More and more, going out for a movie means a trip to the mailbox. Movies delivered to your door step are more popular than ever.

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Netflix is now a billion dollar a year industry.

So much so Netflix, the industry leader is expanding in Salem. The company first came to Oregon in 2003, but just a few years later needed more room. It just moved into a new larger space in an undisclosed location to fill the need to fill movie watcher appetites.

Netflix started in California in 1998 just as DVD's began to hit the market. Company founder Reed Hastings knew there was a better way to merge his computer software background with hardware delivery.

From just 1,000 members in the 90's, Netflix is today the largest on-line movie rental company in America with 6.8 million members.

There are 75,000 titles in the Netflix library. At the Salem hub 55,000 DVD's will be shipped out the door on an average day headed to all points across Oregon and Southwest Washington.

"It's kind of like a swan crossing the lake. It looks beautiful, elegant and simple, but, underneath there's paddling like mad", said Steve Swasey, director of corporate communications for Netflix.

Starting at 5 a.m., employees open all the returned movies. Several bins, six by six feet are filled with empty return envelopes. Now the real work begins.

"Every DVD has a barcode. Every DVD tells us where that DVD was and where it's going next", said Swasey. Workers check each DVD for scratches. They're cleaned and relabeled if necessary. DVD's are then put in an envelope that is used to send and return the DVD. Some workers can stuff as many as 1,100 an hour.

There are some procedures we were not allowed to see. The company has developed propriety software that addresses and separates the mail by zip code for faster delivery. "Now of course innovators spawn imitators," said Swasey. But, not every who uses the Netflix service gives it two-thumbs up, especially members who order more movies in a month than others.

"On the rare occasions that we have more demand than a specific title, then we actually have copies of, then we provide that title to members that have rented less movies in that time period", according to Swasy. He says the company feels it more equitable that way.

Nextfilx is not content to be the nation's top on-line movie rental company. In March it rolled out a free on-line movie service. Members can watch on their computers. Two thousand movies are available now with anther 3,000 expected to be part of the service by years end.

Netflix is investing $40 million in the electronic delivery system hoping to be the company movie buffs go to to watch -- no matter what size the screen.