Letters
Publisher
Lawrence Amaturo
money • investment • insurance
Editor-in-Chief
Jason Walsh
Letters to the Editor Red Letter Office
Associate Editor
Rosie Padilla
Blessed with a windfall? Here’s how NOT to blow it all in Vegas… Outrageous fortune!
Editor: Great piece [“Your DVD Has Arrived… For the Last Time Ever,” September]! What a story—I mean legacy—Netflix has created from where they came. Unbelievable. — Jenny Kaplan , Sonoma County
Contributing Editor
Bill Meagher
Design Director
Anne Schenk
Administrative Assistant
Jodi Pasquini
Marketing Consultant
Lori Rooney
Inside: Wild harvesting · Tech Talk Netflix · Hans Fahden Vineyards Layla · Microloans · Napa Insider
Here’s to your health Editor: [Regarding NorthBay biz’s
September 2023
$4.95
upcoming February edition dedicated to Health & Wellness], it would be great to hear how health and wellness has evolved post COVID and the importance of customization of wellness programs for your workforce in order for them to be effective and a ROI. —Corporate Cowgirl, Sonoma County Fight for their right [Regarding last fall’s NorthBaybiz.com story, “Surprise! SDC Developer Wants to Increase Housing by 50%]: Of course [they do]. Please turn it into a memorial park, wildlife corridor, and give the indigenous people the right to gather there. Karen Alves , Sonoma Contact Becci Pell to save your table: Bpell@mysonomamedia.com or 707-284-9129 When United Rentals needed to find qualified new employees to join our team, we partnered with Amaturo Sonoma Media Group to have a table at the North Bay Job Fair. Prior to the event we received resumes of people who registered to attend the event. During the job fair, we had a chance to personally meet with applicants who were motivated to work and tell them about our positions. We were impressed by the hundreds of job seekers and are pleased to say, we have a great new employee as a result of attending the North Bay Job Fair. If your business or organization is struggling to fill your job vacancies, then register today to be represented at the next North Bay Job Fair. You’ll be glad you did! — Steven Watts- United Rentals Testimonial from United Rentals, May 2023 Job Fair Come show the North Bay why your business is the one of the best employers to work for, at this fall’s North Bay Job Fairs! You have two opportunities to reach different Job Seekers. HIRING? Sign up for both fairs for discounted pricing. Also, take advantage of special radio advertising rates by adding-on Radio ads, enabling you to send your message to those who can’t make the Job Fairs. All registered businesses will receive the Resumes of Job Seekers in advance of the fair…so you can invite ideal candidates to seek you out during the Fair or set up an Interview ASAP. Wednesday, September 20 th 2:00-4:30 Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa Wednesday October 4 th 3:00-6:00 Elsie Allen High School Roseland
Writers Janet Perry Jason Walsh Jessica Zimmer Judith M. Wilson Rosie Padilla Columnists Adam Lee Alexandra Russell Bill Meagher Christina Julian Jason Walsh John Ash Michael E. Duffy Robert Eyler
Work/Life/ Netflix
Your DVD has arrived… for the last time ever
By Jason Walsh E
agerly awaiting squarish red envelops in the postbox… meticulously re-ranking one’s “queue”… desperately searching for the matching white DVD sleeve under the cushions… these well-worn pastimes of the aughts will soon be assigned to the dustbin of
nostalgia—as Netflix this month ceases its DVD-by-mail service. the Los Gatos-based company is one of the most familiar and successful streaming services in the world, but its origins were primitive by today’s viewing standards—employing such antiquated 20th century modus operandi as DVDs, pre-paid envelops and the united States Postal Service. (kidding, uSPS; we love you.) the company was founded in the late 1990s by techie carpool buddies Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, as they commuted to work brainstorming ways to utilize speedy online order-and-delivery services, a là amazon. When test mailing DVDs to themselves proved cheap and durable in a way VHS tapes were not, the idea for Netflix was born. (Hastings also said getting dinged with a $40 Blockbuster late fee on an Apollo 13 rental served as inspiration.) the service was slow growing its first couple of years, until DVDs finally replaced VHS as the dominate home-entertainment format. Initially, the business model mirrored the per-rental model of video store chains, but once they shifted to a flat monthly fee for unlimited rentals (no more than three at a time) without due dates, late fees or shipping and handling charges—the rest was history. and so were video stores. By 2010, Blockbuster, which misguidedly held steadfast to the chain-store movie rental model, had declared bankruptcy. In 2014, it closed all its corporate-owned stores; today, a single Blockbuster franchise remains in Bend, oregon, surviving largely as a tourist curiosity, a living museum to a typical friday night, circa 2002.
the once mighty video rental company filed for bankruptcy in 2010. today, only one outlet remains.
(the 2022 closings of Bette’s flicks in San anselmo and Joe Video in Santa Rosa marked the end of the line for video rental stores in Marin and Sonoma counties, respectively.) Now, two decades later, DVD-by-mail goes the way of the rewind button. turn, turn, turn.
Netflix (NFLX) stock jumped by nearly 3.5% in August, with Wall Street analysts crediting the streaming service’s crackdown on password sharing—the 2020s version of stealing your neighbor’s cable. And that from the company that once tweeted, “Love is sharing a password.” The company changed its tune in 2022, when the service lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. At the time, estimates were that over 100 million people worldwide accessed Netflix through password sharing. Since then, the company has been identifying scofflaws— viewers outside of a household account (i.e. anyone on a different internet connection)—and bugging them to either be added to the existing account (at a higher monthly fee) or subscribe separately. The efforts seem to be paying off—Netflix added about 2.6 million new subscribers in July alone. More subscribers, less ‘love’ at Netflix
September 2023
NorthBaybiz 19
Photographers Duncan Garrett
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January 2024
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