News and Views

Telecard Times Arrives!

After an absence of quite a few months, and after many collectors had given up the publication for dead, Telecard Times, a publication that I had subscribed to, arrived in the mail. After reading through the issue, I must say I am quite impressed with the direction the magazine is taking. What used to be a monthly has now become a quarterly. What used to be on the low side of content now has good content (Or at least this issue does) What used to cost about $20 per year now is free (Well, sort of - you do need to make a purchase from a list of dealers, send in a survey card, and then receive a subscription, whatever that means since no length is mentioned) The publisher, Greg Loibl, candidly states that stress and being overworked were the causes for the change. I applaud the fact that he has started republication and sent out issues to subscribers. Most people would have just folded and quietly disappeared.

Used vs. New

Much in the same genre of the Coke vs. Pepsi or Bud Light vs. Bud, an age old question (Well, age old as in 3 or 4 years) has been whether to collect these cards used or new. This is a theme that is strongly presented in the new Telecard Times, and something that I have come to find myself agreeing with. Europeans get a good laugh at us for not using the time on the cards. The concept of an unused phonecard is foreign to most. This is because the hobby has developed out of leftovers from a utilitarian device, a phonecard. Much like people in the US started collecting stamps by taking them off envelopes, and collecting coins by going through pocket change, Most people outside the US started collecting phonecards by picking them up at a phone booth, or saving them after using the card. Here in the US, the opposite is true. Cards are marketed to us as collectibles, and the mint value is always emphasized. Don't believe me, look at any price guide and check on the used value of a card. Look at the many different "investment" cards at ridiculously high prices! The price per minute is just too high for many cards, and the public will not start using them until it drops. They are not stupid! As I said last week, the biggest factor for using prepaid phonecards has to be price, not convenience. If you want convenience, just pull that Sprint Calling Card out of your wallet, the one that gets billed to your phone bill every month. You really can not get more convenience than that, you don't need to pay up front for the call! They trust you and will bill you later. You mention the obscene price of 75 cents just to use your card? Well, at 50 cents per minute, there is really no difference in price for a 3 minute call. The longer the call, the more economically feasible the old charge calling card is. Inexpensive cards are out there, but are not as easy to find. The major phone companies market cards in the 50 cent range, like Sprint and AT&T. The new post office card starts at over 50 cents per minute. Collectors may buy the cards, but they will not catch on with those high rates.

Getting back to the used vs. new debate, I find myself using my cards a lot more than I used to. I think there is a cycle in collecting phonecards, or at least this is what I observe by listening to other collectors and from my own experiences. When I first started collecting, I questioned why people would save cards unused. After all, there was an expiration date on many cards, and the phone time would be gone. Of course, this was back in 1994 (Seems like a long time ago) and this was a question that was unanswered then. Today, it appears that many low face value cards tend to hold their value after the expiration date, while high value ones may not. I came to understand that you were not necessarily paying for something that was only correlated to the amount of phone time, but instead phonecards were a collectible. An analogy was made to a Roman Coin. You can not cash these in anywhere, but they still hold value. This made sense to me, and I started accumulating cards. I've always used cards that I have purchased, even used a Pac Bell First edition that I paid $5 for, even though I knew the going rate was higher. I reasoned that since it only cost me $5, why not use it? Today I find myself using a lot of cards that I may not have before. Once I use the cards, they still stay in my collection, they just move to my "used" album, which is growing quite nicely! Used cards do have value, and I feel that I got something out of the card. Recently I purchased a Sprint MTV card for $10. This card has only 20 minutes of phone time, or 50 cents per minute. It is on the high side, but since I liked the card, and I will use the phone time, I had an easier time convincing myself that I should buy the card, since I will get at least $5 value in phone time (I like to think that 25 cents is reasonable) and another $5 in value because the card was interesting. I would not recommend doing this to every card, especially if you buy something you like on a whim for an investment. The Mickey Mantle set by Upper Deck comes to mind. A 5 card set with 60 minutes of phone time cost about $60. This set is worth more to me unused (Especially since it has that 6th bonus Red Stockings Card in it) than if I were to use the phone time at $1 per minute.

Finally, I have noticed a trend of some new cards that actually sell below face value! These are usually cards that have a phone rate that is too high. An example of this is Classic Baseball - I saw $10 cards sell for $7 this weekend, yet another reason to actually use the time! Okay, I will get off my soap box now (not really) and move on to other interesting news.

Captain Munchies Phonecard

I have become aware of this phonecard by its producer, Lionel Richards. Captain Munchies is a fast food restaurant in Australia, and a phonecard has been produced to commemorate the restaurant. If you are viewing this from the web, you will see the coke logo all over this card. I do know the card is being sold, but as of now do not know the price. For more information on acquiring the card, Mr. Richards can be reached at munchies@nettrek.com.au - To view the Captain Munchies Web Site, just point your browser to

http://www.nettrek.com.au/munchies.html

Contest at Interactive Marketing Solutions, Inc.

Tommy Twiggs has informed me that this web site is going to have a monthly promotion where a free card will be given away each month. This month, the prize will be one of their Dial Tone brand cards. To check out the web site, point your browser to

http://www.mindspring.com/~dialtone/dtidx.html

Card Mall Update

Time to throw in a plug for one of my own sites, The Card Mall. February can be labeled giveaway month. There are currently two promotions on- going. One is a chance to win a Unocal 76 Kareem Abdul-Jabar phonecard. 5 will be given away this month. The other is a chance to win between $2 and $25 in Card Mall bucks. Fill out a survey, have a chance to win. The Card Mall is located at:

http://www.cardmall.com

Two Mall Merchants are also holding significant giveaways.

Main Street Marketing is giving away a complete set of CBA team phonecards, 15 cards in the set with a retail value of $90. There are only 1000 of each card produced. Main Street Marketing can be found at

http://www.cardmall.com/mainstreet.market.htm

One Ringy Dingy Telecards is giving away a set of Worldlink Ken Griffey Jr. Phonecards, 5 cards in the set with a retail value of $59. Check out One Ringy Dingy at

http://www.cardmall.com/oneringy/oneringy.htm

Finally, I am pleased to announce that the Card Mall is having its own promotional card produced! The print run will be small, only 150 cards will be available. None of these cards will be for sale, at least by me. 130 of them are being marked for a promotion that the Card Mall will run for new merchants (more details later) and the remaining 20 will be used for promotional purposes and be given away. I will be sponsoring a contest just for Phonecards On-Line readers, and one of these phonecards will be given away in that contest. I will have a graphic of the card available within two weeks, and more news to come then as well.

Other Promotions

Computer City

Computer City is giving away 15 minute phonecards in certain boxes of MS Flight Simulator 5.1. The card is plastic and features the MS logo on an attractive card. I only saw one card out of 10 packages on the shelves of the Riverside, Ca. store. The card is in an envelope and is on the front of the package inside the shrink-wrap.

(Reported by Del Daniel)

Volkswagen

In conjunction with a auto jack recall program, Volkswagen is offering a 60 minute phone card. Transcommunications is the service provider

(Reported by Chris Giles)

Lipton Update

I wanted to update you on the Lipton "recipe secrets" soup promotional offer. As I told you, this is a national offer. However, if people can't find the official, tear off, form at the store, they can write a short note explaining that fact, their name and address, and the required 2 proofs of purchase (UPC symbols) from the blue boxes, and the cash register receipt to:

Lipton Phone Card Offer
P.O. Box 1062
Grand Rapids MN 55745

(Reported by Deb Trinter)

Swanson Phonecard

An ad in the Coupon section of Sunday's newspaper shows Swanson is having a contest with 20,000 3rd prizes of a 10 minute Phone Card. Instant game pieces are available on specially marked packages of Swanson Dinners, HungryMan Dinners, Pot Pies, Great Starts and Lunch & More. Card is tan with blue banner showing Swanson Logo and the words "Satisfies Your Family" on the left and the words "10 Minute Phone Card" in dark blue on the right. An entry form can also be obtained by sending a SASE to:

Swanson Satisfies Your Family Sweepstakes
DEPT. R, PO Box 3016
St. Cloud, MN 56397-3016

(Reported by Rick Heckbert)

Promise Margarine

Promise margarine 10 minute promotional phonecard offer in Sunday's ad supplement. You need the form, buy 2 Promise products, send in the UPC codes and the register tape. Ends 3-31-96.

(Reported by Deb Trinter)

Target Offer

Target is having a sale on their Betty Boop watches ($19.99) and as a special Valentine's Day treat, is offering them in heart-shaped "collectible" tins (their word, not mine) along with a 5-minute Betty Boop phone card (which we know is the "true" collectible). Happy Hunting!

(Reported by Fred King)

Until Next week, Happy Collecting,

Alan

Distribution

Phonecards On-Line is written and distributed by Alan Cohen. It is a weekly newsletter devoted to phonecards - Current news, viewpoints, and reviews of new issues. It is distributed free of charge, and available two ways.

1) On-Line on the World Wide Web. The address is: http://www.pcmreport.com

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