Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #159324

Re: History--customer service training film--party lines

From	Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers
Subject	Re: History--customer service training film--party lines
Date	2016-02-14 00:05 -0500
Organization	National Capital Freenet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Message-ID	<alpine.LNX.2.02.1602140000390.15836@darkstar.example.org> (permalink)
References	<57b3f08f-8157-41c6-be28-003f33b9f49e@googlegroups.com> <7fe8322c-5202-4318-b1ac-11cd9540fe62@googlegroups.com> <n9ojkq$uqt$1@dont-email.me> <alpine.LNX.2.02.1602132131001.15268@darkstar.example.org> <c7e0463d-2e4a-4b5a-91e9-b123c5fa5e21@googlegroups.com>

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On Sat, 13 Feb 2016, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> On Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 9:35:36 PM UTC-5, Michael Black wrote:
>
>
>> It's that very process of junking that raises the current prices.
>>
>> If everything had been kept, then there'd probably be enough supply for
>> demand, and hence the price would be low.  Indeed, some of the demand is
>> likely due to rarity, an everyday item isn't as interesting for most
>> people.
>
> I don't know if this is a myth, but I heard that old comic books are
> rare and worth money because they were something people didn't
> bother to save.  In contrast, you can't even give away old National
> Geographics because they're so commonplace--people would always keep
> them*.
>
I'd say that's true.  Any used book sale used to have endless National 
Geographics here, now most won't take magazines.  It was different a few 
decades ago,  a wider variety of magazines would appear, Scientific 
American (the old style) and computer magazines and Popular Science and 
Mechanics.

The family collection goes back to the thirties, at least.

>
>
>> Early home computers were generally collectible all along, because they
>> never sold that many.  But once they became a more consumer thing, say
>> 1977, the numbers started going up.  Some Apple II's may carry a premium
>> price, but there were so many of them that generally they don't.  Too many
>> were sold (over a decent number of years) and lots were kept in the back
>> of the closet, probably the new cost too high for someone to scrap until
>> much later. It gets worse even later, since computers got fairly generic
>> as things moved on, and sold terribly well.
>
> FWIW, I recently discarded a lot of old computer junk, and no one was
> the least bit interested in even _seeing_ any of it, let alone in wanting
> it.
>
>
> * I had a bunch of old Geographics (the library was giving them away),
> but I found almost all the articles boring.  There were a few early
> technical articles, but they were more on cutesy color pictures of a
> closeup of a circuit card or spectrum diffraction, and text was more of
> a press release.  What is far more interesting to me are the old ads.
>
> For instance, back in the 1920s, a lead company extolled the value of
> lead as a useful additive to paint (which it indeed was), while today
> lead paint is blamed for a lot of problems.  In the 1940s, the company
> that made the ethyl lead additive for gasoline pushed its advantages.
> Various major corporations would take out dignified full page ads
> extolling their company's research or virtues.  In WW II, the ads
> pleaded with people _not_ to buy their products or use them sparingly.
>
> I suspect the Geographic's readership was in mostly affluent households,
> and ad space was costly.
>
>
I seem to recall the ads coming and going.  Nominally, you aren't 
subscribing to a magazine, but joining the National Geographic Society,
so profit wasn't a consideration.  As the ads increased in recent years, I 
thought there was a period when there were no ads, or very few ads.

On the other hand, since the copies still exist, one can get a feel for 
things by looking at the ads.  At least about taking a ship (or later Pan 
Am) to somewhere exotic, with your Zenith portable radio, and of course 
all those ads for military academies for the boys.  And all those classic 
Coca Cola ads.

   Michael

Thread

History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 10:13 -0800
  Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2016-02-13 13:29 -0600
    Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-02-13 17:09 -0400
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 14:23 -0800
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2016-02-14 15:50 -0500
        Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-14 17:27 -0800
          Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2016-02-15 09:45 +0000
    Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 14:20 -0800
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2016-02-13 14:33 -0800
  Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2016-02-13 14:02 -0800
    Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Gerard Schildberger <gerard46@rrt.net> - 2016-02-13 14:28 -0800
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 18:13 -0800
    Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 14:29 -0800
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-02-14 00:53 +0000
    Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2016-02-13 19:03 -0600
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-02-13 21:30 -0500
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2016-02-13 21:40 -0500
        Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 19:30 -0800
          Re: History--customer service training film--party lines JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-02-13 22:33 -0600
            Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2016-02-14 00:24 -0500
              Re: History--customer service training film--party lines JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 12:57 -0600
          Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2016-02-14 00:05 -0500
            Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 21:21 -0800
              Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "hgww" <hgww@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 17:30 +1100
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 02:33 -0500
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 13:00 -0600
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "hgww" <hgww@gmail.com> - 2016-02-15 07:28 +1100
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-02-14 20:14 +0100
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 16:33 -0600
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-14 17:23 -0800
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines mausg@mail.com - 2016-02-15 10:45 +0000
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-02-15 12:48 +0000
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "hgww" <hgww@gmail.com> - 2016-02-16 05:11 +1100
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-02-16 18:52 -0700
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2016-02-18 11:37 -0600
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-02-18 20:57 -0800
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-02-18 21:11 -0800
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-02-18 21:15 -0800
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2016-02-19 01:04 -0600
                Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "hgww" <hgww@gmail.com> - 2016-02-20 04:26 +1100
      Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-13 18:39 -0800
        Re: History--customer service training film--party lines Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2016-02-13 22:15 -0600
        Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "Joe Morris" <j.c.morris@verizon.net> - 2016-02-14 07:32 -0500
          Re: History--customer service training film--party lines "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-02-14 07:13 -0600
          Re: History--customer service training film--party lines hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-02-14 17:21 -0800

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