GAMEFLY ANNOUNCES RATE INCREASE

Gamefly has announced that effective June 18th, they will be raising the rates for all of their rental plans by one dollar. First off, let me say that as far as I know, I had nothing to do with this one despite my earlier statement that if it were to make them start putting the cardboard inserts back in the mailers, I’d gladly pay $1 more a month for service. Chalk it up to coincidence or more likely the ever growing cost of sending out their mailers, but I think we can all agree that Gamefly isn’t hanging on my every word. (So there JG! – nyaa)

“At GameFly, we are committed to providing excellent service at prices that enable you to play all the games you want economically. However, the May 14th postal rate hike on “flat” mailers, as well as the higher cost of new console games, has significantly increased our cost of doing business.

In order to continue improving our service while facing higher external costs, we’re raising the monthly fee on all membership plans by $1. All accounts billed on or after June 18, 2007 will be charged at the new rate. Since we opened our doors nearly five years ago, this is the first time we’ve ever raised the price of our most popular two-game plan.” – Gamefly

Like the statement says, it looks like the recent increase in postal rates is threatening to put a dent in Gamefly’s business plan, and they need some way to make the cash back. It’s not all bad news from Gamefly though – the company is also advising that anyone who wants to sign up for a long term membership prior to the rate change can do so at a discount of 20% off the original plan price. That’s a great deal for anyone who has the spare cash to put down all at once, but for me, I guess I’ll just have to eat that extra dollar.

GAMEFLY CONFIRMS MISSING CARDBOARD INSERTS

Catching up on an item from last week’s news, I heard back from Gamefly regarding the recent lack of protective cardboard inserts in their mailers. According to the company they are testing the idea of removing the cardboard inserts when shipping out game rentals.

"Thank you for contacting GameFly. We are in the process of testing the shipment of items without cardboard. We request that you simply return the item as you received it. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know." – Gamefly Customer Service

My guess is this is part of a cost cutting move on Gamefly’s part as many of these rental services report that their biggest expenses are shipping charges. With a little bit of luck, the price increase in our next article means that they’ve decided that not using the inserts just isn’t the way to go.

• Gamefly stops using protective cardboard mailers? – nylatenite.com

GAMEFLY / U.S. POSTAL SERVICE ISSUES

For those of you Gamefly subscribers in the New York area who are experiencing delays and/or missing games, I just got word from Gamefly that they are aware of the situation. Not much consolation for subscribers who are left for weeks without a new game, but at least it’s confirmation that Gamefly is aware that something is going on.

-” Thank you for contacting GameFly. With the help of the USPS, we have identified several areas of the country as having severe postal delays, and the zip codes from 11200-11799 are among them. The USPS has been made aware that there is an issue, and we are both actively seeking ways to improve delivery times to your area.” -Gamefly Support