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I went to the main post office the other day to find out where the returned videos for Netflix actually go. The return envelope lists a P.O. Box number that doesn't actually exist. The guy at the counter was very nervous and guarded, like this is some kind of deep, dark secret. He said it was a "phantom" box and mumbled something about Harry & David. Then he clammed up completely. Does the order-filling operation at Bear Creek Corp. really handle these things locally? Is there an actual building hidden somewhere in town with thousands of DVDs? How the heck could a company scare a postal clerk so badly? More to the point, how can we get the fastest turnaround on our returned discs? I know you folks are fearless journalists who won't be chased off the story like our timid government agents and your equally timid readers. Go get 'em! Just don't use my name; I fear their retribution of scratched discs and long waits on current releases. — R.I., Medford Whoa! Maybe it was your unbridled curiosity that frightened the postal clerk. Not everyone is trained to handle the barrage of direct questions that we here at Since You Asked love and encourage. Steve Swasey, Netflix vice president of corporate communications, was prepared, though, with answers on exactly how the company's DVD delivery and return works. He explains that heaps of DVDs simply won't fit in a regular post office box, so the P.O. Box that the company rents is actually more like a big bin in the back room of the Medford post office. Although Netflix doesn't use the term "phantom post office box," many in the direct-mail industry do. Answers.com explains that these behind-the-scenes boxes provide a way to handle large volumes of mail and, in many cases, get a leg up on sorting mail. For example, some companies rent separate phantom boxes for various aspects of their businesses, such as new orders, payments and complaints, then either collect or have that separated mail delivered to the appropriate departments. While a big mail-order company such as Harry and David probably has that sort of system in place here, they have nothing to do with Netflix, Swasey said. Netflix sends and receives your movies from a distribution center in Salem where millions of movies are stored and shipped. The Salem location, which isn't publicly identified, was the company's 18th center when it opened in March 2003, Swasey said. Netflix now has 58 centers around the country, and if you believe other media reports available online, they are blandly anonymous warehouses in nondescript office parks. The distribution center sends "white, unmarked trucks in the dead of night" to collect movies from Medford and other postal drop points around the state, Swasey said. The trucks are all due back in Salem by 3 a.m., when operations gear up for the day at the distribution center. Employees check in and send out tens of thousands of videos, racing to meet postal deadlines so you and other customers get movies as quickly as possible. Meeting mail pick-up deadlines is the best way for customers to get the fastest service, too, Swasey said. As long as the post office has the returned disk by its final collection of the day (5:30 p.m. at the Medford post office), Netflix will get it that night and have the next flick in your queue the next day, he said. If you're feeling helpful, make sure the movie is in the correctly labeled sleeve and use the original bright red envelope for sending it back. But that isn't even necessary, Swasey said, noting that people lose Netflix mailers all the time. People have successfully returned movies in a regular envelope — you'll have to provide your own postage — addressed simply "Netflix" and it got back to the company, although he acknowledges that might take a bit more time. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected].