, however, while the vast majority of its titles are available for rent, excluded from the mail-based service are rare, out-of-print, and irreplaceable videos that require a security deposit; VHS and laserdisc formats; new releases (as they have a short rental period); and adult titles.

There are a few other places besides Scarecrow where you can still rent DVDs and Blu-rays., though their libraries aren’t as big.

Now, if you do decide to dabble once again in the world of physical media, then don’t forget one important thing: a machine to play it on. With that in mind, here’s some advice on the best Blu-ray players currently available.

Interested in learning more about Scarecrow’s mail-based rental service? Then head over to its website.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
If you have a Netflix subscription, don’t sleep on the service’s games
A blue cat chasing a creature.

When Netflix first announced it was pushing into video games, the news was met with some healthy skepticism. By that point, we’d seen a few non-gaming companies like Google and Amazon try to elbow into the space with services that struggled to deliver strong, consistent content. Netflix seemed doomed to go down the same path when it launched its first batch of games, an unimpressive list that included mobile games. That slow start may have put the steamer on the wrong foot as only 1% of subscribers were reportedly engaging with its gaming offerings earlier this year.

A lot has changed in the past few months. Netflix has gone from zero to 60 since June, seemingly releasing a notable new game every few weeks. That sudden explosion hit another high note this week with the release of Desta: The Memories Between, a standout mobile title that’s exclusive to Netflix members.

Read more
Netflix sheds light on its ‘approved cameras’ for filmmakers
netflix sheds light on its approved cameras for filmmakers

Netflix invests huge sums of money on original content in its ongoing quest to retain subscribers and attract new ones.

But did you know that commissioned production companies are expected to only use cameras approved by the streaming giant?

Read more
Netflix said to be considering ads by end of 2022
netflix composite

Ads are coming to Netflix, and it's possible they'll be here sooner than first thought. Per a report from The New York Times, Netflix executives reportedly have told employees that an ad-supported tier of the streaming service is being planned for a rollout sometime in the last three months of 2022. That’s a lot quicker than what investors were told in the company's earnings call on April 19.

Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings told investors that the company would take the “next year or two” to figure out the possibility of ads on Netflix. The other Netflix executives during the company’s recent earnings calls also didn’t rule out the possibility of an ad-supported tier, but there was no hint that the dramatic business shift could happen as early as this year.

Read more