Saturday, July 28, 2012

Pin Sharks Win Again!!!

Pin Sharks Win Again!!


It happened again! The Pin Profiteer Sharks won and I am angry. Once again I went to Disneyland to purchase a Piece of the Movie LE Pin. Once again I could not get it because the Pin Profiteer Sharks had purchased the majority of them.

I got to the park shortly after opening. One store had sold out of the pins before the park even opened! The Sharks had come into the park on early entry and cleaned out the shop in the early entry area before opening! Then they ran over to a lesser known store and lined up there to clean it out shortly after opening. By the time we got there only one shop had pins and the line was over 1 ½ hours long! The pins sold out 6 people in front of me.

Who did I see getting the coveted pins? SHARKS!! Some of the people in line in front of me already had 5 or more pins! They were talking with other Sharks about how much they felt the pins they had would go for online. They did NOTHING to hide the fact they had more than the limit of 2 per person that Disney allowed. Cast Members did nothing to stop them from getting more even though they knew they had purchased more than the allowed number of pins.

This is totally ruining the fun of Pin Trading. I watched 50+ people walk away without a single pin while the sharks had 5, 10 or even more. Some of those turned away were children and they were crushed. Do the Sharks care? Not one whit! We walked up walk up to several and said, “Don’t you think it is unfair you purchased more than the limit and others get none because of it?” They laugh and either say nothing or reply with, “Well get here earlier if you want one.”

I sent this letter to Disneyland. I’m hoping they will address the matter quickly and make it fair for everybody.

I encourage others who have suffered at the hands of the Pin Sharks to join in and write their own letters to complain and hopefully get Disney to follow their own rule.

Dear Sirs

Once again Pin Sharks, Profiteers were allowed to ruin the fun of pin collecting. I’ve written before letting you know about the growing frustration of general pin collectors that collect for the fun of it because Pin Sharks are allowed to break YOUR rules. I’m more than saddened and to be honest angered I have to write again.

Yesterday we got to the park shortly after the park opened.  We were there to purchase ONE pin, Piece of the Movie, Lion King for a friend. I found out that the Pin Profiteer Sharks had already cleaned out one store BEFORE the park even opened! They came in on early entry and purchased the pins so they could get them and go to work. But they did not stop at the one store. These Sharks then ran from store to store purchasing their limit at one store and moving onto the next. Shortly after opening they had cleared all of the other stores carrying the pin except Wagons Ho. Around 10:30 am Wagons Ho was out of the prized pin.

We got in line and waited at Wagons Ho we watched the Pin Profiteers (SHARKS) in line ahead of us look over their horde of pins. Some had as many as 10 already and were going for more! They were bragging to one another about how much this or that pin would go for online . I know that online some of these pins are going for as much as $300! $150 is a common price to see. This for a pin that costs $24.99 in the park! We waited in the Wagons Ho line for about 1 ½ to 2 hours just to have the pins sell out 6 people in front of us. Sad to say it was NOT the sharks that were in front of us that did not get the pins. It was people that had not even gotten the one pin they wanted that were disappointed and heart broken when turned away. Many were as angry as I am at how poorly things are being handled.

The Piece of the Movie is limited to 2,000 pins period. It is released at both WDW and DLR. I am making a guess that 1,000 pins are released at each resort. Your rules say 2 pins per person. Why are you not holding to your own rule? Your CMs see the Sharks have their limit and more but still sell them more. They do nothing to hide the pins they have purchased. Can you tell me why you allow that? Please be fair to EVERYBODY and hold to your rule or just toss the rule and let them ruin pin trading totally by purchasing the entire lot before anybody even gets a chance. Then let them have a feeding frenzy and fight among themselves for the pins. Sorry, could not stop myself from making that last sarcastic comment.

Once again I’m going to make some suggestions. One of them is from one of your CMs that was watching the door at Wagon Ho.

1.      Learn from the FANTASTIC way you handled the LE items for the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street opening. (GREAT JOB on controlling the Sharks that day!) All items in ONE location and wrist band required to get in and make your purchase.

2.      Make people show their AP/ticket or ID when making a purchase and connect your cash registers so you can track who has purchased their limit of pins.

3.      Take all LE items to ONE shop on day of release and wrist band people as they come into the park if they want them. Once they make the purchase remove the band. They can not return to the shop without the band.

4.      Do NOT allow highly valued LE pins to be sold BEFORE the park opens in the areas that have early entry access. Do not allow people to line up at the shop during early entry hours to purchase these pins when the park officially opens. Make it fair for those that do not have early entry!

5.      Use the same simple system you use to go from park to park. Stamp the person’s hand once they make their allotted purchase. Maybe have two stamps. One stamp if they only purchase one pin and a different stamp if they purchase their limit. When a guest goes to pay for a pin check for a hand stamp. If it is stamped for purchasing the limit they can not make the purchase. If they have only purchased one and they purchase another stamp their hand as purchasing their limit. This idea one came from one of your CMs I was speaking to and in truth I think this is amazingly simple and smart! This will not cost you anything. You already have a set of stamps for the gates. Use the ones that are not being used at the gates for this. No new stamps needed! This could be implemented tomorrow if you were so inclined.

If the LE items have not sold out on the day of release then let them go on sale as normal. This is what you did on the opening day of Cars Land and worked well in my opinion. It was fair to everybody.

You need to do something about this issue before it gets out of control. People are getting VERY frustrated and it is destroying the fun of pin trading. PLEASE do something before the next Piece of the Movie is released August 23rd!! Please make it FAIR for everybody! I’m not asking for new rules or for you to change rules to make it easier just for me. I’m just asking you to follow the rule you already have of 2 pins per person. Keep the pin trading friendly and fun in the parks.

Carolyn

Here is a link to my last article about Pin Sharks.


Here is the link to send your own letter to Disneyland.


If you have had this happen at WDW I suggest you send a message here.



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