NEWS / COMMENTARIES

The Future of POL

As you probably have noticed, issues of POL have not been produced very frequently in recent months. This is the first issue in 5 weeks, the longest break I have ever taken. Part of the reason is a lack of time, the other is lack of news. I can’t imagine ending this publication, but perhaps the writing is already on the wall. Until I make that ultimate decision, I am going to start a new monthly publication schedule with the next issue to be published in July.

The Chudnow Report©, by Jim Chudnow (jimchudnow@compuserve.com)

CURRENCY EXCHANGE NEWS

Some of the more active "promoters" of phone card sales (especially

in "ethnic" / lower-income areas) are the CURRENCY EXCHANGES /

CHECK-CASHING stores, which encourage "Point of Sale" purchases of such

items, as utilitarian products.

Recently, I attended a convention concerning Currency Exchanges in

Chicago, & saw a number of interesting products:

HEARTLAND COMMUNICATIONS (1-800-810-7053, ext. 104) presented

their "Pre-Paid PAGING" Cards to be used with Motorola pagers in areas

of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. As with cards for

cellular service, they touted the benefits of set expenditures for what

people feel they can afford, with no monthly bills or credit checks or

contracts, and free voice mail with a personal greeting.

All their cards feature the tag line "The New Way To Page". Heartland's $ 5 card (for 50 calls or 1 month from the date of activation) features a man holding a pager in his right hand. The $ 10 card (giving 100 calls or 3 months) shows a blue pager near a keypad, while the $ 15 version shows a read paper near green hills and trees.

A nitetime big-city skyline is shown with a blue pager on the $20 card (which allows 500 calls or 3 months). If you get a $ 30 card with a sexy dancing lady near a blue pager, you're allowed unlimited calls for 3 months.

The $ 75 card (which gives unlimited calls for 1 year) features a red pager near a black musician in sunglasses surrounded by swirling saxophones. (There once was a $ 99 card picturing a blue pager and a woman on a "flying carpet"- but, it's been discontinued).

With the initial purchase of a Pronto pager (retailing for around $40), you get $ 10 of airtime included (and you get $ 15 of airtime with the LS550 model pager). They also have a deal at currency exchanges concerning Mitsuki Infinite pagers costing around $ 41.50 each).

PHONECARD CONNECTION, INC. (1-877-260-8996) is an agent for Ameritech (which is now a division of the SBC Global network). They

passed out specially-printed $ 5 / 74-units Ameritech cards picturing a

stylized globe & saying "Currency Exchange / Get Stuff Done".

The break-off laminated green cards (attached to a card saying "PrePaid Phone Card" in English & Spanish) had long-distance service by Quest Telecommunications. Domestic calls are subject to a 13.2 unit connection charge, and, after your first use, the card "account" is subject to a 15 cents per week "maintenance" fee.

The regular $ 5 card Phonecard Connection offers to currency exchanges and other such entities allows 103 domestic minutes (or 38 minutes to Mexico). Their $ 10 card gives 231 U.S. minutes (at a rate of 3.9 cents per minute), or 100 minutes to Mexico (at 8 cents per minute), before figuring in commissions to resellers for card purchases.

They offered "Pick Up & Go" Cellular cards from Ameritech: a $10 gold card giving 18 local minutes (at an effective rate of 55 cents per minute); a blue $ 30 card imprinted as giving $ 2 additional (4 local) free minutes (thus good for a total of 58 local minutes); a green card saying "$ 50 + $ 10 free minutes" (for 109 total), and a purplish card saying "$ 100 + $ 30 free minutes" (for a total of 236 minutes, at an effective rate of 42 cents per minute).

I was especially intrigued to see a flyer for something I'd never heard of before-- cards for "Pre-Paid Dial Tone RESIDENTIAL Phone Service", which a flyer touts as "a product forecasted to represent 32% of the $ 10.9 billion pre-paid market by the year 2003! This market translates into a 3.5 billion market opportunity-- larger than pre-paid paging, pre-paid cellular or pre-paid phone cards."

A 20-store test for such an item (designed to target low-income or

credit-challenged people) is to start around late May in the Chicago

area The "live" (no-activation-required) Ameritech cards are around 4x6" in

size, with a scratch-off. After purchasing the card / service, customers

call a toll-free # and give their PIN # to set up their service (which

will allow "unlimited in-bound calls" and around 400 outbound local calls

including toll-free and 911).

CAMARATO DISTRIBUTING had a booth there concerning two of their

telecom entities: Local Exchange Carrier NEW-PHON (1-877-639-7466)

offered cards including prepaid cards for upcoming RESIDENTIAL home service in certain areas of Illinois & Missouri (with plans to enter the Chicago

area later in the year). While rates will probably be changing, for some

cards, you would pay around $ 69 for 300 calls, with about $ 19 of that going

to the retail agent as a "processing" fee for the transaction.

Camarato's BUY'N TIME (R) division specializes in providing prepaid phone cards sold in a 15-state area (with services provided by Na Tel LLC & others).

In their "Classic" series, you can find cards picturing a U.S. flag flying in the breeze, a bald eagle flying over water, and a riverside scene with melting snow. The first of those versions is for $ 5; an example I've seen says on the backside, "Thank you for shopping at QUALITY OIL!", and is imprinted with info on the specific station and time and date of purchase; the card expires 6 months after first use, and provides a voice mailbox #.

The company also provides specially branded cards for various firms: A "Willi Oil" card shows that company's logo atop a sign. "Mr. Zip Convenience Store" shows stylized ringing phones besides the company's logo, and one for "Flash Market" pictures a cartoon-like stylization with a character in sunglasses. Another card offered by the company shows a large green bow on a package.

NEW-PHON themselves had a 10-minute card designed to look like a credit card, saying "Special Edition Gold Card" and "Preferred Customer" on the front. The back showed network services were provided by Can Quest,

with time expiring 12/31/00.

EASY CALL (phone # 773-427-1700) offered numerous prepaid cards (with bi-lingual English & Spanish instructions) designed for sales in currency exchanges and similar stores (with plans to also offer prepaid residential service).

Their yellow-background "La Cotorra" $ 5 card (in Spanish) pictures

a parrot holding a phone. Another $ 5 "Universal" card shows a map of

the world with various national flags. There are also two $ 10 cards, one

picturing a map of the USA. & a keypad, and the other a "Mi tierra"

card picturing the Mexican eagle on a cactus.

Besides distributing other company's cards (such as AT&T, Blackstone, Cellular One [SBC], etc.) and doing private-label cards (for

Supermercados La Chiquita, Minuteman car wash, etc.), Easy Call has

Their own "Mexican Collection" set of cards offering no connection-fees to

Mexico:

"La Mera Neta" has a drawing of a sexy Cowboy-hatted lady (giving

29 minutes of time on the $ 5 cards and 58 minutes on the $ 10

version); and "A Toda Maquina" (picturing a little steam engine near a cactus)

allows 34 minutes for $ 5 or 69 minutes for $ 10. (A 3rd card, "La

Mera Mera", picturing a mustachioed cowboy, gives 47 minutes for $ 5 or 135

minutes for $ 10 - but it has a $ 2.25 connection fee for each call).

They also offer "Heroes of Mexico" no-connection-fee cards, in denominations of $ 5 (= 33 minutes of calls to Mexico), $ 10 ( = 66 minutes of such calls) and $ 20 (= 132 minutes), picturing Benito Juarez and Miguel Hidalgo (seemingly designed to look like portraits on paper currency).

CARD OFFERS / NEW CARDS

Here are some recent offerings concerning cards in the Chicago area:

In early May, BLOCKBUSTER started selling a handsome $ 20 STAR WARS

- Episode I gift card, picturing the 3 males & Queen Amidala featured on

the cover of the newly-released video of the film (tho in a different pose

than the cover). And, they also have a $ 5 JAMES BOND gift card picturing

the movie "THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH".

In a 4/16/00 flyer, BEST BUY offered one of their $ 20 gift card "instantly" with the purchase of a Sega Dreamcast system for $199.99...

In a flyer of 5/14, the same retailer offered the following gift cards: $ 50 (by mail) "good toward future in-store purchase" for buying & activating any wireless phone. (excluding pre-paid phones; the ad was repeated on 5/19 for any PRIMECO phone bought by 5/29, and re-repeated on 5/28 re "any wireless phone")

And, in the 5/14 flyer, they offered one of their $ 50 cards (by mail) for purchasing any laser or all-in-one printer costing $ 299 or more....

Their 5/21 ad (repeating a 5/14 ad) offered a $ 10 gift card (by mail, along with a discount coupon book) for buying a DVD player (with prices starting at $ 159.99 on up); a new item offered you a $ 50 card for purchasing a CANON C530 printer (for $ 249.99); and, buying a 30.7 GB WESTERN DIGITAL computer hard drive (WD307AARTL) for $ 179.99 (after $30 rebate) would get you a $ 25 gift card. .

BEST BUY's 5/28 flyer offered a $ 25 gift card for buying a LEXMARK

printer, either Z31, Z51, or (at $ 179.99) a Z52 model; and it repeated

the $ 10 card offer on the purchase of a DVD player .

They also had a 60-minute AT&T phonecard available for buying any codeless phone costing $ 49.99 on up.

CIRCUIT CITY - which you'll be thrilled to know is now "the official electronics & appliance store of NASCAR" -- offered (in their 5/14

Sunday newspaper flyer) one of their $ 40 giftcards for any (non-prepaid-cellular) wireless phone purchase (& that offer was repeated in a 5/26 ad).

You could also get cards (by mail) for purchasing certain LEXMARK printers: a $ 25 card with model Z31 (costing $ 99.99), or $ 50 If you bought a Z51 model (for $ 149.99).

In a flyer, they offered a free 10-minute phone card (stocked in limited quantities) with purchases of the new Matchbox 20 audio CD "Mad Season" (selling for $ 13.99), available starting May 23rd.

Their 5/26 ad offered "Buy 1, get 1 of equal value free" QWEST phonecards: a 30-minute version cost $ 6.99; a 60-minute one for $12.99; a 120-minute card for $ 24.99; or a 180-minute version for $32.99 (thus giving you calls for about 9 cents a minute).

FUJI has placed ads on the radio 5/28 offering a 20-minute phonecard for buying various of their multiple packs of film (with the card seemingly inside the packs).

KMART's ad of 5/28 offered Sprint prepaid cards on "sale": a 40-minute card for $ 5.49, & a 100-minute card for $ 13.49.

OFFICE DEPOT (in an ad dated 5/26/00) offered one of their $ 30 "Money Cards" for buying any in-stock SPRINT phone.

OFFICE MAX's 5/21 flyer offered a $ 50 gift card (by mail) for purchasing any SPRINT PCS phone.

The 1st page in their flyer offered a free 60-minute phonecard (#

0221-2910, a "$ 10.99 value") for buying COBRA'S MicroTalk 2-way Family

Radios (at $ 49.99 for the pair; item # 0223-0589).

For the period of May 11 thru 13, J.C. PENNEY offered a seemingly

specially-made "Take Ten" $ 10 gift-card, which you got for each $ 50

you spent at their stores during the time period involved.

PRIMECO has placed large ads (such as in the paper on 5/24 & on the

radio) offering a $ 75 gift card (featuring their pink "Alien" character)

for purchasing a NOKIA model 6185 phone (for $ 119) & signing a 1-year

service agreement.

Indefatigable gift card collector KEN STRYKER has reported the existence of not one but 10 different cards available (in customer-chosen amounts from $ 6 on up) at SAKS FIFTH AVENUE. Included is one with a lady in lingerie, cards imprinted for Mothers Day & Fathers Day, one saying "Congratulations" (probably mainly for graduations), etc.

And, he's shown me 2 available at NORDSTROM (consisting of stylizations with the retailer's name)

Until Next Time,

Alan

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Phonecards On-Line© is published by Alan Cohen. It is a newsletter devoted to phonecards - Current news, viewpoints, and reviews of new issues.

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