Welcome to the first issue of POL since December, 2000. That's almost three months. So much for keeping on a monthly schedule. I've had a very busy several months, but unfortunately it is not phonecards that is keeping me busy. When I was writing this in 1996 and 1997, I actually felt quite bad when I missed a week. Now it seems unbelievable that it has been three months! The next issue will be #200, so that will be quite a milestone to reach.

The next century of collecting" State of the Hobby, 2001

To be honest, things don't look much different than they did a year ago. The hobby in the US is pretty stagnant. The Collector Expo that took place last year in Florida was an unexpected surprise. Given the status of things over the past few years, I honestly did not expect to ever go to another phonecard event in the US. I'm glad to hear (See next article) that the show is all set for 2001. While I am pleased that the event took place, and that so many phonecard dealers (U.S. and International) attended, the Expo was a good representation of the status of the hobby in the US - No collectors! While it is true that the location might have been part of the reason of low collector attendance, I don't expect a huge improvement over the last show. The 2001 show will be held in Orlando, which is a much better choice of location. The problem is that I don't believe that there are that many active collectors in the US, and I don't know how many collectors will appear from overseas. Unfortunately, there is no solid way to determine how many people are actively collecting. I can use the data from my sales, and they show a big dip in 2000. At least 50% of my orders come from overseas. I also watch as people unsubscribe to mailing lists, and it seems that many established collectors have left based on unsubscribe requests. Another negative thing in the hobby now is that there still is no new print magazine. In 1999 and before, at least I heard people talking about it. Last year, people stopped talking about it. When Moneycard Collector went under in late 1998, I even thought about producing a print publication. Looking back, it is a venture I am glad that I did not move forward on.

With all these negatives, there are some positives. People are still purchasing phonecards. It isn't like the hobby has disappeared. There are still long time collectors actively adding to their collection - at a huge discount over prices five years ago. The internet is a great tool, and I feel is under utilized in this hobby. I visited CompuServe today, and was saddened at the lack of messages in the forum there. That place was the center of phonecard activity in the early to mid 1990's. Collectors left CompuServe after activity decreased, and there was a cost to have the service. However, with AOL now owning CompuServe, there is no cost to participate. I'd really like a centralized place like that for collectors and dealers to at least participate in discussion.

To visit CompuServe, go to:

http://portal.compuserve.com/compuserve/forum_center/dir.asp#S

and click on TRADING CARD FORUM

Another positive is that it appears that phonecard dumping has ended. I know that this is an issue with dealers and collectors alike, but I feel the responsibility of dumping was with the issuers. Their actions of releasing the cards at prices that were a fraction of wholesale really hurt their market. Actually, it killed it, since many of those companies are long out of business. Some dealers blamed other dealers for selling cards cheaply, but I feel that is unfair. First, it is impossible to control the price on a market. It simply just will not work. If product is available at a fraction of the going price, someone is going to go in and take advantage of that. Additionally, on at least one of the issues, the issuer was selling the cards directly to the general public at a price that was 10% that dealers were selling at the time (Specifically, the AT&T 1996 Olympic Die Cut cards, which I purchased for $12 from a dealer the week before, was being sold directly by AT&T for $1 just by calling a toll free number)

With the dumping gone, there is no longer the appearance of worthless cards. Something to keep in mind - These cards were issued in limited numbers, often in 500 or 1000 print runs. It's my observation that since the hobby is very active overseas, many of these cards have ended up in collections and inventories throughout the world. If people rediscover US cards, these will be a lot more difficult to find. There are already many issues that were available for a low price two years ago, that are simply not possible to find today.

So, that is the state of the hobby - Pretty much the same as a year ago. Hopefully, there will be another issue of this newsletter published before the next state of the hobby address needs to be written!

Phone Card Expo 2001

By Peter Novak

We are happy to announce Phonecard Collectors EXPO 2001 which is going to be held on July 28-29! After a great first fair, we have moved the venue to Orlando, home of such attractions as Disney World, Universal Studios, MGM, Epcot Center and more. This year, the fair will be held at the Radisson Orlando in the Ivanhoe Ballroom on 8000sq feet of

space. The Radisson has generously offered the expo attendees an excellent room rate, which will also be available for a few days before and after the event. The fair is hosted by Talkhome Communications, Intelecard-News International and the Int'l Prepaid

Communications Assoc(formerly Int'l Telecard Assoc). The fair is sponsored by ACME Telecards and Moneycard.com.

We are expecting attendees from a wide variety of countries, exceeding the 5 continents and 13 countries represented in 2000.

Phonecard Collectors EXPO 2001 will feature phonecard collectors, dealers, magazines, card issuers, magazine and catalogue publishers, clubs and more. Basically every, aspect of the hobby will be there. You can trade, buy, sell, chat, make good contacts, make good

money and have a vacation with your family and friends!

Bring your family to Orlando and stay at the wonderful Orlando Radisson Plaza hotel, to enjoy all the benefits of a prime location! Registration form will soon be ready and the website is updated almost daily! Please help our efforts by telling your friends and/or linking to our website. If you link to us, please tell us and we will link back! For more information visit our website at:

Call: Peter Novak @ 1-781-529-4007

Email: phonecardexpo@bizland.com

Phonecard Expo 2000 Article

Bruce Harmon writes: If you would like to see an abbreviated version of a review of

Phonecard Expo 2000 which was held in Naples Florida back in September, you

can do so by clicking on the following link:

Originally planned for inclusion in InteleCard News, they decided to publish

a shorter version of my review with photos at the InteleCard News website.

Euro and Phonecards

By Ulf Helmke

In Germany we have a stored value moneycard called "GeldKarte". Disposable

cards are available in some locations, but most chips are found on

"eurocheque" cards, debit cards for the holder´s checking account. The chip

can be loaded at a bank´s terminal and is a separate function from the

cheque-card. The GeldKarte has had a slow start but is now accepted at many

locations including McDonald´s, most parking-meters, public-transport and

Deutsche Bahn - Germany´s railways - ticket machines.

Yesterday I went to my bank to pick up my new eurocheque card as the old

one would expire by the end of the year. When I tried to load the GeldKarte

chip, I couldn´t! The bank´s explanation was that the chip would only work

in Euro and not Deutsche Mark as the card would be valid until 2003, while

the Euro will be introduced on Jan. 1st, 2002. Thus I cannot use the

GeldKarte chip for over a year. As this will happen to all other customers

of my bank, this certainly is a step back!

Greater Toronto Phonecard Club

From: Dave Mondo

An election was held at the last meeting and the new executive were elected as follows;

(Thanks to all those who have volunteered their time and efforts in the past)

President Dave Evans (519-823-1098) monte@sentex.net

Vice Pres. Andrew Czajkowski (416-394-7225)

Treasurer: Pat Evans (519-823-1098) monte@sentex.net

Upcoming Club Meeting Dates

The club meets the 4^th Sunday of each month with the exception of the summer months and xmas. Meeting Time: 1– 4pm

New Club Meeting Location:

Please note the new interim club location:

Louis Kurowski has reserved a library room in the Meadowvale Town Centre in Mississauga

Directions: take Winston Churchill Blvd. South from the 401 or north from the QEW

Meadowvale Town Centre is on Winston Churchill Blvd. Near Aquitaine Blvd.

Go to the 2nd floor and enter the library and turn right. Contact Louis at 905-824-9512

Many thanks to David Mohme for providing us with the previous meeting location.

Greater Toronto Phonecard Show – 2001

Location: Ramada Inn, 400/401 location,

1677 Wilson Ave. – Rotterdam Room

TEL: 800-267-0997, 416-249-8171, FAX: 416-243-7342

free admission, free parking

Everyone is welcome and tables are cheap !

Contact Joe, Dave or Louis for tables

Chip Card News

TORONTO Sept. 4 /CNW/ - The Global Chipcard Alliance (GCA), announced
that member organizations Bell Canada, U S WEST Communications and GTE joined
forces to provide total customer service for their North American smart card
customers. This agreement covers the North American continent, making it the
broadest smart card interoperability initiative in the world to date.
The Bell Canada QuickChange/LaPuce Card, U S WEST Telecard and the GTE
Smart Card are stored value cards designed for consumers who prefer the
convenience, ease and security of using a smart card for their payphone calls.
Smart cards, available in different stored-value denominations, contain an
advanced integrated circuit chip. The chip gives the card its ability to
electronically deduct the cost of each call and then show the remaining value
on the phone display, thus making the card ``smart''.

New Zealand Phonecard News

From: David Levin

Has the collector been abandoned by Telecom New Zealand?

The Telecom New Zealand phonecard website is no longer accessible. This used to be a great source of information and a search engine allowed the visitor to list the cards in many different ways. Unfortunately, the number of visits to the site was very low and Telecom couldn't justify the expense of maintaining it.

Telecom New Zealand have produced 7 Chinese New Year cards to date and 2001, the Year of the Snake, we were expecting the usual $50 limited edition and much sort after card. Well, the New Year has come and gone and still no sign of the card. It is possible that a New Year card will be produced in the future.

It is interesting to note that Telecom have not produced a limited edition card since the Chinese New Year card released 12 months ago.

PHONE CARD PROMOTIONS

Lever Bar Soap

I was in Niagara Falls U.S. yesterday and in Target they had a 10 minute phonecard in packages of Lever bars of soap. This is a really nice looking card , a die cut card in the shape of a bar of soap.

From: Cookie Gigan

Lever Liquid Soap

I was at Federal Discount Drugs today and saw a FREE 10 Minute Phone Card offer adhered to bottles of Liquid LEVER bath soap.(rain scent? blue liquid) .Bottles were about 24-32 oz and they had really taped the little BLUE POS "free Phone Card" sticker on the bottles very securely, and I wasn't able to peal the POS off for more info.

From: Linda Abdulhadi

Until Next Time,

Alan

Distribution

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

This newsletter is distributed free of charge, and available two ways.

1) On-Line on the World Wide Web. The address is: http://www.cardmall.com/pol - 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@coin-auctions.com

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