Oddity Archive: Episode 238 - VHS Vault Vol. 19 (Business Scams)

[@chazmaru9583]

This series’ dissonant OP not changing in 8+ years has itself become some sort of pavlovian, warm blanket of KZbin nostalgia for me.

[@Tornado1994]

Panvanned has been used since Episode 6.

[@OddityArchive]

Never thought it was THAT harsh.

[@saintrocketIX]

I love it. I used the theme as my ring tone for a while.

[@fisqual]

Literally same.

[@plushifoxed]

Strange to think that the show that roundly mocked/rejected "warm fuzzies" nostalgia now generates its own simply by existing...

[@mr3urious]

Misanthropic Benny-boy is best Benny-boy.

[@Tornado1994]

Benny is too much of a Gentleman.

[@IanGorton]

As somebody who had a brush with Amway about 15 years ago it seems to me that all these MLMs seem more interested in selling a dream that the fundamentals of a business. For the record something can still be a pyramid scheme even with physical products

[@OddityArchive]

I’ve had my brushes with that kind of thing. Someone outright tried to rope me into some Amway-esque thing back in ‘05. Even if I had the minimum $1,200 investment, it would’ve been an instant no. Kinda wish I’d saved the literature-would’ve been useful for this episode.

[@MushmouthJoe]

When I was 18, I was working in retail. A customer who took up way too much of my time, offered me a "job." He gave me a business card & asked me to call him so he could get me out of my dead-end job & make me rich. I was young & stupid so I called. He convinced me to drive 45 minutes to his law office so he could give me a rundown of my "new career." I fought the urge to pass out for over an hour while he explained all the amazing benefits of doing things his way. He finally explained that this new idea of his was called "Amway." I didn't know what Amway was at the time. But I knew it was a scam. When I declined his offer for me to pay him money for goods I don't need, he tried to scare me with, "You'll be working in retail for the rest of your life if you don't follow my instructions." I then asked why he was still running an unsuccessful law office if Amway was the future. He told me it wouldn't happen overnight. So I said, "Retail for the rest of my life it is then." Why work 2 jobs? Especially when one of them costs all the money you make from the other one.

[@seanwieland9763]

This is like the scene in the movie Go where the couple try to convince two kids to sell “Confederated Products” which they dismissively call Amway.

[@MushmouthJoe]

@@seanwieland9763 I've not seen that. But if it was produced after 1993, I could have written that scene.

[@JL-sm6cg]

I remember in 2004 when a girl (and I'll leave it at that over my association with her) basically nearly talked me into Amway. They called it Quixtar at the time. Nothing like her and her sponsor all but breathing down my neck to make calls to people to get them on board. I called one to learn his roommate tried this months ago. Long story short, I pulled out of it and all but stopped talking with this girl.

[@MushmouthJoe]

@@JL-sm6cg Good for you. You can't give these people an inch. They're like the Borg. All they want is to assimilate you.

[@Tornado1994]

"Ya'll ain't Selling Amway Products are you"?~I'm Gonna Git You Sucka(1988)

[@TheScienceguy77]

I just made $7.5 billion in 6-7 months by selling banana peel smoothies and phone cards. Thanks, Ben!

[@andrewguerra9343]

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[@astrosci8864]

I guess the TV show was right: There is always money in the banana stand.....

[@Tornado1994]

TSI in 1995: Calling Cards! America Wants Calling Cards! I just know they do. I mean those "Cellular Phones" are kinda of Unconventional, and Sprint and MCI charge too much on the weekends, so we KNOW People want Calling Cards. Never Mind those Commercials on TV running ads for "1-800 Collect" or "1-800-CALL-A-T-T" with Mr. T,Chris Rock,Adam Sandler and Hulk Hogan, and David Arquette and Marlon Wayans, and Internet? *Pfff* Who Cares about this "Internet"! It'll Never Catch on!".

[@billbell48]

My 9-year-old self had to call our state’s Attorney General when my grandfather thought it would be smart to get in that phone card racket. He tried to get me to sell them to my classmates! God rest his soul…

[@DanZero77]

We put our trust in FAITH POPCORN and LEON COFFEE! If those couldn't fit into MST3K's Space Mutiny odd name lineup, well.

[@migangelmart]

Bob, Johnson

[@otaking3582]

I think it's very nice of you to give that Popcorn woman another chance.

[@Seantendo]

(roll fizzlebeef)

[@jessmorgan6732]

Faith Popcorn's real name is Faith Plotkin. She changed it because she thought Plotkin sounded dumb.

[@otaking3582]

@@jessmorgan6732 And she thought "Popcorn" was somehow better?

[@michaellee8816]

Man I wish there was an Australian version of this segment, the VHS tape you could get at the library about letterboxes was amazing.....

[@AzraelEnterprise]

If you got any, you should send them to him.

[@OddityArchive]

@Michael Lee If it exists, I'd love to see it.

[@michaellee8816]

@@OddityArchive if I find it, I'll definitely send it....it was called "letterboxes: the inside story"

[@michaellee8816]

@@AzraelEnterprise I'm gonna try for sure now

[@ShadowArchive]

@@OddityArchive Aus local here, happy to digitize them for OddityArchive!

[@astrosci8864]

Leon Coffee's key to his financial future was actually in his last name..... I wonder if his middle name was "Starbuck"?

[@otaking3582]

As someone who once tried to sell knives for CutCo, this speaks to me.

[@andrewguerra9343]

I’ve done cutco and I had relatively good success with demos and sales including a homemaker set, but it can be hard. Primerica is even worse!

[@migangelmart]

Did Cutco scam themselves by selling a quality product? I still have my Cutco knives from 25 years ago, still get them repaired for almost nothing.

[@otaking3582]

@@migangelmart The knives themselves are okay, but their business model certainly isn't. Illuminaughti has a video about them, but from my personal experience, it's kinda difficult to make money if no one's willing to buy from you nor recommend you to anyone else.

[@JL-sm6cg]

Hey the knives are awesome. The selling of them sucked.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@otaking3582 my experience in a nutshell with them.

[@HappySnoutHour]

Matol reminds me alot of aojiru (as I believe at one time had a similar pyramid scheme going on before it was telemarketed everywhere in Japan). It is made of a bunch of tasty ingredients including kale, komatsuna (which is mustard spinach), barely and other weird ingredients that go in to that concoction. Since the late '90s it's been really popular with the elderly who swear by it (much like old people here swear by prunes). They were giving out free samples of this product at a Japanese supermarket in Southern California. I tried it and it tasted like they dredged the Love Canal and added the taste of a rotting tuna boat that's been out at sea for two weeks. It is that bad.

[@Tornado1994]

Matol was WAY behind the times, but was too inept to realize that. Even in late 1993.

[@JoachimAV]

Some of the inserts in that Matol tape are from an earlier tape of theirs entitled An Idea Whose Time Has Come, also on KZbin. It's pretty amusing and weirdly polished for what it is (or at the very least shot on film), desperately trying to create some kind of globetrotting mini-epic out of potassium placebo drink.

[@Tornado1994]

In other words, it's HerbalLife. But Worse.

[@thaddeusmcgrath]

I remember in 1998 the factory I worked at had quite a few employees selling these cards and try to explain the savings and how it made a big profit. The plant manager was also involved being head of the scheme and backfired on him when he stepped on the wrong feet and a call to the 1800 employee hotline was called.

[@Tornado1994]

1998. That means 10-10-321 and "1-800-CALL-ATT" were constantly being advertised aggressively and MCI,Southwestern Bell,AT&T and Sprint(With the Dime Lady) ads advertising Unlimited Weekend Long Distance calls were running on TV. Was TSI Really that out of touch?

[@MrWolfSnack]

It's like that scene from The Office where Michael pitches a pyramid scheme to the company.

[@Mistertbones]

"And if you believe that, I've got some oceanfront property in Iowa to sell you." I burst out laughing at that part.

[@r66fplaysgames]

It actually reminded me of the George Strait song "Oceanfront Property in Arizona".

[@andrewguerra9343]

That’s was beautiful! Here’s one: “if you believe that I can make you a multi-millionaire with my recruiting pyramid scheme of selling my petrol shake health juice, then I’ve got a beach house in Wyoming for you to rent.”

[@Tornado1994]

@@andrewguerra9343 "We've got Magazines and Brochures! You can make Millions and win a Timeshare Beach House in Chicago for Sale!"

[@wood0366]

Was that some Psycho Killer needledrop at the opening of the video?

[@OddityArchive]

According to YT, it was.

[@fisqual]

In around 2003 while volunteering at a computer refurbishment and recycling place we dismantled one of the local big scammy phone card call center places. It was in a place that kind of looked like a house but they had taken all the walls down and added industrial AC. All the shelves were hand made out of wood. And the machines were 400 identical 200mhz micron tower PCs. They all had 4 modems, 16mb ram, 2.54gb Samsung hard disks and every one of them had been powred on for 7 or so years so it sounded like walking into a leaf blower would sound like... all the drives had screaming bearings. that all had 4 or more modems inside. Even though I was barely 16 years old I knew this place was really shady. The way a house was rigged to support this sort of thing now reminds me of what I imagine a grow house looks like in places without legal weed. ...but instead just sad computers.

[@MrWolfSnack]

You see the same thing now with bitcoin/dogecoin miners. Exact same thing.

[@GabrielleCenter2000]

Reminds me of store staff training videos for hired workers at supermarkets.

[@ColeHomeVideo]

Faith Popcorn and Leon Coffee should start a business together.

[@JL-sm6cg]

And get Creflo Dollar in on it too. Lol

[@TheScienceguy77]

They just need to consult D'Shane Teague. He knows the criterias for businesses.

[@astrosci8864]

I heard that they did. They changed their original furniture store name (Faith Leon's) to just Leon's.....🙂

[@andrewguerra9343]

@@JL-sm6cg Creflo Dollar is worse than an MLM: he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@andrewguerra9343 I know. I just picked him for the name.

[@RickinBaltimore]

Man I'm getting some Tom Vu vibes in this one.

[@sracine10]

Was thinking the EXACT same thing - especially with the first tape.

[@JohnPascavageFishing]

And I can’t help but get Kahn from King Of The Hill vibes from Tom Vu

[@thekidfromiowa]

Come to ma seminah

[@Tornado1994]

Yu get to maka lotta monee.

[@Tornado1994]

@@thekidfromiowa My friend, let me ask you a question. There are the Doers and the Takers, Which one are you?Tom Vu showed me da way to financial freedum.

[@r66fplaysgames]

7:40 I would have said "Oceanfront Property in Arizona" as in that George Strait song.

[@OddityArchive]

Tells you how much George Strait I listen to.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

@@OddityArchive So you're not dire to Strait's, bye George!! (...ducks items thrown by Ben...)

[@OddityArchive]

My knowledge of Strait is quite dire. My mom had his greatest hits on cassette when I was a kid, but I didn't have any taste for country quite yet.

[@Rando1975]

LOL at the Alice from Dilbert comic joke!

[@JL-sm6cg]

Missing Kathy Griffin's voice.

[@joearnold6881]

These people should make a VHS for NFTs!

[@astrosci8864]

"Run yourself ragged and never see your family" So, the 2022 "Gig Method", right? Check!

[@mini_ika_musume]

Oh goody. I have been fascinated about the scheme that claims that the Iraqi dinar will be as valuable as the Swiss franc, despite crippling sectarian tensions, and a 20% devaluation of said dinar in 2020.

[@astrosci8864]

It is so interesting that neither of these videos even mentioned the Internet.....even though it was certainly mentioned in 1994.....

[@Tornado1994]

TSI was Early 1996. The Internet boom hit in '95. They were SO inept that they didn't even get a CompuServe Domain!

[@astrosci8864]

@@Tornado1994 Wow. That's even worse!

[@Tornado1994]

@@astrosci8864 I know. Pathetic!

[@nick56677]

Not to mention how they didn't see the popularity of cellphones either. It's like "Hey folks we know what's gonna make u rich" yet ignoring the internet and cell phones lol

[@astrosci8864]

@@nick56677 I do remember that the internet was not seen as the "sure thing" back then but it did not take long until it was.....

[@jonasga]

Ah yes, when I am shopping for my phone cards, Like 95% of the time I am scratching my head trying to figure out which ones are rodeo clown approved. They should really just print their rodeo clown approval rating on the packaging as standard.

[@figureheaduk]

The Stop Making Sense version of "Psycho Killer". My favourite!

[@jobrown95]

It's so strange that they'd pick a quieter, leaner Talking Heads track only to layer sound effects over it. They could have picked something energetic and less questionable like "Wild Wild Life" or "Once in a Lifetime".

[@Tornado1994]

The "Once in a Lifetime" Version of Stop Making Sense is Perfection!

[@sutorippuwebmaster8783]

Faith Popcorn. In four delicious flavors: Salt, Butter, Caramel, and Cigarette Smoke.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

...not to mention that optional bonus on top of the Cigarette Smoke flavour... Lung Butter Pearl Topping!!!!

[@sutorippuwebmaster8783]

@@djhrecordhound4391 *hoccccccchhhhh...!*

[@Tornado1994]

Faith Popcorn's Boyfriend is Charles Cheetah! Her Friend is Hope Apple Juice.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

@@sutorippuwebmaster8783 LMAO!

[@jobrown95]

The first time I watched this, I thought I was imagining that the Stop Making Sense version of "Psycho Killer" was playing over the opening of the Matol tape. How dementedly apt.

[@swissmediastuff]

Faith Popcorn What a name!

[@thekidfromiowa]

Come work for the Globex Corporation in Cypress Creek!

[@astrosci8864]

It is simply hilarious that neither of these videos had any idea of what the 21st century would actually become.....

[@Tornado1994]

The Internet. Neither of them had a Website. And this was 1994-1995. They BOTH missed the Boat.

[@MrSchimpf]

3:51 Beau Weaver really needed a quick buck for the mortgage payment on this tape.

[@TheScienceguy77]

The first video you were riffing was hilarious, but your commentary on the TSI video was especially funny to me. Keep up the great work.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

Y'know, when it was alternating between the "Matol" logo and the "freedom" beach, I kept saying "no"... (...no freedom Matol...😆😂🤣)

[@ChuckD79]

The VHS Vault riffs are among my favorite OA sub-series...had me laughing the whole time, and could easily picture FDG used as background music for one of those tapes! 😀

[@MrWolfSnack]

Matol Botanical was a health and wellness network marketing company located in Canada. They were in business 25+ years. As of 2009, they are no longer in business because they were purchased by Univera. Univera still sells the Matol KM drink so you can have your 90s ponzi scheme nostalgia fix, but it comes at around $40 a bottle.

[@plawson8577]

In before Blair/Illuminaughi makes an MLM video on Univera.

[@VectraQS]

13:42 Unfortunately, the little revenue she got from selling potassium drink went towards keeping that Mac Portable on the desk up and running. "Calling cards are the wave of the future" was quoted verbatim by Michael Scott on "The Office." I wonder if one of the writers saw that tape, or if it was just a very common phrase thrown around in those circles. You also managed to unlock a long-hidden memory of my grandmother using a calling card to call one of her cousins about 15 years ago.

[@andrewguerra9343]

Here’s two dishonorable mentions of business scams: Primerica and LuLaRoe

[@SalivatingSteve]

Similar to Primerica, the world financial group.

[@andrewguerra9343]

@@SalivatingSteve and another one very similar to Primerica called People Helping People or PHP, the only difference is that PHP aims for low income families and while Primerica aims for middle class families.

[@Tornado1994]

I was part of Primerica pre covid. Its not a Scam, its an MLM that sells Life Insurance Policies and makes its money through Recruitment.

[@plawson8577]

Especially LuLaRoe. Illuminaughi made a Video on them about 2 years ago. She really tore into them.

[@drfalcon4102]

havent thought about phone cards in years

[@gabbo13]

I remember when I watched an Omnilife video and other MLM where they sell some perfumes. I watched both and it felt so strange.

[@Tornado1994]

Let me guess, Illuminaughtii, right?

[@gabbo13]

@@Tornado1994 No, it's not related to that youtuber.

[@Tornado1994]

@@gabbo13 I looked it up, it's all in Spanish.

[@thekidfromiowa]

The male narrator on the Matol video sounds so familiar. I think it might be Denny Delk who I know best as the narrator of the Rogue Squadron games. I doubt this is listed in his IMDB filmography.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

I thought it was familiar but couldn't remember where from. Someone else commented and said it was Disney home video.

[@75aces97]

This was a blast from a very specific time of the past. My friend's father tried the phone card sales racket for a short time around 1994. He tried to rope me into it at one point. I had no interest in selling them, but i did buy a few from him since i happened to need long distance calling and the cards were as good a deal as any at the time. Yeesh! One thing i definitely dont miss about the 90s is the constant headache of long distance service.

[@astrosci8864]

1994 - "Is your dual income going to be enough to send your kids to college?" 2022 - "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[@Tornado1994]

1995: Matol "Hey guys, we've been selling VHS tapes and brining people to our Seminars for over a year and have been looking for more ways to advertise, how about that Internet thing? Can we get a Domain from like CompuServe and get a Webpage up online? *Pauses for a Moment* Nah. Its a Fad, it'll come and go. 2022: Former Matol Sales Leaders working at HerbLife. Hey Guys, We really missed the boat with the Dotcom craze back in the mid 90s. I know. Sucks.

[@OddityArchive]

At least they dodged the dotcom bubble.

[@Tornado1994]

@@OddityArchive Yup.

[@Tornado1994]

@@OddityArchive Hey Ben, you ever watched Blair's ILuminaughtii channel?She's a Colorado Businesswoman and Millennial Dog Mom that covers MLMs. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWepcqJqgpikpbM

[@EvaFull]

Oddity Archive finding & sharing even more VHS GOLD!!! Thank You Ben for giving me a good 😂. I needed it.

[@stratoplayer1988]

Did Stan Bush really do the music for the Matol tape? Or is this one of Ben's jokes?

[@OddityArchive]

I doubt it. Just sounded like his style.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

The popcorn report. Probably endorsed by Orville redenbacher.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

Well, the popcorn was about as fluffy as most of the hairdos in these videos...

[@Tornado1994]

And Pop Secret!

[@SmeddyTooBestChannel]

In some dark universe, there's totally another Ben doing an episode on the Matol Satellite Network.

[@rrsaga]

DUDE they made a ton of money from me on phone cards in the 90s cause my husband at the time,(still is) was from Canada and loooonngg distance was costly back then

[@astrosci8864]

1994 - "Why pay the big three twice as much for the same service?" 2022 - "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" [places handgun in mouth]

[@MrWolfSnack]

Ben joking about Leon Coffee still being in the rodeo today - its actually not a joke. he really is. Although no longer a bullrider, he's taking an easier job of being a barrel clown and giving comedic relief.

[@chipbush0111]

Flamboyant Kenny Rogers is the name of my new punk band.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

Dang son, if you made a punk version of "Just Dropped In" by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, you'd be effin' legends!!!!

[@licoricewhip]

Ben, you left your ONTV box on. Can you turn it off, please? Thanks.

[@OddityArchive]

And turn off the Archive's transmitter? Never!

[@Jennifer_Lewis_Beach_Living]

Oh my goodness Ben’s commentary on this episode had me laughing so hard my stomach and cheeks were hurting.

[@sebastiantrus6733]

Back when I used to go to my local library they had a section near the front called free books and media and by media I mean vhs tapes and most of the tapes were for business recruitment and I still have them

[@MrJohndoakes]

Matol was bought out by Univera in 2009 - they wanted the potassium drink. Univera was a pill-selling MLM that dumped the model for online direct sales a few years ago. I can't find a thing about TSI - I have a feeling that they changed names or were a fly-by-night firm.

[@daftoptimist]

I know #antimlm isn’t your content category, but this is a really entertaining critique of network marketing, and also shows that the industry has been selling the same lies, at least as long as many of us have been alive.

[@heidifedor]

This is like Quixtar AKA Amway.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

I remember using phone cards in the mid- to late-90s when I would be out with my friend, before we had drivers' licenses and when we didn't use cell phones yet. I'd use the card to save money using the pay phone to call my dad to pick us up. Those were the days. They were convenient for saving money, it was like a gift card for the pay phone. Within a few years we stopped using them once we both had licenses and cell phones.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

Well hello there multi-level marketing. Haven't seen one of those videos in a while.

[@MichaelPKelly-hg5jo]

Yes, Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" SMS version, but please let me enjoy that 16:54 Lene Lovich "Lucky Number" if you don't mind.

[@MichaelPKelly-hg5jo]

I have it on repeat, btw. Not Lene's, this.

[@trainluvr]

Do you speak into a microphone behind the box?

[@OddityArchive]

The one you see in the shot is a live mic.

[@JFStan]

“Crude oil, dear?” That’s when I lost it. 😂😂😂

[@astrosci8864]

Let's remember that one of these "Emmy-Award winners" was U.S. president from 2017-2021....just imagine that.....now you can vomit.....

[@andrewguerra9343]

Faith Popcorn from the church of Orville Redenbaucher of latter day moviegoers.

[@RaptorsVideos]

so true

[@andrewguerra9343]

21:45 no relation to Jon Coffey from the Green Mile.

[@AmstradExin]

Matol still exist as Univera.

[@5roundsrapid263]

I’d wondered about that. A lot of these companies never really die. Amway changed its name for a while, then eventually changed it back!

[@andrewguerra9343]

17:44 I wanted to give my testimony at a hotel pool and look all preppy at the guests playing Marco Polo.

[@dendroleon]

'real life version of alice from the dilbert comics' XD

[@recordeer8282]

My lucky number is... the next fool to sign on to my MLM scheme!

[@ichigokarasu]

But 1991 didn't have "Starting your own KZbin channel," as a solid Plan B to fall back on!

[@Viteaification]

"profit free profits" that tickled me

[@mightyfilm]

Is it just me or is the narrator for that first tape the guy who usually does the D**ney movie trailer voice overs from that same time period?

[@djhrecordhound4391]

THAT'S where I heard it from, and couldn't remember where, thanx!!!!

[@mightyfilm]

@@djhrecordhound4391 If it wasn't from those movie trailers, he was definitely a commercial pitchman voice over in that era. I think he was on a couple of Weird Al's songs, too. Can't Watch This and The Plumbing Song.

[@Tornado1994]

You me Joe Elliot?

[@migangelmart]

Nice to hear "Psycho Killer" open the Rush Hour video.

[@50shadesofbeige88]

I was going to name my first child Bo, but now I'm definitely going to name him D'shane

[@Cole.....]

I think they led off with “Faith Popcorn” because all of the names in this video sound fake as hell.

[@markcharron]

One of the things you realize when you get into nostalgic stuff is you're not so much "reliving your childhood" as much as you are reliving the Boomers' adulthood.

[@raccoon874]

I have no idea what the fuck TSI's intent was.

[@fisqual]

I can't believe it but it appears Matol still exists!

[@joearnold6881]

So I found this channel a while back, and I really dig a lot of it. I haven’t seen an explanation in the older vids I’ve watched… what’s the deal with the cardboard box?

[@AzraelEnterprise]

I'm not sure it ever was explained.

[@ChrisKewl]

He doesn't show his face. Think Wilson from Home Improvement. ;)

[@imrustyokay]

I think it's mainly a creative way to hide his identity.

[@OddityArchive]

@Joe Arnold I discussed it recently on a podcast I guested on. thebookofdarren.podbean.com/e/chapter-4-max-headroom-ben-minnotte/

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

What cardboard box?

[@FairseasX]

The irony of getting an ad on this video about marketing your music that read like a scam...

[@OddityArchive]

Only in the snoring ‘20’s.

[@astrosci8864]

"Hyper-quest for health"??????? I seem to remember that fast food restaurants, soda and Red Bull existed then.....WTF????? Meanwhile, now, Americans are fatter than ever! WTF?????

[@deathstrike]

Hate to say this, but the "prepaid phone cards" were not entirely a scam. In the late 90s, early 2000s, I traveled extensively in my job and was often staying in places often for weeks, sometimes months at a time. And places I stayed often had either no plan for long distance, or like with hotels, you could use your credit card and pay out the nose. But those prepaid phone card came in handy. It was often a few cents a minute, not a big hassle, and eventually, they became rechargeable. And because they did indeed use a 1-800 number, any phone would work because the (800) is toll free, and bypasses any long distance restrictions the phone had. Now the quality wasn't always great as it used an earlier, less sophisticated version of VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and often had artifact, static, or echo the further the call was, but it did work, and kept me in touch with family all over the globe. I could use it on a pay phone, hotel room phone, courtesy phone, and even got it to work on an old modem that had a local access number. Just had to set it up to wait until the link to the server was established. So in closing, it really did help out at least until more robust cell phone plans existed. Now the cards are sold at seedier places, even saw a vending machine in a "gentleman's club" that sold them!

[@daviddavenport1485]

Not Beau Weaver's finest work

[@heidifedor]

2022 kids today. What’s a pay phone?

[@rwdplz1]

1990's: "This job market is terrible!" 2020's: "BWAHAHAHAHA!!!"

[@Robovski]

Remember when the White House wasn't behind a security fence? This video remembers.

[@ichigokarasu]

"Over 10 million people in America are involved in network marketing. By the year 2000 this number should double." Ohhhhhh, so THAT'S why everyone is broke!

[@mountzod]

TSI = Total Shit Investment

[@mikerotchburns5198]

Keep the Jack Benny references coming🎻

[@SnabbKassa]

D'Shane Teague is the most American name ever. This is why some countries in Europe force parents to choose names from a list. You don't just get to lumber your kids with zany new combinations of letters. (My name is a joke name. It's absurd on purpose.)

[@Brillemeister]

@No Touchy And you. Are. Outta here

[@TiggiTheWillful]

Ahhhh…. MLM fun for everyone.

[@Tornado1994]

Its like a Shoutout to the Illuminaughtii channel!

[@Mechanicoid]

what the hell is a CD-Rom player? Like the one in my stereo, Playstation, or PC? The dude sounds like a total android when he speaks about human things.

[@OddityArchive]

I let it slide because I don't think CD burners were all that common yet in '94.

[@Mechanicoid]

@@OddityArchive fair enough. It just struck me as an odd description of the tech.

[@OddityArchive]

Yeah, I personally would've just generically said "CD-ROM" or "CD-ROM drives".

[@Mechanicoid]

@@OddityArchive overall, it’s weird how close they were but how far off the mark they landed with their network concept of direct advertising. They should have used US Videotel.

[@Tornado1994]

CD-ROM Players were all the rage in 1993-1994.

[@AzraelEnterprise]

Don't feel to bad about being dumped in Newark, New Jersey, because you can watch the New Jersey Devils play while you're their.

[@kstxevolution9642]

VHS Vault, i missed ya

[@SteveMacSticky]

the only nice thing about that first video was the blonde on the beach

[@luisreyes1963]

Those 2 scams are the kind that Ralph Kramden would fall for, provided he can cajole Alice for the money. 🤑

[@VickyGeagan]

I am retired selling Herbal Life products. I am fully retired at 50. Healthier that I have ever been. I just take care of my elderly parents full time. Using online selling platforms such as Ebay and Amazon. I also used to do my own social media network marketing. I used square email marketing. Now I just enjoy my retirement as I role in the dough. Do not knock it until you try it.

[@imrustyokay]

I wouldn't take advice from someone who doesn't know the difference between roll and role.

[@OddityArchive]

@Vicky Geagan Glad it worked for someone.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

@@imrustyokay nor would I take advice from someone that doesn't know how to spell the name of the product they sell. Isn't that stuff called "Herbalife" and not "Herbal Life"?

[@astrosci8864]

I wonder how many people actually survived after ingesting HerbaLife?

[@astrosci8864]

I have so many questions. Are you 50 now, or were you then when you "retired"? Herbalife was big around the late 1980's early 90s so you would have been 15-20 back then. Is that when you "retired"? If you were 50 back then, it is likely that your parents would not be alive right now unless they are both over 100 or were teenagers when they had you. If you "retired" selling HerbaLife, why dabble in Amazon and E-Bay and risk your "investments"? You must have also invested in other schemes that were not successful. What were they? What is "Social Media Network Marketing" and should I care anymore? "...as I role [sic] in the dough." WTF? I guess these schemes might be lucrative for the 0.01% who get there first, but it is still false advertising for the vast majority...... There is something you are not telling us, I sense.....