Phonecards On-Line - Published by Alan H. Cohen

July 19, 1998


Issue 134

Current Circulation: 2,900+

Phonecards On-Line is Published by Alan Cohen


Return to POL Index

In This Issue:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

There will be no issue published next week (7/26) I will be off celebrating my son's first birthday!

NEWS / COMMENTARIES

Phonecard Survey Results

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to submit their survey response from last week. I believe that the number of responses make up a good random sampling of newsletter readers. Ill report the raw statistics first, then follow that with analysis:

Survey Results:

How long have you been collecting?:

Category?:

How long have you been reading POL?:

Do you subscribe to any print magazines?:

(Of those who said yes, 90.6% subscribe to Moneycard Collector)

Purchasing History - Have you purchased more, fewer or about the same amount of cards in 1998 that you did in 1997?

(This looks good, 69.9% have purchased the same amount or more cards)

Have you made an on-line purchase?:

Have you made a purchase at The Card Mall?:

Your view on hobby trends?

(This looks very good, 84.5% of you think that things are going well or maintaining)

Have you heard of payphone compensation:?

Gender?

Winners Announced

As stated last week, five people will win a prize. The winners are:

  1. Jeffrey Weiss
  2. David Wegman
  3. Kathy Rankin
  4. Debra Kenyon
  5. Rhonda Warner
To claim your prize, just e-mail me and I will give you an address to send a SASE to.

Survey Analysis

Overall, I think the survey results show that a lot of collectors are very interested in this hobby. Almost 70% of the respondents stated that their purchases are the same or more than last year, and almost 85% of the respondents stated that they felt that the hobby was either going strong or hold a steady pace. There were a few things that surprised me. The first is that less than 50% of the readers subscribe to a phonecard magazine. (56.9% dont subscribe) Several of those stated that they either used to subscribe, that the magazine that they subscribed to folded (This is the case for PCM Report in the US, and other Australian and New Zealand magazines) Several stated that they were just not aware what magazines were out there, and others just did not comment. For those that are not aware of magazines out there, I am including a list. This list resides at Phone Card Central (http://www.phonecardcentral.com) However, I am publishing this list now for your convenience. The list is not complete. If you are aware of other magazines, please write and let me know I would like to add as many as I can. 


CARTA 
Pb 146 Lilleaker 0216 Oslo Norway
phonecard@aktivdk.no
http://www.aktivdk.no/ntk/

Collectors' Advantage Magazine
17-10 River Road Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 
201-796-5552
drtelecard@compuserve.com

Intele-Card News
10200 Grogan's Mill Road Suite 150
The Woodlands, TX 77380
(281) 298-1431
Fax: (281) 362-1771
editor@intelecard.com
http://www.intelecard.com

International Card Business
60-62 North Station Rd.
Colchester, Essex CO1 1SE ENGLAND
+44 (0)1206 791734
Fax: +44 (0)1206791736
icb@icb-cardex.co.uk
http://www.icb-cardex.co.uk

Moneycard Collector
P.O. Box 783 
Sidney, OH 45365
800-221-3148
terris@amospress.com
http://www.csmonline.com/moneycard/

Telecard World
PO Box 42190
Houston, TX 77242
(713) 974-5252
Fax: (713) 974-5459
publisher@mpcshows.comk
http://www.mpcshows.com

Telefon-Karten-Journal
An der Miele 11
Meldorf, Germany 25704
+49.4832.95050
info@tkj.de
http://www.tkj.de
The second thing that stood out from the survey responses was the number of people who stated they were not aware of payphone compensation. (44.7%) This really is a U.S. issue, and many who responded from outside the US were not aware of this, which is not too surprising. Still, the number is large, considering it affects most people who use a phonecard in the US. With the Telecommunications De-Regulation, payphone operators can now get compensated if people dial a toll free number from that phone. Most US phonecard are accessed with toll free numbers, so extra units are deducted for each call. I've noticed that most phones deduct two units from each card, so for that first minute, 3 units, not 1, will be deducted from your card. For a 10 minute card, that means three calls, not ten. That is a huge impact, and something that has not been very publicized. On the positive side, this "phone tax" is not permanent, Congress will decide on this issue in the near future. I will report any news I see.

Many people had comments, which are always appreciated. Quite a few people stated they would like to see more international news For the past couple of weeks, I have highlighted news from the Caribbean and from New Zealand. I depend on readers from these areas to send me information, and will always publish this when I can.

If anyone has any comments about the survey, please e-mail me!

PRESS RELEASES

Smartcards at the PGA

OKLAHOMA CITY - Precis Smart Card Systems, Inc., announced today that Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash., will use the PrecisCache(tm) smart card system during the 80th PGA Championship to be held August 10 - 16, 1998.

Patrons of Sahalee Country Club will use disposable stored-value smart cards to purchase food and beverages while attending the Championship. Sahalee will sell the cards in advance and on-site to Club members, guests, players and dignitaries. The card design features a signature hole and the Wanamaker trophy.

"We think the concept of smart cards makes sense for a short term event such as the Championship," said Tom Halsey, general manager, Sahalee Country Club. "It reduces the amount of cash changing hands, allows corporations to pre-purchase food and beverages for their guests, and gives participants a souvenir to keep after the card has been depleted."

William Haveron, vice president of marketing for Anything's Possible!, will handle on-site coordination of the project. "As a supplier to major sporting events, our company understands the operational elements of golf tournaments. We saw a need to bring some of the procedures up to date, and smart cards provide a new technology which will enhance the unique stature of golf events, as well as improve the efficiency of making purchases," Haveron said.

The stored-value system and PrecisCache(tm) software that processes transactions is provided by Precis Smart Card Systems. This application allows the amount of the sale to be securely deducted from the pre-programmed cards.

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS

Jimmy Dean Phonecard

Being a huge NASCAR fan I wanted to send away for the die-cast car that Jimmy Dean Sauage company was giving away when you buy their products and collect lap points. So I thought I would check out the website- http://www.jimmydean.com and what did I discover but they have an offer for a phonecard too. Check it out.

20 Points are necessary for the phonecard, the order form is at: http://www.jimmydean.com/racing/winners_circle.html

From: Luba Sato

Pizza Hut Phonecard

Pizza Hut is giving away a free 5 minute Pepsi Phonecard when you buy a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi at participating Pizza Huts across the nation. It is the same 5 minute card that Pepsi was giving away inside 12 packs a while back, I think?

From: Kurt Kemmling

Netphone Free Minutes

Net2Phone is giving away up to 5 free minutes of phonetime if you download their free software from the following website URL: http://www.net2phone.com/geocities/

Also, ALL 800 and 888 calls will always be free when dialing from your computer. Net2Phone is one of the leading Internet telephony companies, and is the first to give away free minutes to attract new customers, in the same way that the regular phone companies do with prepaid Phonecards.

From: Kurt Kemmling

APC Home Phonecard

Visit http://www.apcc.com/go/lit/isp_survey/index.cfm?tsk=C949Z to fill out a survey and get a free 10 minute phonecard.

From: Gayle Geisenheimer

Software Contest

This comes from the Best Buy advertisement Purchase Pro One Software, and receive a free game piece. One of the prizes is a 10 minute phonecard (1 in 20) No purchase is necessary, you can request a free game piece by writing to:

Back to School Game
PO Box 11405
Chicago, IL 60611

SASE Required (except in Washington and Vermont) and game ends on 11/2/98

Energizer Phonecard

This comes from the Target advertisement Purchase a 12 pack of Energizer batteries, or a 4 pack of Fuji Film, and get a 20 minute phonecard. It has a racing car on it, along with Energizer, Target and Fuji Film logos.

Until Next Time,

Alan

Distribution

Phonecards On-Line is published 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

If you wish to unsubscribe from POL, you need to send a message to the following address: pol-request@ListService.net

In the Body of the Message: address, just type UNSUBCRIBE