I watched a recent episode of The Goldbergs "12 Tapes for a Penny" Adam (the youngest kid) gets into buying cassette music tapes through an offer like this. Basically, he got "12 Tapes for a Penny" THEN had to buy X amount at regular prices to fulfill the contract. And of course, got carried away with multiple memberships and dug himself into a huge hole.
I never bought music cassette tapes, BUT I got into this to buy movies on VHS Video Tapes. I think I'd get 10 movies for $1, then have to buy 6 more that cost a minimum $24 to count toward the purchase contract. I would buy 6 video tapes that met the "minimum price" then cancel my membership, sign up again to get 10 for $1 and so on. But since I now had their catalog, I'd make sure the "10 for $1" were the expensive new releases (some as high a $60 regular price). Then I'd only order $24 video tapes to finish the contract.
I stopped all membership once prices on movies in the stores came down to about the same (or cheaper). But otherwise, I thought it worked great. Remember, VHS tape movies were has high as $75 at one time. And I gave these all away to a couple of buddies once I switched to DVD/Blu-ray.
Anyone else build a library of music/video like this?
Yeh, as students we had a LOT of problems with them (for us it was the CD club)
The 12 for 1 cent went fine....then every thing you bought after that there was SOME excuse why it didn't count towards the commitment (you bought 3, only once counts, oh-no that one was $1 off so doesn't count, it was a Tuesday with a full moon so it doesn't count, you used a brown envelope instead of white so it doesn't count), and if you didn't buy anything for 2-3 months (because all they had was crap nobody wanted) they sent you a bill for 5 or 6 hundred bucks trying to claim that you now owed them the entire commitment (at the highest value items, of course).
I was actually happy when they went under a while back. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
yup did RCA and Columbia.. but I waited for the 3.99 or 4.99 sales... what killed them was the way they screwed up.. they ship items 4th class media mail and charge you 8-14 bucks shipping.. and they had a bad habit of shipping each cassettes singularly .. a few times of ordering 9-10 c/d's at 3.99 and getting hit with 8.99 shipping each.. made me never order again..
In the 1990s, I took great advantage of CD clubs. They would give you some time to fulfill the "buy X number of CDs at full price" stipulation. During the grace period, there would usually be a few "3 for 1" sales, or something similar. As soon as the contract was fulfilled, I would cancel and move on to the next CD club. By gaming the system like that, I ended up paying significantly less than retail. And I ended up with a nice music collection.
I remember the first time I signed up for BMG music club (I thought it was so cool that I was part of a "club"!). In the ad, there were like 10 pages of "stamps", each for a certain cassette tape. You ripped each one out, licked the back (to activate the glue for those that are too young to remember when you had to lick the back of postage stamps) and stuck them on the order form. Man! 10 cassettes for a BUCK! What a DEAL!
...until I realized (like the rest of you) that 1) the other tapes that counted towards my "fulfillment obligation" were $10-$15 each and 2) the ones I really wanted were the $3.99 tapes that DIDN'T count. My, how times have changed. Now, you can get whatever you want at the touch of a computer keystroke. Too bad the prices are the same for a $12 cassette 30 years ago or a digital album now.
I joined a bunch of these clubs through the years. I would join, and buy what I had to to meet the terms of the deal, and send a letter to cancel. They always kept sending me more records which I would send back. When I got tired of sending them back I mailed another letter telling them I wasn't sending any more back and intended to keep what they sent me. I got stuff I didn't like or want after that, stuff like Art Carneys favorite love songs and the top ten hits by Yul Brenner. I still have a Village People album somewhere still sealed in the plastic wrap.
In the 1990s, I took great advantage of CD clubs. They would give you some time to fulfill the "buy X number of CDs at full price" stipulation. During the grace period, there would usually be a few "3 for 1" sales, or something similar. As soon as the contract was fulfilled, I would cancel and move on to the next CD club. By gaming the system like that, I ended up paying significantly less than retail. And I ended up with a nice music collection.
I joined BMG like that about twice a year for a few years. Built up a lot of CD's that way and still have many of them in boxes out in the garage. They've long since been ripped to my computer. Join and get the 12 for $1, fulfill the contract, cancel, re-join. The one thing I always found odd about the clubs is they never asked for your SSN. Makes me wonder just how many people ordered the 12 for $1 and then just waited for them to stop sending the monthly CD for failure to pay? It's not like they could report it to your credit /shrug. I didn't do that but I think my eldest sister, the one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, did.
I joined BMG like that about twice a year for a few years. Built up a lot of CD's that way and still have many of them in boxes out in the garage. They've long since been ripped to my computer. Join and get the 12 for $1, fulfill the contract, cancel, re-join. The one thing I always found odd about the clubs is they never asked for your SSN. Makes me wonder just how many people ordered the 12 for $1 and then just waited for them to stop sending the monthly CD for failure to pay? It's not like they could report it to your credit /shrug. I didn't do that but I think my eldest sister, the one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, did.
I don't recall if they did here or not...I do recall my roomie getting mailboxes FULL of nasty demand letters every second day or so (LOL, with ever-increasing amounts on them). Sometimes 10-15 at once, but had 3-4 "memberships" on the go at the same time. Dunno what ever became of that fiasco.
I know after buying about 20-25 that "didn' t count"on a "6" commitment I sent them one HELL of a nasty profanity-laced letter and pretty much told them if they ever contacted me again for any reason the police would become involved and I would press harassment charges (among other things )....never heard from them again. At least with Columbia House Canada, apart from the $3.99 deals you never found out until the actual CD's were delivered if they would count or not, it was never marked in the catalouge.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 05-15-2016).]
I know after buying about 20-25 that "didn' t count"on a "6" commitment I sent them one HELL of a nasty profanity-laced letter and pretty much told them if they ever contacted me again for any reason the police would become involved and I would press harassment charges (among other things )....never heard from them again. At least with Columbia House Canada, apart from the $3.99 deals you never found out until the actual CD's were delivered if they would count or not, it was never marked in the catalouge.
If I recall correctly, in the BMG fine print it said something to the effect of "at normal club price of $14.99 or higher" to define what counted as a contract purchase. So when they had $4, 5, 10 dollar specials those CD's wouldn't count. Niether would the 3rd CD of any regular purchase since it was given at 1/2 off for buying the 2. At least BMG wasn't as demanding in their contract as Columbia House was. BMG I think wanted 2 regular price purchases in 1 year while Columbia wanted 6 in 2 years (or something like that).
Not that old... BMG closed up in June 2009. And, oddly enough, BMG bought Columbia House and rebranded it for videos. They just filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Aside from that there are still similar types of "clubs" around today. There is a Disney Movie Club and also a Book Club that I can think of right off. I used to be part of the book club a few years back but when I started listening to audio books we dropped it. Plus it was less expensive to just wait for the books to show up at the local DI or Goodwill type of shops.
[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 05-15-2016).]
Not that old... BMG closed up in June 2009. And, oddly enough, BMG bought Columbia House and rebranded it for videos. They just filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Aside from that there are still similar types of "clubs" around today. There is a Disney Movie Club and also a Book Club that I can think of right off. I used to be part of the book club a few years back but when I started listening to audio books we dropped it. Plus it was less expensive to just wait for the books to show up at the local DI or Goodwill type of shops.
I'd forgotten about Deseret Industries. There isn't one close by; maybe one in Portland. Here it's St. Vincent's, Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 05-15-2016).]
I hate to admit this but I WAS a very young, 12 year old stupid kid.......but the more I think about it, I was brilliant. Back then, (before computers and internet) they never verified and address on those order forms so I simply made up a name and used the address of one of the buildings on my paper route for the 12 for 1 cent offer. Each day I would deliver the papers to the buildings and there was an area for packages in each building. I would simply check each day to see if my package arrived and grab it. Over the course of a year, I think I ended up with around 150 cassette tapes for pennies.
I had a friend that would just buy the initial amount, and then not fulfill the contract. When the letters would come, he would just toss them into the garbage without even opening them. The odd thing is that in the days before you had computers to handle everything, he would sign up and do the same thing about three times before they caught on and stopped sending him the cassettes out. He had a rather large music collection working all of the clubs like that. It would rival mine, purchased legitimately from the record store. It's not right, but I suppose that is a risk that they knew there was.
He must have came by it honestly. In the days when those America Online CD's were EVERYWHERE, his mother learned that when you called to cancel, they would give you more free time. When they finally said "okay" and stopped the service, she would just insert another CD and start another account.(they had serial numbers). She got away with it for four years, before someone caught on, and if I'm not mistaken, she received a letter telling her that she was no longer welcome as an AOL customer.
I'd forgotten about Deseret Industries. There isn't one close by; maybe one in Portland. Here it's St. Vincent's, Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
The DI here is actually fairly nice. We went to one in California when we visited family earlier this year and I was a bit stunned. It was small and rather messy/unorganized. I think with the DI being a division of the LDS social services, the stores are just bigger and better staffed out here. Much more volunteer work from the LDS community itself. I remember the Salvation Army store when I lived in Yucaipa also. It was just down in Redlands and my parents used to take me there as part of school clothes shopping. We went to the Goodwill when we lived in Colorado.
In the ad, there were like 10 pages of "stamps", each for a certain cassette tape. You ripped each one out, licked the back (to activate the glue for those that are too young to remember when you had to lick the back of postage stamps) and stuck them on the order form.
I used to take the stamps and make signs and posters for the little buildings on my model railroad. I never joined the music club because it seemed like I'd get in trouble with my parents if I did. My dad built a collection of classical music by recording LPs he checked out from the library, so to him spending money on music - even a penny - was a waste.
I was a kid when these were around. I joined one and didn't read the fine print. After I was unsuccessful in meeting the obligations, they eventually just dropped it. Doesn't seem like it was really too great of a business model.
I was a kid when these were around. I joined one and didn't read the fine print. After I was unsuccessful in meeting the obligations, they eventually just dropped it. Doesn't seem like it was really too great of a business model.
Their margins were so high (at least when the system was working) that volume made up for a few losses. It was very likely already built into the pricing scheme. I know it is in other industries, the mark-up formula includes a certain amount for "loss coverage"
One place I worked our parts prices were: our cost x 1.2 (20% mark-up) x 1.15 (loss coverage) x 1.exchange rate x 1.1 (handling-covered bulk shipping on mnonthly orders) + shipping x1.exchange rate x1.1 handling (on expadidted like fed-x ordrers)= your price. Thats why THIS $35 piece of junk is gonna cost you about $250 by the time I drive to your place and install it for you. We can afford a few bad ones for that. (problem with them is its a bushing motor, not bearings)
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 05-16-2016).]
)....never heard from them again. At least with Columbia House Canada, apart from the $3.99 deals you never found out until the actual CD's were delivered if they would count or not, it was never marked in the catalouge.
