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AOL spent over $300 million sending out those subscriber discs in the 90s
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 27 December, 2010
Techcrunch had a very interesting article today about those annoying AOL installation discs that every American received in the mail, usually once per month.
On the popular Q&A site Quora, the question was recently asked: "How much did it cost AOL to distribute all those CDs back in the 1990′s?"
Former AOL CEO Steve Case joined the site to answer the question, responding: A lot. ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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28. December 2010 @ 00:15 |
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So...15 grams per disk...
$300 million spent on disks, at around $0.50 each (including shipping & packaging)
That is 19,841,400LBS of plastic in land fills, not counting the packaging...all from a single marketing campaign.
Quote:
Case noted that the goal of AOL was to spend 10 percent of lifetime revenue on acquiring a new subscriber, and because average subscriber life was 25 months, the company likely spent $35 per user (on discs, other marketing.)
I guess that explains why they try so hard to get rid of customers...if they stay around too long the average would go up...before long AOL would have to start sending hundreds of dollars worth of garbage to everyone on earth.
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Senior Member
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28. December 2010 @ 03:24 |
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Originally posted by KillerBug:
So...15 grams per disk...
$300 million spent on disks, at around $0.50 each (including shipping & packaging)
That is 19,841,400LBS of plastic in land fills, not counting the packaging...all from a single marketing campaign.
Quote:
Case noted that the goal of AOL was to spend 10 percent of lifetime revenue on acquiring a new subscriber, and because average subscriber life was 25 months, the company likely spent $35 per user (on discs, other marketing.)
I guess that explains why they try so hard to get rid of customers...if they stay around too long the average would go up...before long AOL would have to start sending hundreds of dollars worth of garbage to everyone on earth.
actually i think that would be 19,841,400 LBS of recyclable material.the way things are millions of people waste things and polute the earth try not to worry about.
custom built gaming pc from early 2010,ps2 with 15 games all original,ps3 500gbs with 5 games all original,yamaha amp and 5.1channel surround sound speakers,46inch sony lcd smart tv.
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Senior Member
2 product reviews
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28. December 2010 @ 06:23 |
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dude....I live in India and I could see pile of AOL marked disks in streetside shops in 90s..mostly purchased by poor people to hang/stick on their bicycles/cars! I feel nostalgic!
:/
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dEwMe
Senior Member
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28. December 2010 @ 12:08 |
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Originally posted by NHS2008:
dude....I live in India and I could see pile of AOL marked disks in streetside shops in 90s..mostly purchased by poor people to hang/stick on their bicycles/cars! I feel nostalgic!
LOL...Yeah a relative of mine fgured out how to make cool reflecters for his christmas lights with em...I used to throw a piece of tape on the diskettes and reuse them. AOL itself was always a joke...no better way to say you had no clue about the net than to say you were on AOL!
Just my $0.02,
dEwMe
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pudly1
Newbie
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28. December 2010 @ 13:23 |
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AOL? Absolutely Obsolete Loonies?
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Member
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28. December 2010 @ 19:34 |
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$300 mill, 285 of it in coasters for end tables.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. December 2010 @ 23:10 |
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Originally posted by pudly1:
AOL? Absolutely Obsolete Loonies?
America Off-Line.
They made terrible coasters; there was a hole in the middle, and you had to use them shiny-side-up to avoid seeing that terrible logo.
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Member
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29. December 2010 @ 05:26 |
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Well even though I, like most others, cant stand AOL. They accomplished their goal of suckering, I mean getting new custumers hard and fast.
Seems like they gave it to the custumers hard and fast to, and didn't even buy them diner or use............ well never mind that part, but they really screwed their custumers
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