I Found a 32-Year-Old Ambient Conditioning Business Card in My Basement

This might be my most interesting business card story to date. And after my years of blogging and collecting, that’s saying something.

I was painting the ceiling of my laundry room when I came upon our heating unit and found an unusual envelope in a Ziploc bag. The envelope sure looked old, considering the discoloration. The name and address on it is:

• Mike Uchrin Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc.
• 289 High Street
• Metuchen, N.J. 08840

I Googled Mike Uchrin and found some online listings for him in Metuchen and South Plainfield as well, but no Google My Business listing. That makes me assume it’s no longer in business since Google picks up all businesses that are open, unless it’s not registered to a specific address.

Then, I took a look inside the envelope and found paperwork from when the heater was installed, I assume. It was from November 30, 1985… 5 months after I was born. I was shocked to find an envelope this old, but I’m not too surprised considering our home was owned by an older couple for years and the house was built in the late 1950s. Then, I found a miracle: a business card that was as worn as the envelope it came in.

Ambient Conditioning

I found it strange that a business card for a company called Ambient Conditioning, Inc. was in an envelope for Mike Uchrin Heating and Air Conditioning, but I’d have to assume that the companies either worked together or the owners just put all of the HVAC info in one place.

I can tell this business card is old since the Edison phone number starts with a 201 area code, which I discovered had 2 splits: the 908 area code in 1991 and the 732 (and 848) area code in 1997. Funny enough, Ambient Conditioning is still in business today in Fords, which is a quick drive from Edison.

I can’t imagine what their business card looks like today, but I might travel out to Fords just to snag one for my collection since it’s not a far drive for me. I’m glad I took a look inside this envelope to not only get the down low on my heater, but find a piece of history and a tough weird story to beat.

Business Card Count: 37,166