Libraries. Your local library probably has a large selection of DVDs, and most libraries are part of networks that can request everything you can't find locally. The only downside I've found is for kids' movies, as those are invariably scratched beyond any usability.

I live in a small town so my library doesn't have great selection. I have gotten DVDs out of the library when I've been down there for some other reason anyway. But, for the most part, I find it's more effort than it's worth.

> I wish Netflix would spin off the DVD service and give it a chance to thrive.

They were going to do that back in 2011, but then cancelled the plans

https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-cancels-qwikster-spinoff/

I canceled my DVD service a year or two ago because I was doing a lot of work travel and I'd end up with discs sitting by my TV for a month. I've renewed it for now during the pandemic. It's fine for recent movies but the back catalog has gotten pretty bad. I've mostly resigned myself to paying for streaming rentals plus buying a Blu-Ray every now and then if I think it's something I might want to rewatch.

I suspect there isn't a critical mass for a robust DVD service any longer. RedBox skims some demand for current blockbusters and a lot of people want content right now.

> RedBox skims some demand for current blockbusters and a lot of people want content right now.

I really can't emphasize the right now enough. I'm never planning things I want to watch days in advance, so a by-mail service just doesn't work (plus there's the physical hassle of having to mail stuff all the time and dealing with the inevitable hassle of things going missing in the mail).

I just can't imagine waiting for something to come in the mail when I could instead fire up BitTorrent and be watching it 30 minutes later. The music industry learned their lesson from piracy but the movie industry still hasn't. Things will hopefully change now given that theaters are a much-reduced experience; they did always have the benefit over music in that whether you buy the music CD on launch day or pirate it digitally, the listening experience itself is identical, whereas seeing a film in theaters on launch day is definitely still quite different than watching some shitty pirated cam version, assuming the shitty cam version is even out by launch day (it isn't always).

As long as I'm around to watch them, I actually find getting DVDs by mail is a low effort way to catch up on the previous year's award winners; there's always a film I want to see sitting there. And I usually don't need to watch something in particular right now. It's just increasingly not a great way to watch older films.