The second front is to get people to use these cards. It does happen, seems that the public has accepted using the cards more easily than the collectors. While usage is probably up among collectors, many still do not use the time on a card that has no PIN scratchoff, and does not expire. That simply does not make sense to me. After the expiration date, the card is the same as a new card. With the current trend of cards being dumped after the expiration date, it makes even less sense not to use the time. I have an interesting perspective no this subject, as my full time job is working at a library. I get to see a lot of wallets open, and in those wallets as people fumble for their library card or identification to get a card, I see a lot of phonecards. I’ll start a conversation about cards, most of these people use them for convenience, but do not collect. I have not asked for any of the cards, because I hope after our conversation they will consider collecting!
The third front is to get people to collect. This brings me back to the header for this story. In 1994, it seemed that phonecards would cross their way to the mainstream. Sports card and non-sports companies were starting to produce phonecard inserts. Upper Deck produced a set of 15 cards in 1994, although these were not inserted into packs. Topps inserted phonecards randomly into packs of their 1994 Stadium Club baseball product. They reported that they were quite pleased with the results, yet Topps has not issued another phonecard insert. Non-Sport sets such as Coors, Bay Watch, Campbell’s and Coke had phonecards in them, but recently I can’t think of any non-sport product with a phonecard insert. I’ve looked at the lineup of 1997 sports cards, and not a single one has a phonecard insert. Looks like a fad that passed to the sportscard industry.
Even reporting of phonecards seems to be decreased. Krause (publisher of many collectibles magazines) dropped their phonecard insert that was issued four times a year. They moved their coverage to a two page spread in their non-sport insert published monthly. Lately, that coverage has gone down to one page. In their monthly sportscard publication, called Sports Cards, phonecards got decent coverage, including a top ten list and other information. Granted this was biased toward sports related phonecards, but better than nothing. This coverage also seems to have disappeared.
The tone of this article may seem negative, but I feel anything but negative toward collecting phonecards. I know from direct experience that there are a lot of collectors out there. Almost 1100 of you receive this newsletter, granted not everyone is a collector, but many of you are. I think we will get to a point of being a larger presence on the collectibles scene, but it will take time. In 1995, I predicted that 1996 would be the big year. I’m still waiting, as are many of you. It will arrive, but it will not happen overnight. In the meantime, enjoy the hobby the way it is. When the day does come that we have phonecard conventions in the US the way you see other hobby shows, we will look back on this as the good old days!
Now, bird enthusiasts who travel around the nation in pursuit of their hobby can feel good about phoning home to report their latest sightings. Today Tatoosh Motel & Bird Sanctuary, a habitat-friendly travel lodge, and Cliff Keeslar, a renowned wildlife artist, announced they will begin offering pre-paid phone cards that enable users to call from anywhere in the nation for just 18 cents per minute, the lowest per-minute phone card rate currently available.
In addition to saving about 38% over typical phone card rates (most charge 25 cents or more per minute), individuals who use a Cliff Keeslar Signature Series phone card will also be helping fund the breeding and release of native birds in the Northwest.
According to Hans Schnauber, president of Tatoosh Motel & Bird Sanctuary, all profits from the phone cards will go toward the purchase of seed, nesting materials, mated pairs, and other supplies needed for breeding and releasing native birds, such as Washington's at-risk Mountain Quail.
"With the help of phone card revenues, we are able to reintroduce Mountain Quail to their native habitat without relying on federal or state funding," said Schnauber. "Any phone card revenues generated above and beyond the needs of our current, on-site breeding and release program will be directed toward other such causes."
Cliff Keeslar phone cards retail for $4.95 and give users 10 free minutes of long distance. After the 10 minutes are up, those who wish to continue using the cards can reactivate them for long-distance calling at the low rate of 18 cents per minute, about the same rate as the typical residential rate. All phone charges are billed to the user's major credit card. The card can be used in all 50 states.
Contact Hans Schnauber, President, 1-888-828-6674 for more information.
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.
Submitted by a reader
Submitted by a reader
From: Samira Abdulhadi
From: Dave Berbert
From: Dave Degelman
From: Phyllis Benitez
From: Kelly Cummin
From: Kelly Cummins
From: Anthony Janakas
Terms were not disclosed.
The Florida-based company distributes phone cards depicting the licensed marks of leading personalities in NASCAR Winston Cup Racing. It had gross revenues of over $2 million in 1995, the company said.
Global TeleMedia said it expected Finish Line would have a positive impact on its prepaid phone card business.
In the future, Finish Line cards would feature enhanced services available through Global Media's enhanced services platform, the company said.
Master Card has an interest in Smart Cards
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuter) - MasterCard International president and chief executive Eugene Lockhart declined in a telephone conference with reporters Monday to say how much the card association is paying for a 51 percent stake in Mondex International, but he did say a $150 million figure mentioned in a recent newspaper article about a possible deal was "way, way too high."
U.K.-based Mondex, owned by a group of banks and ATT Corp
Lockhart said before deciding to go ahead with its investment in Mondex, MasterCard spoke to "every major regulator in the world." He said the regulators were "impressed" with Mondex, including the ability to audit card-to-card transfers above a variable threshold.
Lockhart said MasterCard will be talking to Chase Manhattan Corp and Citicorp about the smart card pilot program the banks are planning to start in Manhattan.
Rival card association Visa International is a participant in the New York City pilot, along with MasterCard, Chase and Citibank. It is expected that 500 merchants and 50,000 cardholders will participate in the pilot.
A spokesman for Citibank said the pilot is expected to begin in the first quarter of 1997, "probably toward the end of the first quarter."
Asked in the teleconference if a previous smart card project of MasterCard, known as MasterCard Cash, was a failure, Lockhart said it met expectations and was successful in trials in Australia. But he said it was now time to "go for the real thing."
"We are now committed to the Mondex stored value platform as our platform for stored value around the world,' Lockhart said.
Lockhart said research shows that consumers want payment cards that are "fully reloadable" at the point of sale and also at automated teller machines (ATM's).
He said he envisions a day when consumers can use chip-based cards with a telephone or personal computer to download cash, make inquiries or transfer balances, in effect giving users their own personal ATM machine. "The Internet is something that will have major implications for us," he said.
But he also said it could be five or 10 years before a full infrastructure is rolled out around the world.
Lockhart stressed that "stored value" is just one of many functions which the Mondex technology can perform.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Until Next Week,
Alan
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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:
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