Yes, scam. A totally dishonest full-page advertisement designed to separate gullible Journal Times readers from their money -- in return for nothing of value. Here's what the top of the ad looked like. Note the word "Wisconsin" under the top serial number of the $2 bill. (Click to enlarge.):
The ad on Saturday -- page 7, in case you missed it -- had the same look-and-feel of the similarly bogus Amish heater ads and the cool fan/free gas ads run previously in the paper, all looking like news coverage. The gist of this new ad is simple: For $15 the company will sell you a special Wisconsin $2 bill. Well, yeah, if you buy 'em four at a time in their "vault" pack: Total cost with shipping for four $2 bills: $60.88.
Such a deal!
But hurry! "There's a strict limit of 10 Wisconsin state $2 bill vault packs per household." The vault pack, by the way, is a leather (leatherette?) wallet.
As the ad makes clear as mud, these are "new, never before seen state $2 bills being overlaid and released exclusively by the World Reserve Monetary Exchange." In plain English that means a sticker with the word "Wisconsin" has been stuck on the bill. Do you think that increases its value from $2? Think again. Ignore such words in the ad as "exclusive," "precious," "newly enhanced" and "highly sought after," implying added value. These bills are worth $2 each. No more. Maybe less, if the stickers don't come off easily. Unlike the series of state quarters, there is no such thing as a U.S. Bureau of Engraving-produced "state" $2 bill.
Doesn't the Journal Times care about its readers? Does the desire for every almighty buck trump basic concern for its core customers? Hell, the ad was probably sold cheaply as remaindered space; it couldn't have pumped that much revenue into the paper's coffers. And even if it sold at full price, JT, have you no shame?
It's a scam, pure and simple.
If you call one of the toll-free numbers on the ad -- and recite the special ordering code -- the telemarketer ("Brian," in my case Sunday night) will say (after he first guesses I'm calling from Delaware, although these special bills are only for Wisconsinites): "I'd recommend that you claim all ten packs." Yes, folks, there's a limit: You can order no more than ten packs of four $2 bills -- that's $480 plus $12.88 shipping per pack. Brian hinted that I might get a discount on the shipping...but I demurred: Forty $2 bills worth a total of $80 for $480 plus shipping. Gotta ask the wife first.
Tempting as Brian's offer was, I asked whether it is possible to buy the special $2 bills from every state? Oh, yes! Be still, my heart. A chest with 50 bills -- "each in its own acrylic cover" -- costs $588. Shipping is included. Six easy payments of $98! Again, let's point out for the mathematically impaired: You're getting fifty $2 bills, worth a total of $100, for the low, low price of $588.
Brian tried hard to convince me. "Each vault comes with its own letter of authenticity," he said. "You can't get these anywhere else. You can't even get them from the Federal Reserve."
A quick internet search shows that we're late being invited to this party. The ad appeared in the Arizona Daily Star (for bills "overlaid" with the word "Arizona," of course) back on Jan. 18 -- and was unmasked by one of their own reporters a week later. Reporter Rick Villarreal quoted Brett Sadovnick, a Tucson coin dealer who filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, saying: "There has never been a resale value for that type of product at any collectible store. It's just a regular $2 bill with (a sticker) on it. The U.S. government hasn't sanctioned it, and anything in the ad about the popularity or scarcity of it is misleading."
Need I mention that the Arizona Daily Star is owned by Lee Enterprises, which also owns the Racine Journal Times? No, I didn't think so.
____________
(Full disclosure: I am thoroughly ashamed to admit today that I'm a former Journal Times publisher.)
Congratulations on an excellent expose!
ReplyDeleteAnyone who falls for this must have also won the Canadian Lottery or has had a most excellent letter from the lawyer in Nigeria who found your long lost uncle's cousin's brother's college roommate that died and left you much monies!
ReplyDeleteAny hopes of the Journal Times returning to the ranks of a legit newspaper just went out of the window for me. Ever heard of baseball? Three strikes and you are OUT.
ReplyDeleteNow that the Racine Post has pointed out three separate occurrences of printed scam I have now called out the Journal Times OUT. The rest of the community should as well. Bottom line, let's support Racine Post with a voluntary subscription. Do you take PayPal? What's your PalPal email address?
I had heard the Journal Times once actually employed someone whose job was to check spelling, syntax and yes, the authenticity of advertising. Let me guess, because of the economy they can no longer afford to employ such a person.
Well folks, that responsibility now rides on the shoulder of the current editor and/or publisher. If they can not figure out something this obvious they should simply hang it up.
Pete, don't feel ashamed. You are not currently employed there. But I do understand that we all want to take pride in what our community produces. In my mind they have forever more EARNED their nick name "URINAL TIMES".
A sincere thank you to Racine Post for this exposure, no matter how painful it was for you to write it.
I'm not sticking up for them, but they have been running those types of ads for years
ReplyDeleteWirh that kind of billing, you'd think this company was owned by Wheaton!
ReplyDeleteRacine Post shills for Tommy T and Mayor Meow, who cares ?
ReplyDeleteNice to see that someone has the ba**s to point out things that are wroing or small. Thats what investigative reporting is all about. I sense the Urinal Times failing soon. Maybe the Racine Post will go into print and take over the JT?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much money it took for the Journal Times to screw over the public? How much did this scam article generate them in revenue?
ReplyDeleteI bet it is right up there with Wheaton's advertising spend.
I fully expect the Journal Times to run an article glorifying the value of $2 bills and telling us we are all stupid for not buying them.
Pete, how is this different from when you ran the JT? Or Randy? It's always been about the money, always. Would either of you even be in your "beloved" Racine if money didn't draw you here in the first place? You each made a ton of dough there pushing your agenda on Racine residents and now you begrudge the same to your successors.
ReplyDeleteGood job calling out this scam. This kind of crap is also sold on the TV shopping channels, magazines and trade papers. When the proud owners bring it in to a coin shop to resell, they are shocked when told that it is worth only face value. Many elderly folks are the common victims of this scam.
ReplyDeleteLet's take the investigation one step further Pete, and take some 14K gold jewelry around to the various coin shops and jewelers that buy scrap and see how far apart the weights and offers are for the same material. We all know that the "sell your gold by mail" offers are a scam but nobody has looked at local dealers to see who is fair and who should be called out. Now that would be a story of local interest.
What is the difference between that ad and the articles here promoting "whole person wellness through psychotherapy" - this has no basis in science but may make someone feel better, thus happy. Buying a fake $2 bill might make someone happy too.
ReplyDeleteI am glad Dustin & Pete have the courage to point out such poor behavior. That is probably why they left the JT - in protest to the JT's declining business morals.
ReplyDeleteIsn't defacing U.S. currency illegal, besides?
ReplyDeleteThese ads are an excellent quick mechanism for separating a fool from his money. This is much easier than voting for "hope and change" and watching a fool's money evaporate over four years...
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, is everyone getting a letter in the mail from the Census folks telling us that there will be a letter in the mail from them in another week with forms to fill out? Is the US government sending stupid stuff to us in an attempt to fund the postal service. What a waste of printing and mailing. Just send the forms.
ReplyDeleteWait until we all get the forms saying that we should have received Census forms a week ago -
ReplyDeletePete:
ReplyDeleteFor as much bashing as you do about the JT, they seemed to have provided for you quite nicely at one point in time.
When you were in my neighborhood months ago interviewing Becker on the front porch of a house he was re-habbing, you mentioned to him that you live in a very "nice" home.(I know the EXACT figure you used, but I won't reveal it to the bloggers out of a courtesy to you).
Why bash the hand that once fed you and provided nicely for you?
I personally think the JT is a crap paper, but why don't you get over with whatever happened between you and the JT??
Move on with that moment of time in your life or get therapy if it still bothers you so much.
Just free and friendly advice from a concerned citizen.
This is Pete's site and if he had a bad experience at the JT and wants to trash them from time to time, so what?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever had something go well for a while then suddenly turn to crap because of stupidity, incompetence, arrogance or other? Should Pete not say what he thinks because the JT used to be good to him?
Recall the guy who got screwed by United Airlines and when he told them "I'll write a song about this" they laughed, then the video he made went viral and United had a fit? Should he not have done that because United always landed safely when he was a passenger? I don't get it.
Again, I could care less about the JT. What I'm trying to get across to Pete is simply, let it go.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, it's Pete's site and he can do as he pleases. This I understand.
Just free and friendly advice from a concerned citizen, that's all.
ANON 5:22 - Your analogy sucks. Try a better one please.
ReplyDeleteHopefully everyone else can see the similarities in those two stories - sorry Charlie.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:03. Thanks for the advice, but it's unnecessary. I had no "bad experience" at the JT and nobody "provided nicely" for me. I worked for Lee Enterprises for more than two decades -- at three different papers -- and when the end came, it came. Both Lee and I survived the break-up. As for the value of my home: it's a public record (as would be yours if you weren't hiding behind anonymity), paid for with a lifetime of work and frugality. Why is it relevant to anything, whether eavesdropped or easily found on zillow.com or the Register of Deeds' website?
ReplyDeleteWe try to keep the JT honest for one reason: we live in this community and believe in a strong, independent free press. I have nothing to "let go."
Anon 9:44: Every newspaper has the right to reject advertising, and need not even give a reason. Sadly, many run these scam ads; happily, many refuse them. All I'm suggesting is that the JT ought to think of its readers' well-being and not accept ads that are so clearly shown to be deceptive. It devalues everything else in the newspaper, and breeds further mistrust.
Now back to the $15 two-dollar bills?
Ugh. Worse than armchair quarterbacks are armchair psychologists. Pete is absolutely correct and this ad is just the latest example of how the JT's interest is not the community at large.
ReplyDeleteI understand it is a business and it needs to raise revenue, but they are just not getting the job done.
"Pete said...
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:03. Thanks for the advice, but it's unnecessary. I had no "bad experience" at the JT and nobody "provided nicely" for me. I worked for Lee Enterprises for more than two decades -- at three different papers -- and when the end came, it came. Both Lee and I survived the break-up. As for the value of my home: it's a public record (as would be yours if you weren't hiding behind anonymity), paid for with a lifetime of work and frugality. Why is it relevant to anything, whether eavesdropped or easily found on zillow.com or the Register of Deeds' website?"
sorry pete and dustin, the guy's right.
you do seem pretty spiteful against the JT.
you're like a spurned lover or something.
when JT screws up you guys get a big hardon and post it in 25 point on the front page of your site.
seriously, it's ugly.
Pete, I completely agree that the $2 bill ad is a scam, but my point was that scams can be in the eye of the beholder. The whole body wellness business may have no greater legitimacy than the fake bills and the rate of happiness generation might be similar.
ReplyDeleteAs for the JT, most people have figured out that it is the Shepherd minus a bit of the anger.
Doesn't the ad also state in it's header that it is an advertisment? Did you just leave that little fact out as you often do when bashing the place that fired you? I'm sorry asked you to resign.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:02 Note the BIG TYPE in the second paragraph of my story, then ask again snidely if I left that little fact out. (It's also at the top of the illustration.)
ReplyDeleteI eat stickers all the time dude.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:22 pm - That's a poor argument. Most of us have had bad experiences with businesses and/or individual people. Does that mean it's ok to publicly trash them too?
ReplyDeleteThat's the main problem with racine post - they have different standards for different people. Take someone they really like - just try and post something negative and see how fast they delete it.
Anon 4:16 writes: Take someone they really like - just try and post something negative and see how fast they delete it.
ReplyDeleteWhich is absolute bull, and you know it. The only comments we delete are those with obscenities, or alleging illegal activity by people we'd rather not be sued by -- which is everyone.
Keep the discussion clean and on topic, and you're home free.
That isn't "bull". I have seen many things deleted that didn't use obscenity or fall into an illegal category.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to claim you're a class act when you make rude comments to and about your readers. But I guess you don't care, being one of Racine's wealthy citizens and all. You probably just sit back and laugh, joking about all your disappointed readers with your good political and business connections after a nice round of golf at the country club.
And, by the way, could you make up your mind, please? Are you a blog or a new site?
anon 4:16 - why is that a poor argument? So you think that one should not report a bad experience with a store, restaurant, call service center somewhere in Pakistan, whatever? Complaints - especially public ones - help drive better technology and service solutions.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the US Postal Service cleaned up its act a bit on its own or was it growing consumer complaints plus the growth of other delivery services (partially fueled by those complaints)?
Do you read restaurant reviews? Do you avoid reading Consumer Reports when you are looking for a car? How far do you go with your prinicple of non-confrontation?
. . . and after just defending Pete, now I'm going to slam him. I noticed the line in your post about "deleting comments about alleged illegal activity because you don't want to get sued". THAT is bull and you know it! You have no control over who posts what in this forum and unless the ISP address of the poster can be traced to a computer under your control, no court in this country would hold you or Dustin liable for a comment.
ReplyDeleteIf you are worried, write up a mission statement or something to put at the top of the Post that says "blog comments are the sole responsibility of the poster and the owners have no control over their thoughts or levels of medication".
Our daily newspaper ran a full page ad designed to scam people out of money. They need to be called out on that, so we did.
ReplyDeleteDustin- this type of advertising has been going on for years. Why is it such an issue now? I've seen it in other papers, so why is the JT so evil? It pays the bills.
ReplyDeleteI see your site has ads. I feel scammed every time I see them, so I decided I won't purchase from them...right?
So, the solution is, just don't buy the dumb bills...easy. People aren't dumb; or are you calling people morons?
I think they can decide for themselves if they want to spend their own money.
Don't these ads have 'Advertisement' above them? Isn't the font/type different than the rest of the paper?
ReplyDelete"Keep the discussion clean and on topic, and you're home free."
ReplyDeleteGood. Maybe you can delete all of Mr. Angry's off-topic tirades against the Johnson family. After all, this is what you said would get comments deleted.
I agree with anon 8:16 and 8:18 these are filler ads basically its just not the JT using them, the font is different and it does say advertisement on the top of the page. I think at this point it would be in the better interest of the Post to exclaim what quality they have on their site instead of trying to bash the JT. We all know that the JT "borrows" stories from sites, they "borrow" ideas from other sites. They worry about what government and advertisers think of what they are writing and their potential dollar loss. Guys, the JT is on the way out, it wasn't like it was 10 or 15 years ago as we all know. Let them slit their own throats and they have been doing a wonderful job and make this a time for your site to shine. Remember if they copy you or borrow an idea, "imitation is the best form of flattery! The JT is losing a little battle with the little people of Racine and their news sites (Yours, racinenews.org and racineuncovered.org)In a few years I have a feeling that the printed paper will be considered a dinosaur and Lee Ent will be dust in the wind
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if Dustin has to run around, covering for all the damage done by Pete.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty easy to tell that those bills are fake - if they were really State of Wisconsin $2 bills the skyline would be that of Minneapolis, not Madison . . .
ReplyDeleteThe next thing you know Pete will be bashing the JT for using the EXACT same type of website format that the Lacrosse Tribune uses.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet the JT stole that site design from them.....Better investigate, it may be breaking news soon on the Post....
Oh wait, let me guess....the Lacrosse Tribune is owned by Lee Enterprises.....I'm sure there is still some kind of "scandal" you can dig up....lol.
ReplyDelete"Which is absolute bull, and you know it. The only comments we delete are those with obscenities, or alleging illegal activity by people we'd rather not be sued by -- which is everyone."
ReplyDeletei believe that you believe what you are saying, but that's simply not true.
Pete: I have made truthful comments w/out profanities in the past and you have in fact deleted them. Please be honest in what you type here.
ReplyDeleteI worked at a Lee paper in another state and fought these ads, but was ignored. They are sold to these scam artists at a deep discount and are designed to fool the readers. Lee is a partner in this deception.
ReplyDeleteLee exists to do one thing -- suck revenue out of the local community and give as little as possible in return.
Lee must do this because the corporation is headed into bankruptcy because of its foolhardy purchase of the paper in St. Louis (where there's a strike brewing).
I work in advertising and I know first hand how tough bringing in new business is right now. We have to bring in money from whatever clients we can get our hands on... BUT THIS IS JUST DOWNRIGHT DESPICABLE!
ReplyDeleteShame on you JT!!! I know there is probably fine print somewhere that says these bogus bills have no value, but give yourself some standards! Creeps!
WOW! This same ad is in the Milwaukee Journal Setinel Tuesday, MArch 30, 2010 on page 10A. I decided to reseach it in case it's something to collect and pass on to the kids and luckily I googled this! Nice reporting. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteA new ad was posted in the La Crosse Tribune today (Friday, January 21, 2011) for "...free Armored Safes". Shame on them all!
ReplyDelete