News and Views

Prepaid Cellular Cards

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 1998--For all those cell phone user wannabes who were either turned down because of bad credit or were afraid of running up huge phone bills, your cell phone worries are over.

L.A. Cellular Telephone Co., the largest provider of prepaid cellular business in Southern California, is now selling "PayFirst" prepaid cellular time cards at participating Southern California 7-Eleven stores -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Our customers wanted a more convenient place to purchase time cards," said Chris Spears, account executive for L.A. Cellular. "7-Eleven's convenient locations and hours, filled this need perfectly."

Spears said prepaid cellular service is attractive for those who don't qualify for a cellular contract or want better control budgeting cellular usage because it's paid for in advance and consumers get a "minutes remaining" message before each call.

"Customers like the fact there are no contracts, credit checks, activation fees or monthly bills," said Mark Hagen of Dallas, 7-Eleven category manager, services.

Customers can sign up at a 7-Eleven store by purchasing a $50 time card worth 66 minutes of cellular time. They can use an existing cellular phone or purchase a new one through L.A. Cellular. Once a new phone number is programmed, the customer's account is credited with $50 worth of talk time, which is debited at 75 cents a minute for local and long distance calls and $1.95 for roaming. L.A. Cellular prepaid time cards are valid for 30 days from time of first use.

"Accounts are automatically credited, so once the card is activated, there's no need for customers to keep track of a time card," said Spears.

Pepsi Promotional Cards

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- 1-800-PRE-PAID(TM) has coordinated with Pepsi(R) in developing a promotional prepaid phone card for an internal launch of Pepsi's new logo design. The card, containing 5 minutes of prepaid phone time, uses the tag line "Generation Next" coupled with the new logo which incorporates an updated version of the company's famous red, white and blue globe. These specially designed cards will be distributed to employees in Pepsi's western markets, including Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

"We are excited about the opportunity to create a card with 1-800-PRE-PAID service that represents Pepsi's newest theme," commented Melissa Burkett, 1-800-PRE-PAID's director of sales and marketing. "We are confident that employee enthusiasm will prompt Pepsi to produce additional card runs, and possibly create cards to release in conjunction with upcoming Pepsi campaigns." The 8,000 plus card print run, for internal distribution only, is not available to the public.

South Dakota Lottery Phonecard

South Dakota lottery has a new $2.00 scratch ticket called the Phone Game. It gives every buyer five minutes of free long distance telephone calls, whether or not the ticket itself is a prize winner. It has a scratch off pin number and you can tear off the phone card part of it if your ticket is a winner. Phone card services provided by Smartalk.

From: Hope Rowland

More Pepsi News

Pepsi-Cola will be putting MCI phone cards in 12- and 24-packs of Diet Pepsi in a promotion in April. The cards are being issued by MCI and will have 5- and 10-minutes on them. The 5-minute cards will be packed in 12-packs of DP and 10-minute cards in 24-packs. No other details available. This info came from a corporate coupon package that was just sent to PepsiCo, Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay employees.

From: Seth Marlowe

Gold Point Pen

A 5 minute Goldpoint PhoneCard is attached to blister packs of Goldpoint ball point pens at K-Mart. The pen costs $9.95.

Quickcare Contact Lens Solution

Found inside specially marked packages of QuickCare Contact Lens Solution at Target stores is a 5 minute pre-paid card. It comes enclosed in cellophane and has a scratch-off. The Liberty / Quest card expires 7/31/99.

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

Sheeba Prepaid Credit Card

Sheeba (Cat Food) is offering various prizes, including a $15,000 prepaid credit card. There will be one grand prize winner of $15,000, and (10) winners of a $250 prepaid credit card. To enter, you need an official entry form, a brief essay on how much you love your cat, and (5) proofs of purchase. Visit http://www.sheba.com for possible information on this contest. 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.

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