GreenCine Availability Statuses Decoded

On the surface, GreenCine's availability indication system seems incredibly simple. The system is based on weighted colors bars and is a bit similar to the Department of Homeland Security's terror threat level system. In order, the colors bars are green, blue, yellow, orange, and red. A long green bar indicates a high probability you will receive a particular title while a short red bar indicates a very low probability you will receive a particular title.

There is one problem with this availability system, however. Any title with less than green availability may take a tremendous amount of time to ship. Basically, if a title's availability is blue, yellow, orange, or red, you are likely to face a very long wait to see it. Since GreenCine's availability system is deceptively simple, here is a proposed summary of what each availability indicator color actually means.

Green - We will send this to you in the next 24 hours.

Blue - Although the blue status might give you a lot of hope, it is very possible we will not send this title to you, even if you have had an empty shipping slot in your queue for days.

Yellow - Honestly, you are embarrassing yourself. Even though you have had multiple empty shipping slots in your queue all week, we are not going to send this movie to you. So have some pride and remove it from your queue.

Orange - Our last copy of this movie came back scratched three years ago, and we have not gotten around to ordering a replacement. We think we saw the DVD on Amazon for like $10 the other day.

Red - Seriously, we're not even sure if this is an actual movie.

Title Availability Is the Biggest Problem at GreenCine

If you have a GreenCine account, you are already aware of the tremendous title availability problems at GreenCine. GreenCine has thousands upon thousands of different titles in their inventory, but many of those titles are stocked in horribly insufficient quantities. Some titles are in high demand, and GreenCine does not stock enough copies. Other titles may be in low demand, but GreenCine has an extremely low supply. Regardless, GreenCine does not have enough copies of many titles to meet the demand for those titles. Conceivably, GreenCine could have only one copy of a title for the entire country, but they could still list that title as being in their inventory.

Fortunately, GreenCine does have an availability indication system. Generally, if GreenCine's Web site indicates a title is in adequate supply (with a full green bar), there is a very good chance GreenCine will ship that title to you within the next business day. If the title's availability is anything but green (i.e., blue, yellow, orange, or red), there is a very good chance you will not be shipped the title. Even if you have had empty shipping slots in your queue for days in a row, and your queue is loaded only with titles having less than green availability, GreenCine might not ship a DVD to you for days. Theoretically, if your queue contains dozens of titles but no green titles, your GreenCine account could sit idle indefinitely even though all of your shipping slots are open.

If you have a GreenCine account and you want to maximize your benefits, it highly advisable you keep at least ten titles with green availability at the bottom of your queue. Do not, however, put titles in your queue that you do not want to see. It is highly likely GreenCine will pass over dozens of less than green titles in your queue and ship only the green titles.

The sad truth about this is that if GreenCine's Web site displays a title with anything less than green availability, there is a real chance you will never get to see this title as a GreenCine rental. At the very least, you are in for a long, long wait.

This availability problem has been an issue at GreenCine for a few years, and GreenCine does not seem to be doing enough to address the issue. It is unclear why GreenCine does not do a better job of gauging and meeting customer demands. Either, GreenCine has serious inventory management problems, they have found limited availability is profitable, or they just do not care. Regardless, GreenCine has a frustrating availability problem, and this is a huge disadvantage for GreenCine subscribers.