Red envelopes

It's no secret that Netflix is a big part of my life. My mom has all kinds of tricks that she says get her movies turned around faster, but this article about the company's operations indicate that the customer can't do much to improve their efficiency:

"Unmarked Netflix trucks are dispatched to the local main post office at 3:00AM six days per week to pick up cartons of returned DVDs. (Thus, getting your disc in the post early in the day doesn’t mean you’ll get your next movie any faster; there is only one pick-up per day.) The incoming cartons are handed off to employees who open each box and then spend their entire eight-hour shift taking a disc out of the box, removing it from the envelope, making sure that the title matches the sleeve, wiping it down in one motion and inspecting it for scratches or cracks, and then placing it in one of two bins (one for good discs, one for rejects). Seasoned employees perform this sequence about 650 times per hour, which makes them susceptible to repetitive stress injuries. As a precaution, there is a mandatory stretching/callisthenics break every 65 minutes. "

Mental_floss: The Secret Inner Workings of Netflix