PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Last week I took an unexpected week off – It was a low news week, and I was busy packing. I write this issue from my new home. My fingers are too sore to type, so it will be a brief issue. Next week, I will offer some discussion on the Beanie Baby phonecards. If any dealers or collectors wish to send me their comments, they will be considered for publication.

NEWS / COMMENTARIES

Washington DC Phonecard Collector's group

Written by: Del Deligianis

The summer meeting of the Washington DC Phonecard Collector's group went according to schedule. There were eight of us there and sometimes the event went on like a three ring circus.

The meeting started promptly with Richard Brook and Coral Knehans finding a suitable table in the Pentagon City food court. Ulf Helmke and I arrived at about 7:00 to begin the discussions. Ulf brought news of the state of collecting in Germany, summarizing his report in last months MoneyCard Collector magazine. Richard discussed his visit with Jobst Wagner, also from Germany. Richard also commented on finding 4 phone cards at pay phones in the Washington DC area. We felt this was a good sign for the hobby.

Coral will miss her assignment in Rome, but she'll be able to make more of our meetings.

I brought news of Alan Cohen's moving sale. Check it out if you are interested. I also shared one of the Beanie Baby, Erin cards I acquired. We wondered about how these limited cards might fare in the hobby, without Ty's endorsement. I also brought some of the cards I acquired in auctions or sales from John Monzo of Philadelphia. I also brought the three cards which Steve Eyer graciously provided for the meeting. (Street

Corner News, China Direct Phone Card, TigerTel) Each of us will add them to our collection. Thank you Steve for your contribution. Of course we left an empty chair for Art Becker, one of our charter members, who has found life away from DC to be rewarding. Susan Zelinski came by, bringing a couple of cameras to record the meeting for the next newsletter--it will be the first if it ever materializes. Tom was missed, but we understood, his business deals are bubbling. A lot of trading occurred throughout the meeting.

Soon Chuck Cornelius, Maria Rost Rublee, and George Samuelson arrived. Chuck showed us a neat card he produced commemorating his parents wedding anniversary. He still has a few of the Washington National Airport Tower phonecards for anyone who wants a great card with a picture of the New Tower. Look for his ad in the TeleCard and Debit Card

Journal. Maria continues to amaze us with her acquisitions. She brought a batch of new cards for trades, including a new Hershey's milk chocolate promo card which may or may not reach the market place and a new International Coffees Card made of cardboard stock and square corners. She also reported some of her refunding cronies are more reluctant to give up their phone cards seeing some value in them.

George Samuelson brought the flower cards and a die cut Texas card produced by Continental Plastics for the Miami conference. Lots of conversations and small talks went on and the meeting went on until about 9:30, longer than recent meetings.

We found a couple of nice young ladies from Holland willing to take our group picture. One of them has a friend who collects phone cards. She received the three free phone cards donated by Steve Eyer. We considered including her in our membership data base, but we still don't really have one. However, the club continues to consider itself the Washington DC INTERNATIONAL PhoneCard Collectors Group with our friends in Germany and Las Vegas. Now that Coral has moved back to the US we are looking for an Italian representative. A number of members will be attending the TeleCard convention in New

York in the beginning of September. Some will be roaming around on September 24th at the Defending Cyberspace "98 conference on September 24th.

The next meeting will be held on September 30th at the same time and place. Mark your calendars.

McDonald’s Chip Cards

A news item from Educause this week noted that McDonald’s was going to run a trial in Germany with more than 800 restaurants. Payment would be done with a smart card. A similar experiment in the US could follow.

Pepsi Prepaid News

From: An inside source at MCI

MCI has secured a promotional contract with Pepsi for 15 million promotional prepaid cards; 12 million for Diet Pepsi and three million for Mountain Dew. The Pepsi promotion is scheduled to start in January 1999, however the over-all schedule mandates that all 15 million PIN numbers be generated by August 21. Based on the positive free advertising obtained during the last Pepsi promotion, and the extra revenue, priorities have been adjusted to finish this project in a very short time.

PRESS RELEASES

Blockbuster Canada Prepaid News

Toronto, ON, August 24, 1998 - Blockbuster Canada announced today that it has launched a new phone card program that is being introduced in all of its Canadian stores. The branded phone cards are available to Blockbuster members in more than 300 stores across the country. The phone cards are branded with the Blockbuster logo and are available in denominations of 20-minute (for $8.99), 40-minute (for $16.99) and 70-minute (for $28.99). In addition, Blockbuster will offer an additional free five minute phone card with each purchase.

"We are very excited to launch this program in Canada", said Mark Hansen, vice president for Blockbuster Canada. "Our research indicates that our members are among the heaviest users of pre-paid long distance phone cards. Our research also shows that our members understand that phone cards are often the most affordable, convenient way to make telephone calls away from home".

Phonetime International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beverly Glen Capital Corp. (CDN:BGCC) that is based in Mississauga, Ontario was selected by Blockbuster to supply the phone cards for this new program.

"We are delighted to be working with Blockbuster on this comprehensive new program", said Wayne Silver, vice president for Phonetime International. "Phonetime was selected because we are one of the few companies in Canada with its own high capacity pre-paid telephone switching platform and 24 hour-a-day call centre, assuring reliability for Blockbuster's members in Canada".

Blockbuster will support the program with an array of in-store signage, as well as inclusion in its in-store publication. In addition, members who utilize the new Blockbuster phone cards will hear a series of different promotional spots and special offers each time they use their card.

Among the customers served by Phonetime are AT&T Canada, Sprint Canada, Business Depot/Staples, Western Grocers, General Motors/AC Delco, Ford Motor, Amway and Warner-Lambert. In addition to Phonetime International, Beverly Glen Capital Corp. (CDN: BGCC) also includes Provincial Products Inc., the exclusive marketer of Creature Cameras, and distributor of cameras and photo accessories. It can be accessed at www.pproducts.com. Beverly Glen Capital Corp. currently has 29,936,729 shares issued and outstanding.

Blockbuster operates approximately 6,000 Blockbuster Video and 400 Blockbuster Music neighbourhood entertainment stores in United States, its territories and in other countries and may be accessed internationally at www.blockbuster.com. Blockbuster is a unit of Viacom Inc., one of the world's largest entertainment and publishing companies and a leading force in nearly every segment of the international media marketplace.

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS

From: Gayle Geisenheimer

Until Next Time,

Alan

Distribution

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