Publishers Clearing House

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The House Cleaning Publisher ( PCH ) is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions by lottery, and prize-based games.

The Clearing House publisher was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace the sales of door-to-door magazine subscriptions by a single vendor offering multiple subscriptions by mail. It introduced the raffle in 1967. In the early 1990s, the company was subject to concerns and legal action as to whether consumers were misleading about their likelihood of winning the lottery and whether purchases increased their chances. In 2010, the company has reached settlements with 50 states.

The company acquired Blingo search company in 2006, online game company Funtank in 2010, and mobile marketing company Liquid Wireless in 2012.

Video Publishers Clearing House

Histori

Sejarah awal

The Clearing House publisher was founded in 1953 in Port Washington, New York, by Harold Mertz, a former manager of the door-to-door sales team for magazine subscriptions. The company started in the basement of Mertz with the help of his wife LuEsther and daughter Joyce. His first letter was 10,000 envelopes from Mertz's home on Long Island, New York, and offered 20 magazine subscriptions. 100 orders received. Within a few years the company moved from the Mertz basement to the office building and began hiring staff. When PCH moved its headquarters in 1969, the previous location was donated to the city and renamed the community center Harold E. Mertz. The company's revenue has grown to US $ 50 million in 1981, and $ 100 million in 1988.

In 1967 PCH started its first lottery as a way to increase subscription sales, based on a draw held by Reader's Digest . First prizes range from 25 cents to $ 10 and entrants have 1 chance in 10 wins. After the draw, the response rate increased to a letter, a prize of $ 5,000 and finally $ 250,000 offered. PCH started advertising sweepstakes on TV in 1974. It was the only major multi-magazine subscription business until 1977. Former Time Inc. clients and several other publishers formed American Family Publishers (AFP) to compete with PCH after the company rejected repeated requests by Time for a larger share of sales revenue from magazine subscriptions.

AFP and PCH are competing for exclusive rights to magazines and for better promotions and gift ideas. When AFP increased their jackpot to $ 1 million, then to $ 10 million in 1985, PCH raised the prize to match. The $ 7 million prize was distributed in 1979, $ 40 million in 1991 and $ 137 million in 2000. In 1989 two members of his advertising team, Dave Sayer and Todd Sloane, started Prize Patrol, a publicized event in which the winners were surprised by examination in their home. The idea was inspired by the 1950s television series "The Millionaire".

In 1992, thousands of raffle entries dumped from contestants who had not bought magazine subscriptions were found in the trash by city employees, reinforcing the belief that the company liked those who made a purchase in picking the lottery winners. PCH says this is done by disgruntled employees in their mail processing vendors. A class action takes place, to which PCH is solved by giving the entrants a wasted second chance to win.

Government regulation

In the 1990s PCH and its main competitor, AFP, suffered a series of legal problems due to concerns that their letter misled consumers about their chances of winning and implying that magazine purchases increased their chances. This led to the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2000, which governs direct mail business. At the senate hearing on the Act, PCH said most consumers are not confused about their chances of winning or that purchases do not increase their chances. The company says less than five percent of participants spend more than $ 300. Government officials from California say 5,000 local consumers pay more than $ 2,500 each in magazine purchases with the wrong belief that they are increasing their chances of winning the draw.

Industry sources estimate the PCH response rate decreased by 7-12 percent and sales volume by 22 to 30 percent in response to bad publicity from lawsuits. In 2000, PCH laid off a quarter of its 800 workforce.

In 1997, a contestant from an AFP competitor flew to Tampa, Florida, thinking he had won, though he did not win. The resulting publicity led to more lawsuits for both companies. PCH reached a $ 30 million national settlement in 1999. In 2000, another $ 18 million settlement was reached with 24 states, after the company sent a mass mail saying "You are the winner!" and using fake personal checks. PCH agrees to avoid similar deliveries in the future, and adds a "raffle fact sheet" to the letter.

State lawyers speak out against the national settlement of 2000 and additional lawsuits are filed by individual countries. Another $ 34 million settlement was reached in 2001 in a lawsuit involving 25 countries, bringing the total settlements since 1999 to $ 82 million. As part of the settlement, PCH is required to avoid terms such as "Guaranteed Winners", adding a disclaimer to the letter saying that the recipients have not won and that purchasing merchandise will not increase their chances. PCH reached settlements with fifty states and agreed to work with "compliance advisors". PCH apologizes in the settlement and says it will contact customers who have spent more than $ 1,000 on merchandise the previous year ".

PCH also reached an agreement with Iowa in 2007. In 2010, the company paid $ 3.5 million to the Attorney General of 32 states and the District of Columbia to resolve allegations of contempt that may have violated the terms of the 2001 agreement. The company denied wrongdoing , but agrees to work with ombudsmen and compliance advisors who will review the letter quarterly.

In April 2014, an investigation by the Senate Special Committee for Aging concluded that the PCH had "pushed limits" from previous agreements and that additional laws may be required.

Online development

PCH began selling merchandise in 1985 with two products. After Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook and diet cookbooks sold more than other products, the company began to evolve into jewelry, media, collectibles, household products and more. The company also shifted its focus online. It began selling magazine and merchandise subscriptions at PCH.com in 1996. In 2006, the company acquired Blingo Inc., an ad-supported metasearch engine that was later re-branded as PCH Search and Win. PCH held a contest on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. IPhone apps for slot games and trivia are developed. The company created online play and win sites like PCH Games (formerly Candystand) and PCHQuiz4Cash, with air-hockey and video poker games.

In December 2010, PCH acquired Funtank and online game site Candystand.com. In 2011, PCH promoted the "$ 5,000 per week for life" lottery on AOL.com TV and front page ads. The following year the company acquired a mobile marketing company, Liquid Wireless. The company is used, then quits and then starts again utilizing coregistration (through another website) to expand its customer base.

In 2008, a PCH spokesman said that digital properties are meant to appeal to younger consumers. By 2013, the internet has become a major PCH interaction channel with consumers. The New York Times describes the digital transition as "part of the overall effort to gather information about Web users, show them ads and use registration information for PCH mailing lists."

Maps Publishers Clearing House

Products

PCH is a direct marketing company that sells merchandise, magazine subscriptions, and operates several gift-based websites. Although best known for its lottery and Prize Patrol used to promote its magazine subscriptions, most of the company's revenue is now derived from merchandise. The company has been selling books, media, jewelry and other consumer goods since the 1980s. PCH operates eight websites, including PCH Search and Win, PCH Lotto, PCH Games, PCH Save and Win, and Candystand.

The company also sells magazine subscriptions at discounted prices and advertises subscriptions and sweepstakes. It is estimated that companies such as PCH store 75-90 percent of the cost of the original subscription, while publishers use increased distribution to increase the circulation and income from renewal. PCH popularized the idea of ​​using sweepstakes to sell magazine subscriptions in the direct marketing market and was recognized by the detractor as a junk-mail producer for advertising by mass mail. Documents submitted to the Department of State of New York in 1993 said that the year the company sent 220 million envelopes. Buyers can often receive 30-40 letters a year.

src: blog.pch.com

Lottery

Although PCH advertises its sweepstakes along with magazine subscriptions, there's no need to buy to sign in or win. In 1995, PCH started the tradition of announcing a $ 10 million prize winner after the Super Bowl. Until 2012, a $ 225 million prize has been handed out. Some of his bigger prizes are $ 5,000 a week for life, or $ 10 million. Prizes can also range from $ 1 Amazon gift cards up to $ 2,500, $ 1 million or $ 3 million. Larger cash prizes are paid in installments, usually with balloon payments at 30 years, reducing the present value of the prize to be much smaller than its face value.

Odds of Winning

According to official rules, by 2018, the chances of winning "$ 7000 a Week for Life" in Giveaway 11000 is 1 in 6.2 billion. Opportunities for winning the PCH lottery vary depending on the number of entries and prizes or draws involved. The smaller prizes have better odds that can vary from one in 223 to one at 80,000, depending on the prize.

Prize Patrol

The Prize Patrol shocks the lottery winners in their homes, workplaces or other locations with cash prizes and captures events on video. Since its introduction in 1989, these award-winning TV reality videos shocked on their doorstep with checks of $ 1,000 to $ 10 million being used in broadcast television advertising widely, and, more recently, in the company's online acquisition efforts, the site web and social media communications. In 2013, a $ 5 million television campaign modified traditional gift patrol ads by digitally changing videos from classic sitcoms such as The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island to show visiting patrol gifts characters on the show.

The Prize Patrol has made a personal appearance or rewarded on TV programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Pricing. The moments of their surprise win have been faked by Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and the players of Saturday Night Live; woven into film flows such as Let's Go to Prison , Sentinel and Knights and Days ; and cartoon subject.

src: temporaryservices.org

See also

• List of New York companies

src: blog.pch.com

References

src: media.oregonlive.com

External links

• Official website

Source of the article : Wikipedia