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eBay PEZ SALE SETS NEW WORLD RECORD(S)!

Several PEZheads - prominent members of the PEZ collecting community - have asked SuEllen and myself to comment on the recent eBay auction which resulted in a single PEZ - not a collection of many PEZ - establishing a new world record for the price fetched: $32,205.00.

That sale eclipsed the previous record threefold: A clear PEZ gun had been sold some time back for $11,000.00, we are told.

WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT, DEAN?

As this site, where you are at the moment, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, there will be many people reading this piece who have no knowledge of PEZ, or the phenomenally popular hobby it has become. Thus, they may not appreciate much of what we will divulge shortly. For THEM, here is a bit of back story that may be of interest.

IT STARTED WITH MICKEY!

SuEllen and I met on October 4, 1990. She was a 31 year old college girl just qualifying for her Master’s Degree at Michigan State University. I was a thrice-married and divorced writer who had just turned 50 and was rattling around by myself in a huge home I’d had built at the end (as it turned out!) of my third marriage.

The 3-story house, known as MOTH MANOR (Mansion On The Hill) was 11,000 square feet, had 20 rooms, 8 bathrooms, a pool room, a wine cellar, a gymnasium and oh yes, the reason I had it built - a fully finished and heated five car garage with a detailing booth.

When SuEllen and I started dating, I would stop at a store and pick up some sort of unusual trinket to give when I picked her up for a day or night out. That, after exhausting the usual array of candy, flowers and such.

One day at a store checkout, I noticed a PEZ display and picked up a Mickey Mouse and later gave it to SuEllen. She was delighted as it reminded her of her childhood when she had a small collection of PEZ. I never had an actual collection, but I also fondly recalled the little candy dispensers from my own earlier days on the planet.

Soon, we both started to gain more interest in PEZ and at first, simply bought all the current ones we could find in area stores or in other locales we travelled to - Key West, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, the Great Western states and so forth.

Whilst travelling in Europe, we found PEZ vending machines at train stations in Austria, and bought every variety that was offered. Scrooge McDuck became an instant favorite of mine - HA!

Anyway, before long we were married (in Vegas - at the Little White Chapel - a genuine hokey blast!) - and SuEllen moved to MOTH MANOR so we could rattle around in the huge place together!

We ventured out to every garage and yard sale that was being conducted for miles around, and were able to find many older PEZ for a quarter or so that we later learned were worth a whole lot of money! Intrigued by THAT - yours truly here is, after all, known as a financial guru since 1962 - we began a serious investigation of the hobby which led us to attend a few PEZ ‘’conventions.'’

I recall St. Louis (great Bavarian chocolate cake!), Cleveland (drove rather than flew - had top down for the trip and we each got a horrible sunburn) and Vegas (what can anyone say about that not already said a million times by others!) We have visited Vegas so often, I may be wrong about a PEZ affair being held there, but I believe one was.

Regardless, over time, SuEllen and I accumulated an enormous collection of PEZ - mostly old and valuable, with special emphasis on color variations and pieces considered very rare.

Exclusivity has a price and it can be dear. My third Rolls-Royce cost me a quarter of a million bux. I didn’t buy it for ‘’show'’ (I’m rather bashful, believe it or not!) but rather, just kept it in the garage most of the time and would sit in it on occasion and recall how, as a youngster, I had to mow huge lawns with a reel-type push-mower for 25 CENTS. Needless to say, I have revelled in my success and make no apologies for it - especially, since I have a formal education that ended with the ninth grade.

At the PEZ conventions, we met various dealers of PEZ and one such, whom we quickly learned had a way of acquiring really tasty pieces that no one else seemed to be able to get, was David ‘’PEZDud'’ Welcher.

Like myself, he had written a book or two about the hobby. Visually, his were more colorful and illustrated than my own, which is entitled, ‘’Profits From PEZ'’ and focuses on the extraordinary wealth that can be acquired through judicious purchase and resale. No surprise there - that’s where my secondary interest lay in the hobby.

Which brings me to a point of contention amongst a few PEZheads in the days preceding, during and oddly, even post auction:

PEZ is a collectible - a highly sought-after one - and as such, each unusual or rare piece tends to rise in value as more and more people clamor after it. It is no different than an inflationary spiral defined in a pedestrian way as ‘’too many people chasing after too few goods.'’ It is economics One-OH!-One . . .

Any person who is quoted saying anything of a negative nature about either the large sum the PEZ fetched at auction or about SuEllen or myself as being greedy, etc., was/is simply jealous. No other explanation. Any PEZ collector who now owns a PEZ that he paid $2.00 for would gladly hand it over to any other collector or investor who said, ‘’Here - let me give you a thousand bux for that cute little dispenser!'’

And ANYONE who denies that is a flagrant prevaricator. Period.

BACK TO THE BACK STORY!

During those salad days of OUR PEZ Collecting, we bought several thousand dollars worth of PEZ from the Welcher. He in turn, later bought a few thousand dollars worth from US - as by then, we had accumulated some hard-to-find or rare examples, mostly duplicates, that he wanted to acquire for resale to his customers. Ironically, the last piece we sold him was, I am sure, another Mickey Mouse - only this time it was a sought-after ‘’softhead.’

All of that - the buying and selling at a profit, when one is lucky - is the American way - it is free enterprise - it is what our entire capitalistic society was built upon and stands for today.

Anyone who ‘’knocks that'’ should take a flying leap off a short pier in Miami and swim to Cuba. Perhaps there, they will find a culture more to their liking - where Big Brother supposedly does everything for them from womb to tomb, when in reality, citizens there end up with . . . naught.

DISPOSAL OF THE HEADLEY/DU VALL PEZ COLLECTION

Years back, SuEllen and I decided to quit rattling around MOTH MANOR and ‘’downsize'’ - first, because the house had, after all, been a home (ever-so briefly) of my third wife and myself - and secondly, MY big motivation was anger:

The city assessor in East Lansing had lied to me when we submitted plans for the project as to what the ultimate property tax base would be. Two years later, when the monstrosity was completed, we had the dubious distinction of receiving the highest annual tax bill of any residential property owner in East Lansing, Michigan - $25,000.00 - over double what we had been told ‘twould be!

We could pay it - and did for awhile - but I hated being ‘’crooked'’ so, we decided to sell that one and move to one of our other properties. For a few years, we lived at our country place in Williamston, known as WINTERWOOD and later, to our lake property, BLUE HERON POINT in southwest Michigan.

When we downsized from 11,000 to 3,000 square feet we decided to ‘’simplify our life'’ as much as possible. We no longer attended PEZ conventions, as both our work schedules were consuming a great deal of time. I had another best-seller on my hands which was being promoted, and I was also travelling with my late friend Hameed around the country conducting all-day writing seminars. SuEllen was busy in a new administrative position and we continued to enjoy travelling to Europe and elsewhere whenever we could get away.

We thus disposed of MANY extraneous possessions - several automobiles, lots of furniture and other ‘’things'’ that either took up a lot of space or a lot of our time, as well as CONCERN for security.

When it came to valuable items such as the PEZ collection - which had gotten to around 3,000 pieces, as I recall - we felt forced to stash them away in a bank vault, so the idealistic, original reason for starting the collection, as in, ‘’Oh, aren’t they cute - and isn’t this fun?!'’ became only a fond memory, as in, ‘’Here, dear - the combination of the bank vault where the ‘’really good PEZ are!'’ Dumb - just plain dumb.

Soon, we decided to auction off the entire collection - donate the proceeds to others who could use the money and that was that.

Except, not all of the pieces sold. There was a handful that no one could afford, apparently. The first was that famous 1982 World’s Fair. One unusual aspect of the piece - a bonafide oddity, actually - the final ‘e’ in Tennessee was omitted!

Also remaining after the charity auction sell-off were these items:

OSWALD:

He is a one-of-kind even more-so than the World’s Fair (which, whilst a genuine one-of-a-kind in its own right, owing to its unique color variation that sets it apart from the only other known 1982 World’s Fair PEZ, is similar to the all blue one owned by a former employee of PEZ.) You can see THAT one at: www.geocities.com/ladypez46/ Once there, click on WORLD’S FAIR in upper left corner box.

He is variously known as OSWALD and the one-eyed gorilla with hat. When we first saw it, I thought the hat might be from another PEZ, as a couple other PEZ, such as one known as ‘Man In Hat’ (obviously) do have hats. But OSWALD has a unique and distinctive version found nowhere else.

The aforementioned David Welcher confirmed its exclusivity to us when we purchased it from a young woman at a PEZ convention in Cleveland (late on a Saturday night after yours truly had, admittedly, one too many martinis!) Welcher also said, as did several others in attendance, that there was a factory video of OSWALD that had been seen by several people years before.

WHITE REGULAR:

Another extremely rare PEZ that’s getting tired of being cooped up in the vault is one I refer to as the ‘’Nekked White Regular.'’ shown here:

This PEZ regular is unique in the annals of PEZ history (as best we know) because, it is entirely devoid of ANY markings of any kind - no Trademark, numbers, dates, country of origin - not even a mention OF PEZ - anywhere!

Further, whilst it appears to have been intended as some sort of advertising regular - once fairly common - there are no indentations on either side to accept the usual paper stick-ons of whatever was being advertised. A very interesting PEZ in fine condition, ’tis!

Then there are my personal favorites: A batch of custom-made PEZ featuring comic book or movie characters that were never actually made by the PEZ company. These were crafted by some artistic whiz - whose name I have never known.

You may see (and buy, for a matter) THAT grouping, by clicking on:

http://www.niftystuff4u.com?page_id=9

If you are interested in buying either the OSWALD or ‘’Nekked White Regular'’ PEZ - write me and I’ll have some pix sent to you. Email me and include your full name and postal mailing address: mailto:Dean@DAXRICH.COM

I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.

ABOUT THE eBay AUCTION:

The much talked-about eBay auction came about thusly: There was a young man, who had been doing a some early-on technical work for this website, as well as four others that we maintain, including our original one that has been up for about ten years, WWW.DAXFAX.COM

One day, as we were exchanging data on our background, I learned that he had a lot of varied experiences in business similar to my own. He happened to mention that he had done a fair amount of eBay auctioning. I conferred wit SuEllen and we agreed to contract with the young fellow to act as an exclusive agent to put the 1982 World’s Fair PEZ up for auction.

He would get a healthy commission - and the balance of the funds would be distributed amongst people who could use the money more than we could use the PEZ, which was just languishing away in that costly bank vault!

THE $100,000.00 PEZ?!

The 1982 World’s Fair PEZ has long been known as just that: The $100,000,00 PEZ?! Notice the question mark after the title: I put it there the very first time the issue of its value was raised - many years back. I know from perceived value - I understand people who want something so bad they ‘’can taste it'’ - I realize that many of us often spend far more for certain things than they could possibly be worth.

If that were not so, there would be no multi-million dollar diamonds, automobiles that cost hundreds of thousands - even millions - homes such as the late Aaron Spelling had built which had a hundred rooms, TWO of which just for wrapping gifts(!) and on and on.

Thus, I declared (with the accumulated wisdom that comes only from being an old fart!) that, sooner or later, someone is going to pay a hundred grand for a single PEZ, and it may was well be the 1982 World’s Fair!

That statement settled in with the PEZheads, and for the past decade or so they’ve had something sort of interesting to chat about. Simple as that.

When the little fellow was put up for auction, I wrote the copy which 55,480 unique visitors to eBay saw: It was headed by the (now) familiar phrase, ‘’The $100,000.00 PEZ?!'’

Incidentally, that huge number of visitors and the fact that our auction was either #1 or #2 on the eBay ‘’Pulse'’ overview board for the ten day duration, also set new eBay records we were told. An executive of eBay contacted me personally to apologize for their being unable to keep up with the traffic!

Thus, at times, you’d see that 20,000 - 30,0000 people had visited, but the numbers were increasing so rapidly (over 10,000 in one fast-paced hour!) that the tally would be blank for a spate. It would soon recover, however, as the eBay folks eventually monitored activity more closely after we hounded them for some action.

At one point it was suggested that Jay Leno’s people found it all so fascinating that (as one wag put it), ‘’people were bidding tens of thousands of dollars on a plastic toy that originally cost only a buck or so!'’) they wanted to feature it in the eBay segment ‘’Did it sell or Did it NOT sell?'’

News of the one-of-a-kind PEZ evoked an enormous International response which brought media people out in droves: Television, radio, newspaper and Internet reportage was extensive. Needless to say, interested PEZheads and just regular folks who had no idea any PEZ could be so valuable became ‘’involved.'’ (I still have visions of some misguided people (now) hoarding all the current junky-little PEZ that are available at their local Wally-Mart!)

WIDE-SPREAD NONSENSE ENSUES!

When the auction opened, people started bidding madly. It jumped from the opening bid of $500 to several thousand dollars within hours. Before long, the reserve of $30,000.00 was met and subsequently, the bidder brought it up to its final figure of $32,205.00. Which is where it came to a screeching halt on Wednesday, August 23, around midnight.

It stayed ‘’stuck-on-stupid'’ for the next few days - right up to the closing bell at 10:00 P.M. Sunday, August 27. Not a single person placed another bid of any amount during the interim! Why?

THE SPOOFS HIT THE FAN!

In normal, everyday parlance, the word ‘’spoof'’ is benign. It means a humorous take on a serious subject - that sort of thing. It’s the bread and butter of all professional comics. But when it comes to the Internet, a spoof is a highly illegal activity perpetrated by ‘’a person or persons intending to defraud, misguide or commit an illegal act.'’ And that’s precisely what took place to cause our auction to stagnate.

Some scofflaw (later identified to us as the very same David Welcher!) placed a plain-vanilla Santa Claus PEZ with a white stem emblazoned with the wording, ‘’1982 World’ Fair'’ and further, the words ‘’This Is Not A Fake!'’ - all written with a black grease pen.

He then proceeded to write various posts to PEZ blogs, bulletin boards, etc., denigrating the genuine auction and the sellers (us!) and essentially, thumbing his or her nose at all good PEZ people everywhere who, whilst enjoying participation in the hobby, also take that involvement very seriously. Many PEZHeads have significant sums of money invested in their collection and do not appreciate some miscreant sullying their pastime.

Such abhorrent action threatens the value of THEIR collection: If one of them has paid say, $500 for a particular PEZ - and perhaps, having had to make personal sacrifice to do that (motivated by the familiar, ‘’Oh, but I just gotta have that!'’) - only to later see some idiot come along and do everything possible to degrade the value of that $500 PEZ . . . well, as the saying goes, the fecal matter may just well hit the ol’ whirly-gig, eh wot?!

Regardless, the character running the bogus site also pretended like there were actual bidders for the false item shown - and had shills make a series of fake bids - pushing the one-dollar Santa Claus PEZ, (of which there were several hundred thousand manufactured!) upwards of $66,000.00 or so before the eBay security team shut them down . . . cold - but only after MANY irritated observers complained bitterly to eBay!

eBay came to us and apologized - but only after we forced their hand. Other than the apology, they did little else. It has long been our experience that eBay cares little for ANY of the participants on either side of a sale - buyer or seller, and will act - or more aptly, REact only if pushed - hard.

We and others we know have, over the years purchased items from sellers on eBay only to have them take our $$ and then, never ship the merchandise. OR, they will ship items other than as described, etc. There are MANY crooks operating on eBay and it seems, they are NOT being policed - at least NOT by eBay!

As mentioned, a few of the shills on the Welcher spoof actually had the unmitigated audacity to make false bids on our real auction. Those people were fully investigated and our attorneys made out-of-court financial settlements with all but one whom, as of this writing, is headed for court. Perhaps, they were unwitting dupes of the perpetrator, but under the law, ‘’ignorance is no excuse.'’ They must take responsibility, too.

Meanwhile, some errant malcontent in Hungary also set up another ‘’spoof'’ - this time, openly stealing OUR proprietary pictures of the 1982 World’s Fair on his site! He only got about a hundred visitors or so and everyone realized that his spoof, just like the Welcher site spoof, was what it was: An attempt to cash in on other people’s hard work and investment of time, effort and money by disrupting the event and misleading the uninformed.

WHY ALL THAT HURT THE RESULTS OF OUR AUCTION

SuEllen and I insisted on taking the proverbial high road and addressed the aforementioned ridiculous issues directly.

We were never consulted by our agent either before he so ignorantly revealed the Reserve Bid (of $30,00.00 to any and all who inquired(!) nor as to his actually posting the various comments (of bidders) on the eBay comments segment of our auction site.

At the time, both SuEllen and I were separately engrossed in far more important business issues and had, as stated, placed our confidence in the kid - feeling he must knwo what he’s doing, based on the experience he professed to have. Obviously I was wrong . . .

By revealing the reserve, everyone knew how much they could ‘’bid'’

without actually becoming the winning bidder, thus they various malcontents referred to earlier, simply bid many thousands of dollars, knowing full well they could neither afford to pay the sum nor would they be required to do so.

Subsequently, I had strong images of those ne’er-do-wells showing off to their girl friends the huge sums they were bidding on such a frivolous item. May have gotten a couple ‘em laid: My hope is they also got the girl pregnant and will be paying for THAT little goof the rest of their unnatural lives - HA!

At the very least, sooner or later the buffaloed girlfriend is going to want to know ‘’How could you afford to bid $29,000.00 on a PEZ, fer Chrissakes - yet, you won’t take me anywhere to eat other than Mickey-Dees?!'’

Incidentally, the reason we SHOULD have avoided the minutae of curious bidder comments was Not because I wanted to avoid the facts, but from nearly a half century of marketing experience, I know how selective people naturally are when it comes to reading copy from any source. They see only ‘’key words'’ and often, do not get the full thrust of whatever is being written.

In the case at hand, I feared that potential bidders would ONLY see the opening words from the questions concerning the bogus auctions and would not bother to click on the link marked MORE . . . and learn the full truth of the matter.

That’s exactly what happened: The post said, ‘’Did you know that some guy in Hungary is selling a PEZ just like yours and is using your pictures . . .'’ (MORE . . .)

Then, our post (by our agent) followed, that said in effect: ‘’Yes, we know that and . . .'’ (MORE . . .)

Well, anyone seeing just THAT and not reading further would think several things (I know that I would!):

1. There must BE another 1982 World’s Fair PEZ exactly like this one - because someone just said ‘’Did you know some guy is selling one just like yours'’ and the response was, ‘’Yes we know that . . . ‘’ etc., etc., ETC.!

2. The other logical reaction from a potential bidder would be, ‘’I do not like controversy over ANY potentially large purchase, so I’ll mosey my mouse away from here and go look at something else eBay may have to offer. How about comic books . . . ‘’

You get the point - and that’s exactly what happened!

The net result: Final bidding, whilst establishing a new all-time world record for the most ever paid for a PEZ - fell far short of what it could have been: Far greater. As the late Marlon Brando said in ‘’On The Waterfront'’ - ‘’I coulda been a contender . . . ‘’

The only real losers - other than the ‘’losers'’ who caused all the problems, Welcher, his shills, the fake bidders, etc. - are the kids from Don Imus’ ranch for cancer patients who would have received a goodly sum from this particular joint effort.

STILL THE $100,000.00 PEZ?????!

Despite all, the 1982 Worlds’ Fair PEZ remains a ‘’contender.'’ And the fortunate buyer is now in a position to reap an even larger reward, as I predict someone WILL gladly step forward to pay a sum far greater than what he paid - just to own the piece, as well as a small chunk of PEZ history.

I trust this dissertation has addressed all issues that various PEZheads have raised and I thank you for your interest and concern.

-Dean (also ‘’speaking'’ on behalf of SuEllen - my child bride who never ages. Methinks, there’s a portrait of her next to Dorian Gray’s in the attic . . . )

A PEZZY UPDATE!

In the end, we were informed by many a PEZhead that the principal culprit in this whole fiasco, David ‘’PEZDud'’ Welcher, wholly disgraced himself in the PEZ community to such an extent that he’s lost his best customers and may shortly be forced out of business.

Many, MANY previous customers of his have supplied us with written documentation as to some of his shenanigans over the years - no surprise there, I suppose. Too bad.

But for us, that’s enough. In the end, ‘’right prevails,'’ eh wot!?

FINALLY(!) - and not too surprising, the final winning bid was eventually revealed to be bogus, as well! Some idiot kid in Singapore using his father’s account without authorization, and again, NO oversight or repercussions by eBay!

Thus, we have just sent the world-famous ‘’$100,000.00 PEZ?!'’ on sabbatical and will entertain serious offers at a future time. If interested in becoming the owner of this one-and-only exclusive PEZ - as well as seeing some pictures, email me your full name and postal mailing address: mailto:Dean@DAXRICH.com

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LATEST ‘RIP-OFF’ HITTING THE INTERNET & YOUR MAILBOX

We’ve received numerous letters of concern about a ‘new’ scam that seems to be coming to the attention of many DAX-DOERS. It seems that via postal mail, e-mail, certain websites and such, DAXERS are receiving offers to:

‘’TURN $35.00 into $100.00′’ (or) ‘’Turn $144.00 into $700.00′’

The deal is simplistic: You send off your hard-earned $$ (for whatever amount you get suckered for) and in return, you receive face-value currency of $100.00 or $700.00 in various third-world country currency which is essentially, worth zilch if you live in the U.S., Canada or most any European country.

This is so blatantly vile that it brings to mind a similar, yet a bit more farcical rip-off from some forty years back, when someone advertised a product and then said, ‘’Your money back if not satisfactory!'’ When people wrote to request their $$ back, they got a note that said, ‘’Your money will not be returned because it WAS satisfactory.'’

All of which reminds me: Did I ever tell you about the time, some thirty years ago, when I boasted to my staff that I could come up with a stupid advertising campaign that would prove people would ‘’buy anything?'’ We placed the following ad in one of the ’sex-oriented’ publications of the era, as follows:

See Kitty as nature intended!

‘’Raw, naked, doing

what comes naturally!'’

Send $5.00 for set of explicit photos.

You cannot imagine the fantastic results we got! We promptly filled each order - with a set of five photos of our kitty-cat nursing her new batch of kittens . . .

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MAKES YOU WANNA PULL YOUR HAIR OUT!

Here’s another sorry mess that a number of folks are getting dragged into as recently brought to our attention by a long-time DAX-DOER who prefers to remain nameless.

There is a company out of Boca Raton, Florida called Lexington International. They peddle a device for growing new hair (yes, I know - but bear with me!) It’s being highly touted as a viable

treatment across the land as these folks have convinced some tele-vision stations to give them a great

deal of free publicity - and to the promoter’s credit, that’s not always so easy to do.

In any event, the local stations will run a piece, extolling the virtues of the product called ‘’LaserComb'’ and then provide a URL for the company’s website. Once there, a prospect finds a great deal of data geared to convincing one to place an order. The device costs an incredible $645.00 PLUS shipping and handling, of course.

The buyers are assured of two things: The Better Business Bureau of Florida gives them a clean bill of health AND if one is dissatisfied, they can return the item for a refund.

We checked with the BBB and at first, they had NO listing for the company. We persevered however, and finally got a report that a number of people were understandably unhappy with the return policy, because - and this brings us to the second problem - the company refunds only part of $645.00 original purchase price:

They hold back (keep forever!) a full 10% of the purchase price - $64.50! Wow! That, on top of the original shipping cost PLUS the shipping costs to return the thing means the hapless customer is out around $80.00 or so!

Maybe, ‘twould be better just to go bald and get used to it - after all, ’tis nature’s way of telling you to quit hitting on the babes, isn’t it . . . ?!

Here’s a final consideration: Boca Raton translated means (variously) ‘’Rat’s Mouth'’ or ‘’Thieve’s Inlet.'’ As the saying goes - consider the source . . .

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SOME DOCTORS MAY WEAR MASKS FOR AN ULTERIOR REASON . . .

There’s nothing worse than being really sick or injured only to discover that the man or woman you entrust to treat you - maybe, even to save your life - is actually incompetent, uncaring or downright malevolent. Couldn’t happen to you? Sure, it could and may, unless you take some precautionary steps to prevent getting hooked up with the wrong medical provider.

Tragically, many people today are far too trusting of the man or woman they allow to treat them and/or their family members. They fail to make even a cursory look-see into the background of their physician, just assuming that all’s well if the person has a shingle on the wall and a waiting room full of patients.

I’m not going to further trouble you here with sad stories of people who have lived (or died) to regret their own naivete - you’ve seen such tales portrayed on the teevee many times, I’m sure.

What I do want to do here is provide you with a list of contacts you may avail yourself of - to, in fact, check up on the man or woman who will be laying their hands on your naked body . . . prescribing the drugs that you will be ingesting into yourself . . . suggesting courses of therapy to either prevent illness or heal you once you’ve contracted (whatever). Because, if the folks you trust (and pay dearly) are NOT ‘’up to par'’ then it is YOU who suffers - no one else!

First and foremost, absolute basic data on physicians can be found in the ‘’American Board of Medical Specialists: Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists,'’ a copy of which you’ll find at most any library. But if you’re more ‘’web-au currant'’ (how’d you like that DAX phrase?!) - go to www.abms.org

Frankly, most all pertinent and vital data can BEST be accessed via the Net, so here are some other very important sites: www.checkbook.org/ doctors/discipline.cfm provides links to a couple dozen states that reveal recent disciplinary actions (possibly, against YOUR doctor!) www.searchpointe.com provides basic information for free - they make a $9.95 charge for a full search on a particular doctor including chiropractors. $9.95 seems to be the going rate above and beyond the ‘’free data'’ most sites provide - at least that is the case with www.docinfo.org which however, does give you a lot of info gratis.

Try www.ama-assn.org, too. When you get there, click on ‘’Doctor Finder.'’ At www.fsmb.org you can learn how to contact your state board which should provide you with specific data on your choice of doctors. Finally, Ralph Nader’s site, www.citizen.org/ has a large database of over 20 thousand ‘’questionable doctors'’ which contains the lowdown on various actions taken against doctors by Medicare and other Federal agencies and in some cases, state boards, as well.

Look, it’s no fun being sick - but it is really no fun to discover that the expert, caring, professional treatment of your malady is grossly less than what it should be . . . so perhaps, ‘twould be a good idea to devote a bit of your time - in advance - to making certain that the man or woman you choose to care for your health is the best of their ilk - not the worst!

A personal note, here: It took me a few years when I was younger to realize that I had every right to speak up and ask my doctor questions. Today, whenever I visit him I take along what I sometimes call my ‘’laundry list.'’ On it, in the order of MY concern I list various things I want answers to. One by one we go through the list and generally, when I leave, I feel that my visit was worthwhile. If not (and it has happened) I will follow up with a fax in which I address my concerns.

If you have questions about your own doctor that your investigation has not been able to answer, you should feel entitled to ASK HIM OR HER PERTINENT QUESTIONS! Such as:

Have you ever had your hospital privileges revoked? (I had one doctor who indeed, did!) How many times have you been sued for malpractice? This procedure you’re recommending for me: How many times have YOU performed it? Would YOU agree to having it done to YOU, if the need arose? What do I risk if I decide NOT to go ahead with your suggestion/prescription/whatever?

THAT one is really important, as many doctors today will recommend a whole bunch of tests and other unnecessary procedures just to ‘’C.T.A.'’ Oh, come on . . . think about it and you will be able to figure out what THAT means!

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PERSISTENCE DOES PAY OFF!

For as long as we’ve been in this business, it seems, we have been admonishing you and other DAX-DOERS to be VERY careful about relating any personal identity data to anyone - and for certain, to guard your social security number as though it were the key to Fort Knox.

Fort Knox, for the edification of younger readers, is the repository of all the gold and silver that once guaranteed the good ol’ U.S. greenback - but little by little, the metals were squandered and today, there’s only about $73 billion left - a pittance in a TRILLION dollar+ economy!

Regardless, for the past decade or so we have also been vocal - along with many other Michiganians (and that’s what we are - NOT MichiGANDERS - we’re NOT geese!) - lobbying the powers-that-be in Lansing to enact legislation to make it both illegal and unnecessary for firms operating in this state to require SS numbers for identification purposes as a condition of doing business - such as health-care providers have long done.

Hand such a card to a doctor’s receptionist, at the ER, hospital or wherever and everyone who sees it instantly has the core of your vital statistical data with which they or someone working in crooked concert with them - can wreak financial havoc - illegally obtaining goods, services, money - even employment and (your) medical data.

‘BOUT TIME!

Well, all of our collective hollering has finally paid off - in the form of legislation (Senate Bill 657) that prohibits the practice of demanding customer/ patient SS number (data) to gain access to what-ever service is provided. The law goes into effect January 2006 . . . should be sooner - like yester-day . . . but at least it’s finally going to happen.

MY SUGGESTION TO YOU

Perhaps, your state already has a similar law - if not, I would strongly suggest that you band together with others to start lobbying your legislators to get a similar law enacted as fast as possible. Preferably, and no doubt this is what we should ALL strive for - a Federal law that requires identification numbers to be fashioned in a way that does not use the ‘’easy-way-out'’ SS number.

ALSO . . .

Whenever paying a chargecard, never put your full card number on the check as the banks ask, but instead, inscribe just the last four digits. Your account will be properly credited for the payment as the bank can identify you with just the four numbers.

Never-ever have your SS number imprinted on your checks or any other such documents that reach the general public! Every day we receive checks from DAX-DOERS with that data embla-zoned next to their name, address, phone num-ber, etc. May as well add your age, marital status and personal sex practice preferences.

Finally, this: We now embark on a new crusade to plug holes in personal privacy: I recently discovered whilst tracking down a long-lost relative that the internet is full of data about deceased people and most sites include the SS number of each of these people!

At first, one might think that would make no difference - after the person is dead - who cares if someone is then able to access his or her SS number? Well, it does not take much imagination to see where that data could be used in any number of ways resulting in serious damage to the decedent’s relatives.

By the way: Guess from whence that data emanates - as a regular, everyday free service: Yep, your Federal government via the Social Security Index!

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eBAY . . . eEEKS!

The strangest thing happened recently. Every so often, either SuEllen or myself will purchase something via eBay. Those are the folks, as you may recall, who started the whole on-line auction phenomena as the result of wanting a good source for buying and selling pieces for their PEZ® collection - something S.E. knows a little something about, as the saying goes - having assembled the reputed world’s largest and most valuable collection of the little buggers a decade or so back.

Anyhow, from time to time, I’ll buy an old book or another ‘’funny money'’ coin for S.E.’s collection of casino coins. She looks for Ford Frick items: If you don’t know, he was the National Baseball League’s president from 1934 to 1951. Then, he was commissioner for ten more years during which he convinced record-keepers to list Roger Maris’ and Babe Ruth’s season records separ-ately - resulting in the infamous ‘’asterisk ruling.'’

That shows where it took Maris 162 games to match the home-run record of the ‘’Bambino,'’ who accomplished it in a 154-game season. Also of note, it was during Frick’s reign that major leagues moved to the West Coast and expanded from 16 to 20 teams. To this day I STILL think of them as the ‘’Brooklyn Dodgers'’ - and I don’t even care for baseball! (My grandfather did).

Anyway, Mr. Frick was born just down the road a pace from here - in Wawaka, Indiana and more important (to S.E.), he was a first cousin of her late Grandpa ‘’Z.'’ I’ve spoken before of him, as he was my personal ‘’health ‘n longevity'’ roll model:

He started life by contracting polio, later survived certain-death from spine and prostate cancer, crippling osteoarthritis and the death of his cherished wife at 62 - and went on to make it darn near to 100!

Recently, not long after a successful bid on a hand-written book of Frick’s was celebrated by my aforementioned favorite wife, I noticed an email from eBay, ostensibly from the ‘’Trust and Safety Department.'’ They claimed that someone was attempting to wrongfully use our account, and that they needed for us to provide various data personal so they could check it out.

I immediately realized it was bogus - referred to these days as a ‘’Spoof,'’ a rather benign term considering that it stands for someone who is trying every which way from Sunday to fraud-uently obtain someone else’s vital and pertinent data such as password, account data, credit card info and the like.

We contacted eBay and it was not until a full day later that they responded. The odd thing was that the wording in their response was just as suspicious as the original ‘’spoof.'’ We emailed back and forth - to several different addresses we have for them - and still, the responses were far too ambiguous to trust.

For instance: One email stated: ‘’Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information (such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.) in an email.'’

In another email purportedly from the ‘’real'’ eBay (and they literally wrote, ‘’This is a real eBay email'’(!) It is then stated, following the above statement of how they will NOT ask for sensitive information, this: ‘’Please note however, that if you ID verify, they will require some sensitive information.'’ {!!!}

Stupid - and I told them so (naturally!) I suggested that, rather than list two pages of how the customer (me) must take steps to protect themselves, it is the responsibility of eBay to do whatever is necessary to prohibit improper use of each member’s account - as well as protect their own proprietary rights.

Thus, I strongly urge YOU to be ever-so careful when dealing with any on-line auction entity, because if eBay is not going protect your ASS-ets, no one else will, for sure! ’tis wholly up to you.

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A-hOLs

Look, AOL (America On Line) is a big successful outfit - without a doubt, the premier ISP (Internet Service Provider) of our time and probably, for a long time to come. They have made so much money they have been able to gobble up the Time-Warner conglomerate as well as Ted Turner’s cable network, CNN. But so far, they have not bought out DAX, so we can bring his data to you without interference!

Recently, as part of their homepage - the opening stuff you see when you log onto the Net (via AOL, that is) - there was an offer (one of many, of course) for a brand new publication called eCompany Now - a hard copy, mailed to your office or home. The magazine features all the latest good stuff going on in the exciting cyber world.

The offer: Tell ‘em and they will send you three free issues - no strings attached. Hokay - a good deal - and if one likes the mag, naturally they will subscribe to it for a nominal fee - twenty bux or so, I believe. Long story short - and this was not US that discovered it but several DAX-DOERS:

Those who ‘’bit'’ were automatically charged for a year’s subscription WITHOUT requesting it! You see, as an ISP user (whether via AOL or any other where you PAY for the service - and remember, as we have told you many times, there are oodles of 100% FREE ISP available to you!) - you must initially give them a valid chargecard number so that each month they can debit your card for the fee.

Thus, they already have on record everybody’s card number and apparently, they merely debited everyone who asked for a free three-issue trial - a full year’s sub! To make it worse, they sent out a small postcard - black ink on thin white card stock - very unobtrusive and not appealing for anyone to even notice - which informed of the free trial and the fact that one’s chargecard will be automatically charged for a one year sub if one does nothing.

This is known as a ‘’negative option'’ - similar to all the ‘’free record'’ deals you’ve seen over the years. An option-out is provided (on the postcard) by way of a URL: www.ccompany.com/subscriber services Theoretically, all one needed to do was go to that site and enter their preference - to continue the subscription or cancel it. Only ‘’hitch'’ - they provided the WRONG URL! Instead of ‘’ccompany.com'’ it should have been ‘’ecompany.com'’ thus, few if any contacts were made to the functioning website - everyone got ‘’404 messages'’ (website address does not exist).

Well, all of the foregoing led to a massive inquiry of Time Inc., in Florida by the Assistant AG there, Victoria Butler, and we cooperated with what data we had available to us which was fairly extensive.

What bugs me - and anybody else who is in direct marketing is the fact that the publication itself - eCompany Now - is a fine one and even the method for getting new subs is valid - the free trial issue thing. But then, they have to go screw it all up by the other shenanigans mentioned which really turns off most otherwise bonafide supporters of any new, genuine publishing effort.

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‘’OH, I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAN!'’

After you’ve achieved a measure of success, plus some celebrity - regardless, your field of endeavor - you’ll start to attract a peculiar mix of people who want a piece of you in one way or another and will consider you logical prey:

Those who hope that you’ll help them on a personal level (read that as gifting them with money, housing, automobiles, etc., or second-best, loan them money which they have no intention of repaying), hangers-on, stalkers and less bothersome sycophants. It goes with the territory and I discovered it early-on enough to avoid most of the tribulations that are inevitable.

I must say though, at one period during the halcyon days of my world-famous'’$100,000 In 90 Days!'’ world-wide advertising campaign three decades back, my family and I got to know several FBI agents who camped around us so much that to this day, a couple keep in touch after being reassigned to other parts of the country. Today, our security is much less obvious and more private than in the past and there are no small children under the roof to worry about.

Regardless, one needs to take various and definitive steps and use a lot of common sense - if not to avert outright blatant attacks on you and yours - but also, just to husband your valuable resources which, in my case, include a diminishing supply of time, patience and a half-way decent disposition! You need to stay on-guard and realize that no one is immune. Not even yours truly.

True story: This past February I heard from a fellow who owns a mailing list brokerage. He was gung-ho to take over the world-famous DAX Extraordinary Multi-Buyer lists - you know: ‘’That Draw Cash Orders To You Like Steel To A Magnet!'’ -and presented some very good reasons why he would be just what we were looking for although, (and this is a critical point) we were NOT looking!

In short, this bright fellow seized on a popular DAX Axiom, ‘’Create a need and fill it!'’ which is freely acknowledged by myself as a direct futzing of the late Henry J. Kaiser’s motto for success, ‘’Find a need and fill it.'’

The young fellow in question almost convinced me that it would be advantageous to effectively turn over not just the brokering of our lists to him - but also the maintenance and management, marketing, etc. Based on his 12 years of experience in the field, he all but promised he could turn over our entire million+name list at least a hundred times within a short period.

I pondered this for a long time - really wasn’t interested - could see no reason to give someone else a rather large piece of the pie when, after all these decades we’ve handled everything quite well, ourselves - especially, after SuEllen computerized our entire operation which no longer necessitated our using any outside contract facilities.

Then, this bright bulb showed us ample proof that our lists were priced far too low. (I will herewith admit to a lifelong aberration: I try to entirely avoid whatever all competitors do in my field. I do not look at their advertising, marketing, prices, or anything else. I do not wish to be influenced even on a sub conscious level.)

My worst fear has always been that someday I would whip out a program, marketing campaign or whatever and later discover that I had unwittingly ripped off someone else! Granted, almost all DAX stuff HAS been ripped off by others over the decades - but that’s another story!

Anyway, our basic per M charge is $80.00 - plus any additional costs for Key-Coding, pressure sensitive labels, list segmentation, shipping and so on. Well, the current price for virtually all competitor’s lists similar to ours - and very few measure up to the superior pulling-power of a DAX list (that’s not braggadocio - just a well-known fact in the industry) - is at least $100.00 per M with many lists going for upwards of $125.00 and even greater. Most all list owners charge a premium for ‘’Hot-Line'’ names. We never have!

Instead, we have always added new multi-buyer names to our core list and each renter gets a marvelously rich cross-section of genuine MULTIPLE buyers in a purchase range of $25.00 to $10,000.00. NOTE: You may expect that we get a truckload of $5.00 inquiries from our famous ‘’DAX-FAX Your Way To Riches!'’ postcard program, BUT we do not consider those buyers - only curiosity seekers.

And certainly they are not multi-buyers unless or until they actually qualify as such. And . . . you may have also observed that over the years we have carefully positioned all of our products at price points no less than $25.00 (when the s/h is added) - which again, is our starting point for multi-buyers.

I realized - and had for a long time - that eighty bux was a low per M - especially, when you consider that is a seldom-paid price, given that we immediately drop the per M price after passing the 5,000 quantity - a minimum amount that all professional mailers order.

In any event, the hundred bux per M would immediately jack up our bottom-line enormously, so I seriously considered THAT for awhile - even to the extent of asking S.E. could she think of any worthwhile purpose for all the extra $$ to be realized: She just rolled her eyes . . . (What DOES that mean when a woman does that, anyway?!)

Finally, in September - a full 7 months after his initial contact - I started to personally work out the details of an arrangement by which we could allow the fellow to, in fact, handle the bulk of our list business activities for a fairly hefty fee. The thinking was, we could relieve some of the on-going responsibilities around here - and I have always said, one of the main benefits OF becoming successful is to be in a position to hire others to do things that you’d prefer no longer to do.

Once, I did all my own carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc., etc. I have shingled more roofs than I care to remember - although my bottom still recalls it well! (If you’ve ever shingled, then you know what I mean: Sitting at odd angles on a hot or cold roof all day can give you lifelong painful hip problems.)

Nowadays I hire out much of our needs - both personal and certainly, business-wise. Unlike most people (I suppose) I do not care to have a bunch of workers around me - no matter how nice, sexy, humorous, pleasant, good-smelling or whatever other attributes they may possess! (Several decades ago I actually had to terminate a competent young woman because she stunk so bad I could not concentrate! When I fired her I suggested she start taking a bath now and then - just on principal . . . )

Anyway, the fellow I was negotiating with, little by little, came around to my thinking and agreed to all terms. Not the money-terms - that was no problem. I am NOT greedy and was actually (at MY suggestion) going to pay him 10% more than he would receive from any other list owner. What I was concerned with was more important:

I refuse to rent lists to any known nefarious offer -and to my mind, that includes ALL MLM, chain letters or stupid and worthless schemes that haven’t a chance of making money for anybody - other than the printers, list owners, brokers and the post office.

A few other things like that - such as I refused to separate ‘’Hot-Line'’ and also, under no circumstances would I allow those afore-mentioned $5.00 ‘’raw'’ inquiries to be marketed. Period. Once they are converted to actual buyers they are candidates for rental, but only after they subsequently become MULTIPLE buyers do they constitute a genuine DAX list. Many are college students - even high-schoolers. Others are in the miliary and move about often. We actually lose $$ on those inquirers and do not want anyone else to do likewise.

Okay. So, we ‘’get down to it.'’ He emails me the contractual agreement . . . I scan it closely and discover that virtually everything that I had told him - over a period of several months - that I would NOT agree to - was, you guessed it - right there in black and white as being part and parcel of what he thought he could slip past me! (I looked in the mirror to see if perhaps, the bleach had not yet erased the word ‘’Stupid'’ from my forehead . . . ) Conniving, dumb bastard!

I literally told him ‘’thanks but no thanks'’ and suggested he go try his magic on somebody else who may be more tempted by money or has more recently fallen off the turnip truck.

One thing I’ve found amusing over the years: People really can NOT believe there exists a person in this world to whom the hackneyed phrase, ‘’The principal is more important than the money'’ is actually valid. Well, there’s at least one of those rare birds left - and he is chirping at you right now!

So. We will continue managing the DAX Lists and further, we will NOT raise the price per M! The old listing data sheet that you have in your DAX BENEFITS PAX remains valid - as does all other pricing thereon. One addition however, if you want a list of 5,000 or more on a CD - you can request that at no extra charge!

Lest you think the foregoing article was to sell you mailing lists - ’twas NOT! I just wish to admonish you to be very careful of your new status of success, wealth, celebrity, notoriety or whatever - once you attain it.

Yes, there are numerous perquisites and wonders to behold once ‘’you’ve made it,'’ but there are also an equal number of pitfalls, ne’er-do-wells, malcontents and miscreants lying in wait to deplete your resources.

For you see, a very large number of the 6.5 billion residents of this planet have decided that THEIR path to success involves sucking off the success of others.

Thus, here’s the seventh DAX Key To Success to memorize: ‘’Never trust anyone explicitly - other than yourself.'’ Yes, that includes your spouse and others close to you. SuEllen and I trust each other to the maximum of our individual ability, sound reasoning, rationale and flat-out desire to do so.

But ask her and she’ll tell you that she trusts no one explicitly. Nor do I. Nor will you once you experienced a quiver of life’s slings and arrows. Makes life a bit easier, believe me . . .

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MAYBE, THEY SHOULD CALL IT ‘’WILL-MART!'’

Ever heard of a dirty little secret in the insurance industry called ‘’dead peasant'’ or sometimes, ‘’dead janitor'’ policies? Large companies, who as most know, often purchase life insurance polices on major, key employees such as the CEO, Veeps and such, have also been reaping untold benefits by insuring lesser employees.

In the case of WALMART, said to be the largest holder of such polices of the Fortune 500 companies surveyed, they have secretly insured thousands of their everyday-type (lower-level) employees and are cashing in (on average) to the tune of $64,000.00 each time one drops dead.

Generally, the employees of these large corporations do not have a clue that their life has been insured by their employer and when they die, neither do their relatives. The deal is, the company grabs all that cash 100% tax-free under what is called COLI policies (corporate-owned life insurance) - which to date, is legal. The IRS has been looking into it, but with major players involved such as Proctor & Gamble, AT&T, General Electric, Shell Oil and on and on . . . unlikely much will change.

Hey! Maybe, it’s okay to buy a nice life insurance policy on someone just for the $$ of it. Maybe, you don’t care if when you kick your boss will cash in on you and buy a new Mercedes. On the other hand . . .

. . . there’s a bill before Congress now (H.R. 4551). If you are concerned, contact your representative and let him or her know that you feel you have the right to be told if your company has taken out a life insurance policy on YOU - that will, in no way, benefit your survivors (because, to make it clear: No one close to YOU gets a dime - only your employer!)

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GETTING SUCKERED SWEETLY . . .

Around the holidays many of us throw the proverbial caution to the winds and indulge in all sorts of foodstuffs that normally we might(!) shy away from. Last season was no exception for me. In keeping with a longstanding tradition, I stopped to buy the one last item on my gift list for SuEllen - a box of Godiva Chocolates. Only problem, the store where I have done that for many years had just gone out of business, unbeknownst to me.

I soon discovered that the only other store which once handled the product no longer carries the brand. Instead, they feature Lake Champlain Chocolates. Thus, I purchased the largest box they had (and the ONLY box that size they had in stock) - a pretty fancy-looking box with (I now see) a mere 9 ounces of product therein: $23.00 + 6% Michigan sales tax, plus shipping of $8.95.

S.E. liked the candies fine - only slightly disappointed they were not her favorite brand. This A.M. I make her the usual morning cup of coffee and take it to her along with the box of chocolates. Only one piece is left on top layer so I remove the layer to get to the second layer only to discover NO FRIGGING SECOND LAYER!

Instead, the buggers had stuck in a cardboard filler! The outside of the box is a full 2 1/2 inches deep - but houses only one layer of chocolates about one inch in depth - a mere 15 actual pieces altogether for darn near twenty five bux - and for a brand no one has ever heard of outside of Vermont where the things are concocted!

What a sham! What a veritable 21st century rip-off!

I am accustomed to paying a goodly price for goodly goods BUT I do not appreciate being bamboozled - and that is precisely what that particular purveyor of pimple-producing-products did: Purposely over-packaged the product to make it appear as something it is not.