November 16, 1996
Issue 56
Phonecards On-Line is written and distributed by Alan Cohen
Return to POL Index
News and Views
Smart Card in the news
This week in David Horowitz’s syndicated column "Fight Back", Visa TravelMoney cards got some promotion. The subject of the article was safely carrying funds when traveling. While David was not up on credit cards and ATM cards (High fees) he did mention smart cards, and Visa TravelMoney. Visa TravelMoney is like a prepaid ATM card. You purchase a card in advance, and can use it to withdraw funds from an ATM machine, PIN and all. The nice thing about this is that you pay a fee in advance, no fee when you use the card.
Visit Powell Associates for more information on Visa TravelMoney
More Promotions on the Web
Thanks to Jim Silva for providing most of these addresses. I’ve checked these all out, looks like many different companies are using the web to promote themselves, and are offering free phonecards for those who visit. Visit this article on the web at http://www.cardmall.com, and everything will be hyperlinked for you!
MCI/ETS
A free MCI phonecard is available from Educational Testing Service. Go to
At the top right of the page you will see the free phonecard offer highlighted. Click on the symbol and you will be taken to a form to complete to receive the card. The card will be sent to the first 10000 visitors to the site that complete the form.
Savings Bank of Manchester
Receive a free phonecard from the Savings Bank of Manchester (SBM) - the Biggest Little Bank in Connecticut. The 15 card is available by completing the form located at
Columbia Federal Savings bank
Receive a 15 minute card (while supplies last) for filling out some information at:
Clickin.com
Fill out a survey (There are 7 of them) and receive a 10 minute phonecard. You can visit Clickin at
The surveys are long though!
Healthy Choice Offer
Receive a 30 minute phonecard from the folks at Healthy Choice. Here is the address where you can enter:
Of course, you can enter contests to win free phonecards. Two of the web sites I manage are currently running contests where many phonecards will be given away, including one contest that offers $100 worth of phonecards. You can visit these sites at:
Post Office Press Release
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Postal Service and
American Express Telecom, Inc. announced today the national roll-out
of the "FirstClass PhoneCard," a new, rechargeable prepaid phone
card that is replaceable if lost or stolen. The co-branded phone
card, bearing collectible postal stamp art, will be available in
most major post offices nationwide beginning this week.
Roll-out of the prepaid phone card was determined following a
nine-month research and development test that American Express
Telecom, Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service launched during the 1995
holiday season in eight cities: San Diego, Calif.; Albuquerque,
N.M.; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Columbus,
Ohio; Miami, Fla.; and Providence, R.I. Based on early results,
four larger cities were added in June 1996: San Francisco, Calif.;
Atlanta, Ga.; Orlando, Fla.; and New York, N.Y.
"Prepaid phone cards have long been sold in post offices the
world over," explained Allen Kane, chief marketing officer, U.S.
Postal Service. "Positive response from our product test indicates
that America's postal customers also find that prepaid phone cards
add value when visiting our post offices. Moreover, the FirstClass
PhoneCard is a revenue-building vehicle for the Postal Service."
Following the launch of the holiday design series in November
1995, the U.S. Postal Service and American Express introduced two
additional FirstClass PhoneCard designs based on collectible postal
stamp art: a "Love" series for Valentine's Day, and a "Prehistoric
Animals" series in June. The unique stamp art designs give the
cards extra value as collectibles for philatelic enthusiasts.
The FirstClass PhoneCard also provides a unique combination of
features:
- If lost or stolen, card holders simply call a 24-hour toll-free number. Service resumes immediately with the issuance of a new access code and caller identification code.
- The card is rechargeable through any major credit card.
- Each card offers prompts in six languages; customer service is available in more than 30 languages.
- The card's speed dial capability stores frequently dialed numbers for later use.
- Call activity reports are available by fax.
- The cards can be ordered with Express Mail delivery service by dialing 1-800-297-POST (7678), or via the FirstClass PhoneCard web site: http://www.americanexpress.com/firstclass
UK Smartcard Test Site
LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1996 NOV 12 (Newsbytes) -- By
Sylvia Dennis. Visa International has announced that the City of
Leeds will be the location for its UK trial of the chip-based
stored value card (SVC) known as Visa Cash. The trial follows on
from the success of Visa Cash at the Olympics earlier this year in
Atlanta in the US.
The UK trial will start in late 1997 when Leeds citizens will be
able to use reloadable Visa Cash cards as an alternative to cash
in a variety of retail outlets in the city, including car parks,
newsagents, and vending machines.
Visa has enlisted the support of six financial institutions in
the Leeds project: Abbey National, Barclays Bank, the Co-operative
Bank, Halifax Building Society, Lloyds-TSB, and the Royal Bank of
Scotland. These institutions will begin issuing Visa Cash cards to
their customers, and other people, late next year.
Visa Cash looks like a traditional bank card, but contains a
computer chip which stores money as electronic data. In use,
cardholders load electronic cash (e-cash) at suitably modified
automated teller machines (ATMs) and spend their e-cash at
outlets, usually on transactions under UKP5 (US$8).
AT&T Offer to Customers
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (Dow Jones)--AT&T Corp. (T) said customers
affected by the AT&T WorldNet Service electronic mail failure last
week will be offered a choice of either a 30-minute phone card or a
credit of a half-month of standard service on AT&T WorldNet
Service. A company spokesman said about 50,000 of the 200,000
customers affected were trying to use the service during the
outage, which lasted from 2:35 p.m. EST Thursday until 10 p.m.
Friday. In a press release, AT&T said the phone card has a retail value
of $10.50.
Beer Across America
"Beer Across America" are advertising a free Sprint phone card with up to 60 minutes in time with purchase of one of their beer "subscriptions". Didn't catch the phone number but it is in the current radio spot. Heard it on 95.5 in the NY market. The phone number is 1.800.854.BEER.
From: Andrew Henderson
Fresh Choice/Hallmark
According to a flier I received in today's mail, Fresh Choice and Hallmark have a holiday gift pack for you: A limited edition phone card with 20 free minutes -and- a $5 Hallmark Gift Certificate. Collect 8 Fresh Choice Holiday Seals and receive: Santa's phone card with 20 minutes free long distance calling. Get one Holiday Seal with each meal purchase through December 31, 1996 Fresh Choice Restaurants serve "hand tossed specialty salads & over 40 fresh items" and pastas.
From: Jim Silva
Paul Masson Offer
To receive a free Paul Masson Wine phonecard, call 888-262-7766, answer a few questions (how many glasses of wine do you have a week, why do you buy a brand, your age) and give them your name and address. The 10 minute card is free while supplies last.
From: Jim Silva (again!)
Real Stories of the Highway Patrol
Free Real Stories Of The Highway Patrol Phone card. The request has to be post marked by Nov. 23rd. It is a ten minute card. Send name and address to:
Real Stories Calling Card
P.O. Box 6188
Burbank, CA 91510-6188
From: Douglas L Jacobs
Totino’s
I have seen on the back of TOTINO's Pizza box's an offer for 4 different ET Phone Cards at 30 minutes each card. To get one just purchase two TOTINO's Pizzas with the specially marked box and cut out the UPC symbol and send in with $3.99 for each card. Their are 4 different cards to order. At $3.99 per card these make a nice addition to your collection and 30 minutes isn't bad either.
From: Michael Miller
Media Play
In the Media Play(a video/music/book store) ad, they had a coupon good for one free 10 minute calling card with a $10 purchase. When I went to pick mine up, they had not received them and would mail them out. The customer service rep. said not very many people were asking about them. Also the coupon was only in the newspaper ads and not the ads in the store.
From: Sheila Bennick
Until Next Week,
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.cardmall.com
2) Direct e-mail. Send a message to: phoneline@cardmall.com
If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, just send a short message saying UNSUBSCRIBE POL