News and Views

Seamless out of Business

Reports have been coming in stating that Seamless Technologies, a network marketing phonecard company, has gone out of business. I am still waiting to find a press release, and will publish it here. As of now, their web site appears to have disappeared. This is another set-back for the prepaid telephone card industry in the United States.

Scoreboard Mantle Update

The Mickey Mantle Shoebox Collection by Scoreboard has been released. It was noted on the Shop at Home Network that the first $7000 phonecard was claimed within 24 hours of the product’s release. The CEO of the company said that they were giving away $7000 cards to the first seven people who turned in a complete set of insert cards. Additionally, anyone who turned in the insert set and got a $700 phonecard would be entered into a drawing for a $7000 card.

Destiny Telecom NFL Set / Bad SCD Press

Destiny has released a 100 card NFL phonecard set. There are 4000 of each card produced, along with a parallel gold insert set. While it was shocking to find this announcement in Sports Collector’s Digest, writer Tom Hultman writes "Even though the majority of the hobby (sportscard) turned its nose up to cards over the past year, individual player collectors still desire the credit card-shaped pieces of plastic." Worldwide, the phonecard market is stronger than the sportscard market. With the sportscard market declining every year, it is only a matter of time before collectors turned their nose up to sportscards.

Phillips 66 Phonecards

Phillips 66 Company, a Division of Phillips Petroleum Company has signed a two-year contract with MCI to produce new customized prepaid long distance calling cards. Initially, 325 participating Phillips 66 outlets will sell the new cards. The cards will then be offered to over 6,000 Phillips 66 outlets in the United States. The agreement with MCI is Phillips first venture into the fast-growing prepaid phone card market.

Under the terms of the agreement, MCI will provide a complete range of advanced services including network transmission; platform services; 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week multi-lingual customer support and marketing materials. In addition, MCI will print and package the cards for Phillips. The unique point of sale display was designed by Phillips and produced by MCI. In fact, the "Big Red Phone" display won the 1st quarter 1997 Citation of Excellence in its category from the Advertising Federation. The award is more commonly known as the "Addy." (Artwork for this display is available upon request.)

Chamber of Commerce

The South Park, Colorado Chamber of Commerce has issued a three card set of picture phonecards (the Old Courthouse, Como Roundhouse, Bristlecone Pine), each dated 1997, limited edition of 100, 10-minutes each, produced by STS. E-Mail Marilyn McElhinney for more information at: MMMOST@worldnet.att.net

Opti-Free Solutions

A 10 minute MCI PrePaid card is found inside specially marked packages of Opti-Free and Opti-Free Express contact lens cleaning solution. These have been found at Long Drug, Wal-Mart and Target stores. It is colorful, yellow and blue on a green background with white and red printing. Be careful when peeling it away from the package, the card is very flimsy.

From: The Phone Card Shopper (EMCards@aol.com)

Jeep Eagle

Today's newspaper ad for "Freehold Jeep-Eagle/ Hyundai" promises a free $20.00 MCI phonecard, while supplies last, for taking a test drive. Card looks nice, says "Freehold" across top left, right edge has Jeep Eagle logo, $20, and the Hyundai logo. Main portion of card is a picture of dealership with a Cherokee and possibly a Jeep Wrangler. Dealership is in Freehold, NJ.

From: Andrew Henderson

Web Contest

Win a 30 Minute Phonecard by sending your name, postal address and email address to: fortuneseekers@juno.com.

From: Carolyn Thomas

Until Next Week? There is still no baby, so it seems like the chance of a newsletter next week is slim!

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 - All back issues are archived at the web site!

2) Direct e-mail. Send a message to: phoneline@cardmall.com

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