But Eric, now aged 41, kept on getting DVDs and Blu-Rays by mail—sometimes he watched them and sent them back quickly, other times they sat unopened for months. For most of us, the idea of deciding you want to watch a film, and then waiting for a rental copy to be physically mailed to you seems almost comically quaint. But Eric is far from alone. Of all the huge numbers marking out Netflix’s rapid growth, perhaps this is the most surprising: There are still more than 2 million people in the United States getting Netflix DVDs by post.