http://justsmog.com/Clay/GE.jpg


Yea I get it, but its a bit misleading.

Wouldn't mind havin' a new-in-the-box Porta-Potty...

That vacuums kind of neat too! Perfect size for cleaning a car.

There used to be a lot of giveaway programs like this. While cleaning out a TV shop I found a new-in-box popcorn popper from the 70s which they had gotten through such a promotion. Tube caddies and signage were common. Also common in the auto repair business, my trade. My parents once saved up enough points to buy a case of coffee makers and a case of crock pots. They kept one of each for the kitchen and gave the rest as gifts for various people. I think that was through NAPA. In more recent years I picked up an Echo gas weed trimmer thanks to DuPont, and currently have enough points saved up for something of similiar value, just can't make up my mind just what I want.

Something to show how things have changed: notice that the calculator took more points than the Portacolor! I wonder just how many tubes you had to buy to get a TV?

Wow, I had that cassette recorder as a kid. It even came with a GE brand 60 minute cassette.

I still use the late version of that toast R oven that I bought new--so late that the instructions, warranty card etc were all from Black and Decker.

That vacuums kind of neat too! Perfect size for cleaning a car.

I got one of these from my great grandmother. It does work well for this, and it's not very loud. Oddly I would also use it to vacuum my dog... she loved it and it kept some of the fur off of the floor. Because it was quiet it didn't scare her.

-J

How many points for the chick?

How many points for the chick?

No kiddin'...(grin)

Crappy calculator requires almost 400 more points than the TV... Yikes!

How many points for the chick?

She was at least a "10" in her day!!:D

Anybody ever get a GE replacement semiconductor with the little "PRO LINE" sticker inside? The little GE meatball on those stickers, depending on color, was worth PRO LINE "points." In 1981, those stickers were in every GE replacement semiconductor package, except triplers and solid state replacement tubes (R-3A3, R-DW4, etc), where the box flap was the "points." I collected 500 points worth of them at my Dad's shop, mailed them in, and got a letter from the redemption house with a balance of .....50,000 points. I was in shock, because 50,000 points had a value of close to 300 bucks. I was sure they would catch the error, so I laid low, sent in another 200 points and was rewarded with another letter saying I now had 50,200 points. I wasn't waiting any longer - I cashed out for a Smith-Corona correction ball-type typewriter, and two GE food processors (one for my dear Mom, and an Aunt that was getting married.) I recall cashing in the last 750 points for some handkerchiefs. What a deal. GE didn't miss anything - the redemption house was a company contracted to run the whole program, and their error paid off big for me. Heck, they had enough money left to buy RCA a few years later....

RCA had a similar program, but the distributor was several miles further away than the GE distributor, so Dad bought 99% of his parts at the GE place. RCA's program gave away trips and them doggone (then!) expensive VCRs with the piano key buttons. GE gave away pretty much what you see in the pics above, save for some cool apparel with the GE logo on it.

Cheers,

Desktop calculator, 4728 points. Blond calculator-operating trainer, priceless!

I have a GE Toasr-R Oven from the 70s that still works. The only difference from that one is the on button is up on the panel instead of a lever like that one.

I had one identical to that one but it didn't pop open sometimes and my late grandmother was warming rolls one time and it smoked them. She had a temper and it ended up busted on the sidewalk in front of the brick steps.

My boss has a GE vacuum cleaner identical to that one except it's gray. Wonder if he got it from GE for buying tubes and semiconductors back in the day?

Years ago I had a friend whose grandmother (IIRC) had the toast r oven configured as above. He was over at my place fixing up some kind of snack, put it in mine and pawed at the empty space to the left of the stop bar like one of Pavlov's dogs! :D He did this repeatedly on the same occasion!

I have one of those little G.E. PortaPower vacuums. I found it in an old house and it worked. I used it for years to vacuum the cars. It still works.

I had one of the GE vacuums. It worked great for years, before I aquired an old cloth-bag Electrolux that had a 20-foot hose on it. Vast sucking improvement!!

I had one of the GE vacuums. It worked great for years, before I aquired an old cloth-bag Electrolux that had a 20-foot hose on it. Vast sucking improvement!!

Nothing sucks like Electrolux ;)

I see two items with GE vacuum tubes in that picture. The TV, and (of course) the vacuum cleaner! :D