On 05 Sep 96, Kevin Daly wrote to John Giannini:
 KD> going to a flea market to pick up disney tapes is not high on my list
 KD> of priorities.
Kevin, you should have said that in your original message.  Your original 
message criticizing the "collectors pricing" I posted on some Disney animated 
movies made it seem it was a sinch for you to get practically any Disney 
animated movie tape at 10 bucks with absolutely no trouble.  Then in recent 
messages, you've disclosed you don't remember *exactly* which flea market it 
was, that your sister goes more than you, that summer holds other things more 
important for you....it all seems like one excuse after another. Quite a 
different picture than your original message painted.
 KD> For all of you folks who read my post, what I said was to go to a
 KD> local flea market to look for a similar vendor.
There aren't any.  Well, actually, there are, but *they* all want *more* than 
*I* was asking for the more rarer Disney videos.
 KD> You people are asking me to shell out a bunch of cash for people
 KD> I have never met, don't know.
You have already said you would pick up the tapes for me that I asked you to 
get.  I can repost that message if you like.  But I am really starting to 
think that I am never going to see them.
 KD> If your friend's daughter wants a copy of The Little Mermaid, why
 KD> don't you make her a copy of it.  And if he is your friend, why are
 KD> you "only" charging an extra 5 bucks, why not tell him you can get it
 KD> for $10 plus s & h.
Because I figured s&h would be around there.
 KD> As for video tapes being truly collectible, I beg to differ.
 KD> Eventually a new technology will come along and obsolete the video
 KD> tape and all these tapes will be virtually worthless.
Tapes have already been obsoleted by laserdiscs.  And now *those* have been 
obsoleted by the up and coming DVD 5 inch disc technology that will show up 
soon, and be the final word on a digital storage medium for some time to 
me.
All this has NO BEARING on collectable tapes.  The simple fact is that 
laserdiscs and DVDs, though better and far more permanent than mere tape, 
have not been as accepted as tape has in the marketplace.  1 out of every 1.5 
households has a video recorder, but only 1 out of every 5000 households has 
a laserdisc player.  Until that changes, tapes are going to generally be far 
more preferable than laserdiscs to most people.  And as you might expect, 
collectable laserdiscs go for even higher prices than their tape 
counterparts. Some you can't even find at all.  I have been looking for many 
years for the 1985 laserdisc release of Pinocchio, and I can't find one 
*anywhere* at any price!
 KD> If you doubt what I say, let me know how much all those "collectible"
 KD> 8-track tapes are worth, or LP's for that matter.
Hee hee - you're talking to someone who has collected LPs for 25 years. 
Apparently you are completely ignorant of the collectable record market. It 
is HUGE!  It has whole conventions, shows and swap circuits within the field, 
at least FOUR different national mass market magazines devoted to it, 
hundreds of price guide books, thousands of retail stores, etc.  The field is 
as organized as the collector fields for coins, or stamps, or whatever.  
Collecting LPs and 45s is one profitable field.  Original 60's "psychodelia" 
rock records, 50's jazz, 50's R&B, mid 50s to mid 60's rock of any kind - if 
you have LPs or singles on original labels, they are worth quite a bit.   And 
as with any field, the rares are priced out of this world.  The collector 
market is so mature, there are whole sub-fields of collecting, such as those 
who collect original records (especially Swan and VeeJay labels) of the 
Beatles, only. You wouldn't believe how much many rock albums from the 50s 
and 60s are worth - even some from the 70s are getting up there.  Next time 
you're at a collectable record store, ask how much records by Chocolate 
Watchband, Blue Cheer, the Nazz, MC5, early Paul Revere & the Raiders (on the 
Gardena label), Blues Magoos, Electric Prunes, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Lovin 
Spoonful, Moby Grape, The Velvet Underground, The Outsiders, the Wee Five, 
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, The Troggs, The Byrds, Chubby Checkker, 
The Crystals, the Ronnettes, Louis Armstrong, or hundreds more I could name, 
go for these days!
 KD> You folks all missed the intent of this post.  I was bringing up the
 KD> fictitious "collectibles" market.  It's a great (old) marketing ploy.
You know, I am a person who collects not only Disneyana and records, but I 
collect Depression Glass; Carnival Glass; Kitchenware; comic books going back 
to the 50s; TV Guides; Non-Sport trading cards of all kinds; coins; gas 
station premiums (like the Shell "presidents" coin game coins from the late 
60s); Fruit Box and Cigar Box art; old(er) "girlie" magazines; old toys, 
particularly older Tonka toys and matchbox toys; board games, especially 
those related to TV shows and movies (guess how much the original Lost In 
Space board game is going for these days, or the original "Dune" board 
game!); lunch pails; view master reel sets; most any memoribillia related to 
60s TV shows and movies; pop bottles and caps; antique post cards, 
particularly "greeting cards" and holiday themed cards (circa 1890-1915); 
sheet music from 1890-1940,, ethnic (racist) memoribilia, children's books 
before 1955, matchbook covers, - I could go on and on.
In all my travels, I have met only two kinds of people.  Those who embrace 
and love collecting, and think it's cool, and understand it, and those "more 
practical" souls who look at collectors as a strange phenomenon, scratch 
their head and say "Why do those people COLLECT all that stuff?  What a waste 
of time.  All that time, all that money, persuing yesterday's garbage...it 
defies explanation.  Those people would be better off persuing the future, 
saving their money and investing it wisely, and looking AHEAD instead of 
looking BACK."   Well, my friend Kevin, you seem like the kind of person who 
is one of those "more practical", types, who thinks "collectors" are just 
west-side of insanity.  Well let me tell you.  We *hate* hearing of people 
who think that way.  If you don't want to collect stuff, that's fine, but I 
really don't like the implied put-down implicit in the tone of your message 
about how collectors and collector mentality is just a fancy marketing ploy 
employed by "smart people" to take advantage of us "suckers".  Though you 
didn't say it directly, your message implies that idea, and I really resent 
it.  Keep in mind that it is WE COLLECTORS who preserve yesterday's culture 
and heritage for TOMORROWS generations!  You non-collectors certainly don't 
do it, so WE DO.
 KD> I'm pretty sure that Lady and the Tramp has already been released
 KD> twice.
Nope.  Lady and the Tramp has been released ONCE, back in the late 80s, and 
that's it.  Only one window so far, to buy that tape.
 KD> Business 101 folks.  All these tapes you folks are looking for will
 KD> probably be released again within two years.
This is not correct.  As I have posted here many times, Disney at present has 
no plans to re-release many of the titles people are waiting for: Little 
Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Lady & the Tramp, Peter Pan, Junble Book... 
The lady I spoke to at Disney's customer service, who was one of their head 
reps, said that Disney tends to re-release movies only when they have a lull 
in current releases.  I had called specifically about Sleeping Beauty for 
another person on this echo, and I was told they have NO PLANS to re-release 
Sleeping Beauty, despite the fact it has not been re-released in 10 years. 
She indicated there were other movies the studio wanted to release, and 
re-releasing some of the classics that were out once or twice before is not 
on their list of priorities.
 KD> I do have a list of tapes all you folks wanted, and when I get to
 KD> the flea market I will look for them.  This weekend is the State HOG
 KD> rally, so I won't be getting there this weekend either, I have my
 KD> kids the weekend after that, so it probably won't be that weekend
 KD> either.
You know, this is just more delay.  You certainly didn't mention any of 
*this* stuff in your first message.  You just breezily came along and 
criticized MY message, saying "Gee, I can get this stuff ANY TIME for 10 
bucks and John's posted prices are a rip."  You also imply that you can go to 
the flea market any time - you make NO MENTION of all these delays and 
conditions you've enunciated for the last 7 weeks, to getting to the flea 
market.  Look at your original message below:
    KD> You must be kidding about the prices???  I just picked up 101
    KD> Dalmations sealed, Fantasia, sealed, and a Lady and the Tramp
    KD> sealed for $10 each.
"Just" picked up, Kevin?  We had no idea that your picking these up had to 
have been a culmination of months of effort on your part to get to the flea 
market...
    KD> And if there is anyone who is still convinced that they're worth
    KD> money, please contact me with what you think they're worth and I
    KD> will pick them up on Sunday for about ten bucks and gladly sell
    KD> them to you for whatever you're willing to pay.
"On Sunday" Kevin???  You mean, "just like that", with no delays???  See, you 
make it sound like "yeah, I'll just breeze down there on Sunday and get'em 
for ya!" You should have said "I will pick them up within a few months, 
(assuming a whole series of conditons fall into place so I can get to the 
flea market again) for about 10 bucks and gladly sell...."  Your message was 
extremeoly misleading, and completely false when it comes to the "On Sunday" 
part.   You should have told us in the beginning about the tons of 
circumstances that would have to be just right for you to get back to the 
flea market again.  Had you done that, I wouldn't have been so trusting that 
you could get me these titles.
I just have to wonder if the whole offer you made was false in the first 
place.  As a non-collector, you might have just gotten a bit over-zealous in 
attacking a message that was very collector oriented.  Maybe you didn't like 
the blatent "collectorness" of my message, and you wanted to get in a shot to 
push the anti-collector perspective.  I don't know.  All I *do* know is on 
JULY 30, you criticized my message, and made an offer to get me some movies 
to prove your point, which, 2 days later I accepted, and now it's almost 2 
months later, and I see no tapes.  I do however, see a long thread of excuses 
on this echo, on why they *haven't* materialized!  I am really starting to 
think that the real story here is that your message was just an over-zealous 
response to a collector-oriented message, from you, a strong proponent of the 
"silliness of collecting" school, and nothing more.  In other words, your 
actual offer was fictitious; it was just there to make a point, and mot 
designed to be taken seriously.  But whatever.  It was your credibility that 
was at stake, not mine.  I'm just glad I'm not in your shoes.
If you ever do decide to pick me up those tapes at 10 dollars apiece, let me 
know, but I won't be holding my breath.  However, do note that until you do, 
I will place absolutely and utterly no validity or credibility to your 
message criticizing collector values of Disney tapes, or my prices either, 
because you haven't shown anyone you can get tapes for otherwise.
--- GoldED 2.50
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