Whoa, Columbia House (12 cassettes for 1¢) is finally going out of business after 71 years and several pivots (records to reel-to-reel to 8-tracks to cassettes to CDs to VHS to DVDs to Blu-ray).
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Comments 3
Man...who among us could resist, circa 85-95? My parents had to bail 13-year-old me out! I had to mow a few lawns to pay it back. But getting all those cassettes at once? I would do it all again. Simpler times.
I somehow emerged unscathed from dealing with Columbia House. I was meticulous even as a kid so I holed up in my room, read the fine print, calculated the total price per cassette/CD, made sure I had money for the mandatory full-price payments, and cancelled after I fulfilled my obligations. (Meanwhile my mom and stepdad were upstairs mired in Amway...)
Please please please watch The Target Shoots First. It’s a documentary from the golden age of Columbia House. It was hand shot, verite style by a young Chris Wilcha, who worked at Columbia House as a first job and quickly got promoted. This was not the 13 cassettes of my youth, but the days of the cd, the peak of the music industry. It’s very home made. I’m a doc nerd and this is honestly one of my favorites. Find it on YouTube
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