Netflix now lists out of stock films in 3 new ways:
1. Short wait - approx. 1 month
2. Long wait - 1-3 months
3. Very Long wait 3 months or more

What is this? Since they have zero films in stock the best possible scenario is "short wait" 1 month?! 1 month is a "short wait"? The other 2 -long wait and very long wait are ridiculous. Right now every film in my queue that has been released is LONG WAIT. Legend of Drunken Master came out tuesday but it's going to take me 1 - 3 months to get it?
I'll see how the next month goes but why would anyone pay a monthly fee of $24.95 for this.

netflix and recent release (and popular movies) don't usually mix. Try filling in w/ some of their older movies. Of course this means your queue is filled w/ movies that are in stock but you don't necessarily want to see. So when the movie you don't want to see is available you can't "get" to it since you already have your allotment of movies Personally I still like them though. Overall the selection is better than some of the local stores and it's easier to interact w/ them. Plus, now that everyone is dropping out the service/turn around time is getting much better

It's good to know now, at least they're trying to be helpful.

Of course, being helpful would really mean buying more copies of the DVD's.... Someone should let them know Blockbuster's having a previewed sale soon.

I wouldn't call this weirdness, but, as you said, I WOULD call it RIDICULOUS! My top ten titles have been "Out of Stock" for the last month or so. NOW, at least I know that they will take three months or more to be restocked. That's a small comfort knowing I probably won't be seeing these films any time soon.

(I wonder if Netflix is owned by the major studios. They probably purposely short-stock the titles so we get fed up with the waiting game and go out and buy the title instead.)

You can look at it this way:

Short Wait - 3 or 4 people are ahead of you on the list
Long Wait - 7 to 10 people are ahead of you on the list
Very Long Wait - 12 to 15 people are ahead of you on the list.

However you look at it 1-3 months is a very long time to wait for a movie.

They have Meet the Parents as a Long Wait. This is a new film which should be available by the truckload at good prices. Why are they making it such a long wait?

Can anyone explain their system. If I have Meet the Parents at #10 in my queue and someone else has it at #1....I assume it goes to the other guy. So how do you know how to move what movies up in the queue so you'll be next. What is the logic?

I was quite happy with NetFlix until this new "system"..now I'm not sure. I still don't like schlepping to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster. The convenience of NetFlix is great but if you can't get the movie, why bother?

uh? All this seems to be is a different label for the same "system" they had before. This time instead of just saying "out of stock" though, they are trying to give you an estimate of when you might be able to get it. I agree trying to get a specific movie at a specific time from Netflix is next to useless, unless it's an older/less popular movie. However, Netflix is great for ensuring a consistent stream of "new" movies are coming in all the time. JMO

a week ago I looked at my queue and all the out of stock films were listed as "LONG WAIT - OUT OF PRINT". I sent them an e-mail asking what that meant and how could a film that was out just a couple of days be out of print? They wrote back and said that it was just a glitch, a system error had occured and sure enough within a day everything was back to OUT OF STOCK. Then a few days ago the new system. Clearly they were working on this new system and found that people reacted horribly to LONG WAIT - OUT OF PRINT and changed things around a bit.
Renting new films has always been tough, everybody wants the same 5 films in any given month, but telling your customers that they have to wait 1 - 3 months for something like Meet the Parents which has been out a week seems ridiculous. If it really is going to take 1 -3 months to get a new movie they are going out of business.

Those statuses aren't really an indicator of how long you'll have to wait, just how many people have it in their queue.

When you get it really depends on luck. That the DVD has come in just as they've received one of yours.

I just put Meet the Parents in my queue yesterday at #1 and the status was Long Wait. Guess what, it shipped today.

(I'm not bragging to those who're also waiting for Meet the Parents )

I put Meet the Parents as the first in my queue last Thurs, it shipped last Fri, and I got it Monday.

I'm guessing at this, but: They probably are trying a new warning/labelling system out because people wanted to know the average wait time. Their figures are screwed, and so vague (1 month as a lead time?!?!) that they're only angering/confusing people now.

I bet it will change again in a few weeks.