The next question that comes to mind, is this dumping? Yes and no. Yes in that AT&T is selling this card at a cost below what it probably cost to produce. Yes in that collectors who purchased this card for a higher price now feel ripped off. However, no in that this card was not ever for sale by AT&T - It was a giveaway. Granted people purchased cards to get this free card, but in a classic sense it is not dumping. What B&J Telecards did was dumping. They took cards that expired, and sold them to the secondary market at a fraction of their original cost. That move means I will probably never purchase many B&J cards unless I can either get them very cheap, or want to use them for phone time. While the sentiment among many dealers and collectors was that the extras should have been destroyed, these same people (myself included in this) purchased these cards at this price. At the very least, you will be getting AT&T phone time for 10 cents per minute, and a nice card or cards to add to your collection.
From: Chris Inoue
To order, send check or money order in the amount of $10.00 per card plus $2.50 for shipping and insurance (shipping does not increase for multiple cards) to:
SLSC, INC.
Child's Hospital Fund Raiser
4 Cathedral Park, 4TH FL
Buffalo, NY 14202
To order by Visa, Master Card or Discover Card, you can send order with your card number and expiration date to the above address or fax your information to 716/849-0307.
The :30 spot plays on an increasingly growing trend in American sports -- the Super Fan, who rather than adopt the posture of the relaxed by bystander becomes part of the sports spectacle by dressing up in bizarre outfits.
Sanders is featured at the end of the spot. As a carload of super fans heads toward a game, they spot a broken-down car with a guy standing next to it holding a sign that reads "Detroit." The super fans slam on the breaks and yell out "BARRY!" Sanders rides with them to the game and is polite and reserved in complete contrast to the super fans.
"Barry's popularity makes him the perfect person to promote the NFL Collector Series phone card at 7-Eleven," says Walt Abele, 7-Eleven category development manager. "Even if a customer doesn't know what a phone card is, they certainly know Barry Sanders and other players on the cards like Troy Aikman and Steve Young."
The spot will debut on Oct. 27 and air exclusively on FOX during Sunday NFL broadcasts. Each of the 12 new collector series phone cards features a different NFL Quarterback Club member on a 15-minute pre-paid Sprint long-distance phone card for the same price as 7-Eleven's regular 15-minute phone card -- $5.99, or just 40 cents a minute. Four cards will be released each month in October, November and December at participating 7-Eleven stores across the country.
On November 30, AT&T will cancel its mutual card honoring agreement with BellSouth, just as it already has done with other regional telephone companies. The result: AT&T customers can't use their calling cards to make certain types of calls and angry AT&T cardholders.
While many local and regional toll calls (long distance calls within a single local calling zone or LATA) will be blocked when the agreement ends and callers try to use their AT&T calling cards, BellSouth's calling cards can still be used for all types of calls. "One way to avoid inconvenience and confusion when the agreement terminates is to get a BellSouth calling card and use it for all calling card calls," said Charlie Coe, BellSouth Group President for Customer Operations.
"BellSouth calling cards are accepted virtually everywhere for local, toll and long distance calls. Our card offers consumers the ease and convenience they deserve when they make calls while away from home," Coe said.
BellSouth isn't the first telephone company with whom AT&T has terminated its mutual card honoring agreement. Already, AT&T has terminated agreements with NYNEX, GTE, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic and SBC Communications. "Terminating the agreements is an attempt by AT&T to get their customers to use the AT&T network," Coe pointed out.
When the agreement expires, callers who try to place such calls from telephones served by BellSouth with their AT&T calling card by dialing 0 (zero) and the number they're trying to reach will find their calls are routed to a BellSouth operator. "Our operators will explain to callers why their calls can't be completed and will offer the callers alternative ways to make their calls," Coe explained.
BellSouth plans to notify its customers of the mutual honoring agreement's termination in their October and November bills. "We are going to do our best to help our customers avoid the inconvenience others may have suffered. We are particularly concerned about children or elderly persons who might be making emergency calls and find their calls blocked due to AT&T's request," Coe said.
With the card give-away MCI, Major League Baseball's official telecommunications sponsor, once again steps up to the plate to provide fans with a unique baseball souvenir to preserve memories of the 1996 Fall Classic. More than 52,000 fans will receive the card as they enter Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The limited edition collectible card is good for five minutes of free calling and features the official World Series logo.
This World Series prepaid long-distance phone card will be one of the hottest baseball collectibles around and is good for domestic or international calls. Fans can easily add more calling time to their free World Series prepaid cards by charging more value with a credit card on MCI's toll-free recharge service. This commemorative prepaid calling card is just one example of MCI's commitment to Major League Baseball as their official telecommunications sponsor.
In addition to the limited edition World Series card, baseball fans everywhere can buy MCI prepaid cards that feature their favorite teams' logos or collect the entire 30-team series (including the new expansion teams) by calling 1/800-840-6726. The team cards cost $20 each and have 45-units of calling time (a unit is equivalent to one minute of domestic long-distance calling time). Fans will receive a $10 discount when three or more cards are purchased, now through Oct. 31.
Also, anyone who received a FAX recently, or in the past, with the FAX contact number as (909) 484-5949 and may have done business with these people, please contact B&B at (909)466-1666.
Visa Cash is a stored-value card designed for low-value purchases such as a newspaper or a cup of tea. You neither need a personal identification number nor have to sign to authorize transactions -- thereby ensuring that the card works just like cash.
David Chan, director of Visa Cash at Visa International Asia Pacific, said while the programs would initially evolve independently in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the idea was to merge them, "three or four years from now" in order to offer cross-border usage.
The eight banks involved in the Taiwan pilot are ChinaTrust Commercial Bank, Chung Shing Bank, Citibank, Far Eastern International Bank, Grand Commercial Bank, International Commercial Bank of China, Standard Chartered Bank and Taishin International Bank. Each of these banks will issue 200,000 disposable Visa Cash cards in the denomination of NT$1,000 (US$36) or BT$500 (US$18).
Reloadable Visa Cash cards are expected to be issued in subsequent phases. Visa said as many as 5000 Visa Cash acceptance devices would be installed at key retail outlets in Taiwan.
You get it free with EVERY purchase of any 2 new AT&T cards.
They show 7 new cards to choose from:
The brochure makes it sound as if you get 1 free snowflake card for every 2 cards you buy. So stock up and fill your Christmas trees or use the snowflakes for trades.
From: Seth Marlowe
From: Jim Silva
From Steve Wronker
From: Malcolm Scrimger
From: Linda Peavy
Until Next Week,
Alan
2) Direct e-mail. Send a message to: phoneline@cardmall.com
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