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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Jul 21, 2019 19:20:43 GMT
Since I'm on the music nostalgia kick...
How many of you old coot (like me) joined the Columbia House Record and Tape Club. For you kiddies, they ran in ads in every magazine in the 70-'s-80's. "Join the Club and get four albums for a Penny!!" One thin cent for four records. Then you got "THE CARD". You got a catalog and a card in the mail. You could order something with the card but you had to sent the card back or you got the "Record of the Month". I could be wrong, the the Record of the Month was usually crap. And you had about 15 seconds to get the card back or you got the record and the bill. And if you didn't pay, you were threatened with a team of savage lawyers and then penalties up to and including disembowelment. It worked if you were 10 years old, then you got old enough to figure out that Columbia House wasn't going to spend tens of thousands in lawyers and leg breakers to get the $15 you owe for the latest Debby Boone album.
There was another club but I don't remember then name. I joined that one too.
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 21, 2019 19:32:35 GMT
Yes. There was an ad in Sunday newspapers with postal-stamp-size images of a few dozen popular albums to choose from. And, yes, they invariably sent you stuff you didn't want, even if you sent the card back in time.
That problem was humorously worked into the Coen Brothers film A Serious Man, which is about a modern-day Job who keeps having bad things happen to him, even though he's does nothing wrong. One day, he calls the record club about being sent something he didn't order. Exasperated by a string of hard luck, he says, "But I didn't do anything! But I didn't do anything!" The customer service rep replies, "That's right, sir! You don't have to anything to get the monthly selection!"
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Post by msdemos on Jul 21, 2019 19:40:31 GMT
" There was another club but I don't remember then name. I joined that one too." Was it BMG ??    SAVE FERRIS
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Jul 21, 2019 20:17:38 GMT
" There was another club but I don't remember then name. I joined that one too." Was it BMG ?? SAVE FERRIS That was the one. I think that was the one that me and three friends joined as "synchronized shopping". We got together, each picked out different albums then traded them off to be taped when they came. After a while, none of us had the same records. "You get the Stones Some Girls, I'll get Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door, you get Van Halen II etc."
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maxwellperfect
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Post by maxwellperfect on Jul 22, 2019 0:24:39 GMT
Multiple times. First two times I got cassettes. Third time around cd's.
Titles I remember getting:
Boston - s/t (cass)
Styx - Paradise Theater (cass)
Elvis Brothers - Adventure Time (cass)
Porky's Revenge (soundtrack) (cass)
Madonna - Immaculate Collection (cd)
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Post by Vodkie on Jul 22, 2019 2:14:39 GMT
My mom belonged to it when i was a kid. A huge portion of my music cds came from them.
I literally bought a sealed cd from the music store at the local farmer's market that was manufactured for Columbia house
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theshape25
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Post by theshape25 on Jul 22, 2019 20:23:07 GMT
I did it back in the 90s. I also did the DVD thing with them too in the early 2000s. You could get 6 dvds for free and had to buy 1 dvd at regular price. Some buddies and I made multiple accounts and searched ebay for dvds that were selling well. We found one, I think it was Lonesome Dove, that was selling for a crazy amount. We got multiple copies with our free selections and then bought another at full price, turned around and flipped them on ebay for a pretty good profit.
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Jokers_Wilde
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Post by Jokers_Wilde on Jul 23, 2019 19:39:29 GMT
4 albums for a penny? Mine was 11 for a penny. 
And, after that, it was I had to buy something like 8 albums at regular price, which was overpriced as compared to in the music stores.
I would get notices in the mail for the 'cassette (or CD) of the month'. If I didn't want it, I had to send back the form - saying so. IIRC, the form was postage paid, so I almost always sent it back in to for them not to send it to me.
One time, I forgot to. I ended up getting Slave To The Grind by Skid Row. Of course, it was one I REALLY didn't want. Can't remember what I ended up doing with it.
For Columbia House, I did it once for cassettes and once for CDs. There was also BMG, and I did that once for CDs. Both times for CDs, I worked music retail.
Vodkie mentioned about buying a CD from a farmers' market - only to find out it was from Columbia House. Brings up an amusing story.
Back when the flea market was in town every Thursday, there would be a vendor who would be selling CDs at $17.00 including tax. Working music retail at the time, there was NO way we could compete with that.
A buddy of mine bought "Wynonna" by Wynonna Judd at the flea market. I think he was wanting to rub my nose in it - saying how much cheaper it was to buy it from the flea market than thru me.
Well...The CD skipped constantly. He was hell bent on exchanging it at the store where I worked.
Honestly, I laughed at him.
You come to me - gloating that you got the CD at a much cheaper price. Now that it doesn't work, you expect ME to do something for YOU?
Firstly, you didn't buy it from me. Secondly, it's a Columbia House CD. If I returned it to our supplier, they'd send it back to me. Thirdly, why don't you return it to where you bought it? They'd have to exchange it.
This is the same buddy who took the Columbia House offer of 11 CDs for a penny. Once he received them, he was going to write a letter to them - saying he lost his job, so he can't afford novelties like this. I think he did, and they sent him a letter - releasing him from the contract.
Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't send him a letter - expressing their gratitude. However, since he signed the contract, he had to fill his end of the bargain.
Then, maybe a couple of days later, he was going to sign back up.
REALLY?!
Makes you think.
Joker's Wilde
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2019 17:48:32 GMT
oh yes....i still get emails for the movie club....
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Jokers_Wilde
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Post by Jokers_Wilde on Jul 24, 2019 18:45:36 GMT
oh yes....i still get emails for the movie club....
When I was going to university, my landlady's daughter was a part of the movie club. This was back when movies were primarily on VHS.
Joker's Wilde
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Post by Ass_E9 on Jul 25, 2019 18:19:41 GMT
My father subscribed and got me:
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jul 26, 2019 12:38:50 GMT
I had a friend who used his middle name to join a second time to get the free cassettes. No wonder he had the best music collection.
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 26, 2019 13:48:56 GMT
If you quit, a year later they'd entice you to return by offering the same X number of records for a penny offer.
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