Yeah, I raided Wingra Direct as well - Club 808 and regular merchandise. My wife wanted to get me some cards as a gift.
I'm glad to hear you were able to get some new cards. I know you were not buying any for a while or so you said.
What was the deal with bicycle and club 808?
Wingra Direct operates the Club 808 VIP Store. While ordinary customers got 20% off much of what's on shopbicyclecards.com, Club 808 members got 25% off and it included the VIP Store's exclusive goodies. There's Club flasks, posters, uncuts and decks.
It's really worth it to be in Club 808. A membership is only $18.85 for a year and in addition to a lot of nice articles and interviews on all things playing cards, they have some nice playing cards and other Bicycle-branded stuff that are only available there or in the aftermarket. Personally, I prefer paying original retail (or less) when I can! New articles used to be monthly - now they're twice monthly.
The membership include the club's deck, Bicycle Club 808. Only one to a customer, so they're not easily obtained anywhere else.
Currently in the VIP Shop:
5 posters - Rider Back, modern joker, best bower, classic old-school Ace of Spades and Cupid Rider spade.
4 uncuts - Griffin, Cigar, Speakeasy and Espionage (the Amber Stag uncut is the club's first sold-out item).
5 decks - same decks as above, none are sold out.
Amber Stag t-shirt
Club 808 flask (leather-wrapped, looks nice)
Club 808 bar tumblers (a 4-pack of rocks glasses: King, Queen, Jack and club logo)
Club decks to date have been 5,000-deck print runs. All the decks are Bicycle-branded, so for Bicycle collectors it's a must-join. In April, for "Play More Cards Day", club members received "ambassador kits" including a brick of Rider Backs and assorted stuff like a pen, scorepad, plastic cups, keychain, all Bicycle-branded. It was available for free to all, but club members received theirs automatically, without having to make a request.