Another DS Failure

[amcnj]

Well I tried. I got to my local Disney Store a little after 10 am. Of course the two pins were gone by then. I refused to buy any of the rest, as I don't want to be stuck paying outrageous prices for the missing two on ebay. I saw two people with Disney Store bags full of pins in the mall common areas, and talking on cell phones to probably other co-conspirators that raided other Disney Stores. It seems an odd way to do business to me. I was willing to buy the whole set and now feel like boycotting any Disney Store purchase instead. What was the aim in limiting the numbers so much so that people interested can't get them? Disney seems to be doing a lot of things lately to turn off loyal customers.

[LynniethePooh]

Although I was able to get 2 of each pin (one for me and one to trade with my fellow Dis pinpals) , there was one gentleman (I use that term loosely) buying handfuls. I have always said that FREINDSHIP is what pin collecting is all about. Obviously, this man has other plans. I would never begrudge someone making a living......but I think TDS could have EASILY controlled this type of buying behavior in limiting purchase to 2-3 of each type per guest. It is a delicate subject, I suppose. Disney cannot make a statement against online auctions (they are deeply involved with Ebay), yet there must be a way to keep loyal guests and conduct a lucrative business on their part.

When the Cabbage Patch doll craze was on....there were limits to the amount of dolls one could purchase. So it can work. (and if any of you YOUNG dis'ers dare say what is the Cabbage Patch craze.......I am NOT THAT old..lol)

We can only hope that someone at Disney with some clout will read about our dismay....and do something constructive...

of course.....just my 2 cents worth! :)

[goofymom/pop]

plus my store still has all but the Walt and Mic....which I also have an extra of......wanna trade for #1 and I can buy you the rest and you can pay me......lmk...

cindy

[RweTHEREyet]

most of the CM's that I know feel that there should be a limit too. We feel it is unfair to have received such small quantities in each store. Unfortunately, the CM's are the ones that receive the brunt of the anger from the Guests that come in our stores. I am sorry for all those that did not get the pins they wanted. We CM's don't like to see this happen any more than the Guests do.

[Luv2Roam]

I was SO elated when we heard TDS would sell pins again. And was SO disappointed when I heard they were basically LE's.
Disney does so many good things, but seems they just purposely create a frenzy buying.
I am SO disappointed to see a pin I paid less than $4 for on Saturday now selling for $40-$60! It brings out the worse.

[JamesD]

I sympathize in your disappointment in not getting the complete first set of Disney Store 100 Years of Magic pins. I purchased an extra set of pins if you would like to buy them from me at cost plus shipping.
Don't give up on these pins. I believe that the subsequent weeks will not be as bad as the first. If these people that are scarfing up all of the pins see that they do not go up in value like they hope, they will just return the pins to the stores. There is essentially no restriction on returns.
Not all Disney Stores handled the pin sales the same. Our local store was very organized and did not allow anyone to purchase large quantities of pins. I went to another store in our area (Southeast VA) and there was not a single person in line at 10 am! If possible, try to go to a different store in your area and maybe you will have better luck. If all else fails, then ask one of us on the board to purchase the pins for you
Let me know if you still want a set of pins

[amcnj]

Thanks JamesD. I sent you an e-mail.

I hope this was just a first week phenomenon. I can't recall if during the last pin sale others ran out later on, but I seem to feel some of the later ones did. Anyone else recall?

[Dom13]

I think 2 factors affected the sell out of pin #1. One - the fact that the Walt & Mickey pin from the Millenium series sold out and is the most collectible pin from that series. Two - alot of people thought this was an error pin and bought them in speculation that Disney might pull them and they would become scarce.

I do think the frenzy will die out. I'd speculate there are around 10,000 of each out there. Right now alot of people are panicking thinking this pin will be very hard to find. In a month alot of these greedy sellers are going to be selling these for cost and maybe less. You just have to be patient.

[Humpbacks1962]

I think an estimate of 10,000 could be very low. All DS stores around the world are selling the same pins, so the number may be much higher.

I have said it before, beat the hogs at their game. DO NOT BID, or buy them from private websites charging a fortune!! Do not pay over cost for those pins! Save your money for more limited editions instead. I know it could be hard to wait, but I promise you, it will pay off in the end!


Wanda

[eeyore0062]

Last time they did the pins at our store, the only one that you couldn't get after the 1st day or 2 was the #1 pin of Walt and Mickey. After that, the craze died down. We had lots of pins that were pulled after the selling time was done. The other one that we ran out of was the Davy Crockett pin with the wrong date on it. In fact, I just finished my collection of those pins this past summer, when another CM traded with me. Thank goodness for these boards!

[SGKoss]

I, too, was disappointed in TDS and the fact that they didn't limit the number of pins per purchase. Pin amounts are limited in all of the parks and even carts outside the parks. Why not the stores too?

I was in Las Vegas over the weekend and my sister-in-law and I went to the Caeser's Mall DS. I had decided I was going to buy a set for me and an extra to trade. There were two women there before us (we got there about 9:30) and were on cell phones with others at other malls. Thought it was amusing until they opened the gates, we walked in and they proceeded to pull ALL of the Walt/Mickey pins off the rack. I asked if they were going to take them all (being the naive and HONEST person, I thought maybe they were going to look at all of them closely to make sure they didn't get A scratched one or something to that effect). They laughed and said no. My sister-in-law asked if she could have one in that case and they handed her one. They asked me too but I very proudly got to say, No thanks, got one for free at the convention. (Hee hee)

Well, to my surprise (though nothing should surprise me when it comes to this addiction), the women walked up to the counter to check out with all of those pins. Not only that, but she paid with some sort of store credit and her bill came to about $400. My brother and my friend who were with us were scoffing and just couldn't believe this whole disease.

Unfortunately, this store only had 4 of the 8 pins so we had to walk over to the next mall where they had plenty of all pins except for the #1.

Gee. What a surprise.

[sgtslovak]

All went very smoothly at the Disney Store in one of New York City's outer boroughs(I selfishly won't say which one). I arrived at about 10:07 AM. There was no line but there was a small group of pin afficianados off to the side who had already purchased their pins. Of course, most turned out to be DIS members! I was able to purchase one of each pin plus the binder. The DW yelled at me when I got back because I didn't by the pin bag, but after Disneyana, I'm lucky to afford lunch. I look forward to seeing everyone again this Saturday.

[Jaypd]

Well at the DS by me not only was there no limit. But the manager had a bag behind the counter of #1 and #7's and was holding it for other cast members. How do I know this because while she was ringing me up She said hi to the Woman behind me and said I have something for you. She then went to a bag and pulled out the pins no shame what so ever. The woman behind me said I wish our store was not being redone then I would not have to drive over here. Well hmmm seems kinda wrong to me to do stuff like this. So now I am out of pin 1 and 7 :( :( :(

[MeanLaureen]

Hey Jay.. we've got you covered!!

[SharonS]

I too am very disappointed in how Disney handled this. These pins are not a limited edition and supposedly Disney is not treating them as a collectible, thus, the no limits. If this is true, why did stores get so few? Our stores got 24 of #1 and were sold out within an hour. As mentioned before, some folks saw fit to purchase as many of #1 as possible.

I feel as amcnj does...I will now NOT purchase the entire set. I don't think they are that nice, but was going to get the whole set. The mgr at our Disney store even suggested going to EBAY to get #1. I told her that I refused to pay inflated prices for something that Disney artificially limited to create demand. As a result, I will now not get that set. In addition, I also do not feel like patronizing the Disney store.

Since they are marketing these pins as a 'set', I feel there should be a pre-purchase option for the entire set only. This would ensure that folks wanting the whole set would be able to get it with a limited amount of grief and frustration. I addition, it would help cut down on the sharks. Sure, they would purchase the entire set for themselves which is fine. Disney could then put additional pins beyond the prepurchased ones up for sale at the store. The sharks could then fight over these.

[Luv2Roam]

I too this was poorly handled by Disney. There is no reason they could not have produced these in mass quantities.
Yes, I know they got stuck with too many 101 pins. But there are more collectors now. And now they went to the other extreme- way under what was needed!
With mystery pins and situations like last week, I can't help but wonder why Disney purposely creates problems. I suppose that is their way of keeping interest alive. :rolleyes:
I bought the first 8, and the binder, and have bought as much as I can for others. But it is discouraging.
If something happened I didn't get a pin from this set, I would seriously consider chucking what I had of this collection on auction and move on to easier to obtain pins (that I like just as well--if not better).
I was one of the very lucky ones, and even I feel discouraged! This is suppose to be enjoyable--not stressful!:mad:

[Sorcerer]

I know I'm about to really step in it by saying this, but here goes:

Do you all really think that Disney intentionally didn't meet the expected demand? That they would underproduce something so that others could profit by selling extras on ebay? Yes, Disney is a business, they are here to make money. For THEMSELVES, not for others.

Disney based their shipments of the pins on prior sales records. Meaning, they looked at how many pins sold on the first day of the Millennium pin collection and shipped according to those numbers.

Subsequent shipments can be expected to be larger or smaller depending on how well a store performed last week.

During the Millennium collection, people complained that they could only buy 2 of each pin the first day. Disney listened - there are no limits on the pins in this collection.

It doesn't matter how things are done, someone somewhere will find a reason to complain.

I know everyone here is just venting. I'm glad you're venting here instead of taking it out on the CMs in the stores. Goodness knows the CMs have no control over the situation! :D

And regarding the post from the person who said pins were held at the register for a CM from another store - all I can say is if that was true and I had been standing there I would have asked for the store manager. CMs are not allowed to have anything put on hold for them, whether they are from a different store or not. The rule about pins not being held the first day of release came in so late (Friday night and in some cases not until Saturday morning before the store opened) that some stores opted to allow holds since they had already promised so many people that they would. I'm hoping that what that person witnessed was just a miscommunication and the pins were simply held for someone who normally goes to a different store (so when she said "I wish our store was not being redone then I would not have to drive over here" perhaps she was just referring to the store she normally shops at. I'm being optimistic :))

At any rate - please don't let the new pin set become such a negative experience. We all campaigned for pins in the store. They're here! Let's make the best of it...trade for the pins we need and hope for the best. Just because we've been told the pins will not be replenished doesn't mean it's true. The pins are not LE and not considered collectibles. That means that at any time Disney can release more to the stores, or even to the parks!

I know I'm being "Positive Polly", but for crying out loud...can't we be happy that the pins are back?! And Disney didn't raise the prices! :eek:

[~Kathie]

Gee.......I like that "Positive Polly".......I think you ought to change your screen name. :D

Now everybody play nice!!!! :smooth: :tongue: :crazy: :wave: :jester: :eek: :rolleyes:

[Luv2Roam]

Sorcerer --
Now our problem can't be because we are OBSESSIVE about pins. :jester: ;) :jester: :D :jester:

[NHMickey]

Ya what she said....:) Thanks Jonie you are right. If I ever saw a pin release where everyone was happy I think I would need a doctor. I have been mad at some and pleased at others. I'm just glad to see pins close to home...

[eye R.N.]

I suspect they'll be more of the first weeks pins just like there were more Snow white litho's printed after they sold through the first set.

With the fortunes of Disney right now, they just can't afford another mistake like the thousands and thousands of countdown pins that were destroyed.

Maybe if they hadn't had to trash so many of those, there would be more of these pins available.

JMHO
Denise

[Parkhopper]

That's the attitude, Jonie!! We appreciate ANY pins that we can get at our local TDS!!

[hopemax]

I understand the "positive" sentiment, but IMO it's misplaced. Bad decisions should not be rationalized away, otherwise more bad decisions are made. I know people are uncomfortable with anything remotely confrontational, but sometimes it's necessary.

Regardless of the number of unsold pins from the Millennium set, Disney saw what happened when pins #1 and the Davy Crockett were underproduced. Did they so soon forget the Homebase voice mail boxes that were filled, the number of people that showed up to return all the rest of the set? Allowing one pin to disappear as fast as this did just invites a return of that scenario. And where is their contingency plan?

I know in my Mom's district, it was discussed that the "no limits" would be a problem. I read on other boards and this one that other people brought up the "no limits" in their stores.

My Mom, an asst. manager, and her boss both told me that there WAS a MIB saying that pin #1 was to be limited to 2 per person. But we have reports of first people buying them all. Either the communications aren't getting from Homebase to the individual stores, or there is a problem with stores not reading what gets sent to them. Either way the company needs to know that and customers should not put the blame on themselves for getting upset when they shouldn't have.

This doesn't mean go and scream at the CM's. But there is nothing wrong with raising your concerns in a calm, civilized manner by asking store managers to pass concerns up the chain, or by contacting Homebase yourself. If enough people do that maybe they will get the point and announce a rerelease of pin #1 and institute limits in the future weeks.

Am I happy pins are for sale, YES! But I realize that people with bad pin encounters do not stay in the hobby; they find new ones that are more enjoyable. What happened last weekend was BAD. This may not have been too bothersome for the die-hards who have seen worse stuff in the parks and are used to it, but what about the newbie? What about last week, will convince them that this is something worth pursuing? No situation can survive without new blood.

I don't expect future weeks to be as bad, but I wonder how much is due to people just giving up and not buying any, and that is not a good sign for the possibility of more Disney Store pin releases.

[KathiWithAnI]

First... GO JONIE and I agree Nat "what she said!"

Second, Not ALL stores had a bad experience... so I do not believe last week-end was a total flop.
I have read every memo we have had come in on the pins and there was no memo about pin #1 being limited, only that pin #100 will be limited to 2 per person... unless maybe the memo was limited to only 2 stores per state........ hmmmmm, A limited edition memo, now I MUST find a copy of it!! :jester: :jester: :jester: :D

Kathi

[shirley 38]

First let me congradulate Jonie and Kathie for the REAL STUFF on the disney stores.
I have wanted to post this for a long time and did so on another board.

We have no control. I talked to our district manager and it is true the pins were alloted to the stores that had the highest pin sales for the millenium pins.

The Number pin was in no way Limited to two per person. There was not informatoin from Home base on this.

There are no hold for cast members. This is a golden rule and has been for years. I have seen people fired for this.

Our pin sale went over very well. There were only two people who missed out on the number 1 pin. And I know for a fact the one person got there's.

We took a poll one time and I was the one who ran it. Would you like to have pins in the disney stores again.
It was a definate Yes. Just think of it this way. Some of us now have pins to trade in WDW or CA.
At least I did not have to go to ebay and buy these pins. And I think the pins are really nice especially for $4.00 and 5.00.

Count you blessings. They are only little pieces of metal.
We need more than anything right now to stick together with the tragedy that had happened on Sept. 11th.

[megashark]

I appreciate Jonie's positive look on this.

However, for myself, when I got to the store at 10:20 and the #1 pins were gone, I decided not to buy any of the pins, since I don't want to have to deal with tracking them down.

My pocketbook's sigh of relief drowned out any whimpers from my collector's heart.

:D

[Parkhopper]

Hopemax, your mother was right and the #1 pin is supposed to be limited to 2 per person, but this set is counting down BACKWARDS. The set started with pin 100 (Walt and Mickey) and will count down to pin #1 which will be the ones that are individual for each state, district or region. THAT individual pin is the one that will be limited to two per person. Our store got an MIB that said that they will limit the purchase to 5 pins per person (on the first day of the pins release only). Hope that this clears up any confusion.

[Luv2Roam]

I am glad to see the limit. Hopefully that will help.
I still think many will take advantage by having EVERY family member buy 5 sets/pins each. Which still wouldn't be bad, if there had been enough to go around.
And I feel for the CM's. I am sure many have had their fill of pin people already! ;) :jester: But it would be helpful if the all followed the same policies/procedures. Even the two stores here go by different rules.:rolleyes: And I would think they have the same DM.

[JudithM]

Parkhopper, I am looking at the cards that my new TDS pins came on - they are in numerical order:
#1 - Walt Disney - One Man's Dream
#2 - Pooh
#3 - Mickey Mouse
#4 - Eeyore
#5 - Ariel
#6 - Minnie
#7 - Walt Disney Presents
#8 - Tigger

[eeyore0062]

You go, Sorcerer!!! I know that at the store that I work at many of our guests refer to it as "their store", and they, in no way work there, although sometimes I think they are there more than some of the CM's!!! That was probably the case with that one guest. No need in getting upset about pin #1, perhaps someone on these boards was lucky enough to get more than one, and would be glad to institute a trade. When I collected the Millineum Pins, the only one I was missing was the Davy Crockett with the wrong date, and it took me a year and a half, but I finally was able to trade on these boards and get it--- Thank you RWETHEREYET!!!, so my collection is now complete! Now about that Cogsworth pin to complete my Beauty and the Beast Collection from WDW~

[Sorcerer]

Thanks everyone for your positive remarks! I guess I'm just an idealist, I want everyone to just get along ;)

Unfortunately I feel like I have to respond to a few of the posts...

First of all, it's called pin TRADING. That means that Disney is encouraging guests to trade amongst themselves to collect the set.

Secondly, there was no communication regarding a limit on the first pin (Walt and Mickey). I've read everything in the store regarding pin trading at least twice, and there was nothing regarding any limits on any of the pins last weekend. As Suzi pointed out, there will be a limit on the last pin of 2 per person (the state flag pins).

Megashark, I'm surprised you decided against collecting the set. If you had REALLY wanted the set you would have been at the store before it opened. Everyone on these boards was aware that most stores received a limited supply. :D

And Luv2Roam - you are most correct in saying that it would be helpful if every store followed the same rules. Especially in this day and age when information can be shared so readily.

And now to address my "rationalization of a bad decision".

I'm the last person you'll see back down from a confrontational situation. My post wasn't intended to downplay the situation in the stores, but more to impress upon everyone the necessity of keeping things positive. The more complaints Disney hears, the more likely they are to say "too many complaints, let's just take away the pins in the stores altogether". They did it with watches (not that THAT was based on complaints, but rather to solve another issue. They still went against popular opinion and removed the watches from the stores).

Disney is in business to make money. They lost money on the Millennium pins by producing too many. Yes, they are losing money now by not having produced enough, but that's better than having produced too many. They are not limited - there is still the possibility that more pins will be produced and released in the future.

The pins from last week were designed and produced months ago. Disney is just now getting the message that the quantities were not sufficient. They have not yet had an opportunity to respond. Based on previous sales numbers, Disney thought they would meet the demand. Unfortunately they were wrong! Let's give them an opportunity to correct the mistake before we hang them out to dry.

I agree that constructive criticism should be presented to the store managers so that it may be sent up the communication chain. But as Hope said, it should be in a calm, constructive manner. No screaming at CMs allowed! ;)

[amcnj]

I for one am more of an acquirer than a trader, I guess. Besides, trading opportunites were severely limited by allowing a few individuals to corral so many of certain pins. I like to be able to buy something I want without all the hassles, and stores that don't permit this, to me are not giving good customer service, and thus are less likely to get future business from me. I have to say that this experience has left me with negative feelings towards The Disney Store, and I guess the company as a whole. Perhaps the current times are partly to blame, making me less receptive to unnecessary aggravation, especially over relatively small things like pin sales. The huge horrors right around me on tv, radio and the obituary section of local newspapers, leave me less tolerant towards such seemingly bad handling of small matters.

[NHMickey]

I have been thinking about this. While I know the pins are sold out and we don't know that they will be back out. I do know that the price on ebay will fall. How do I come to this conclusion.. Glad you asked.

1st... There are around 420 DS stores that had these pins.

2nd... Each store got on average 24 pins. Some got more some got less but on average we will call it 24. That works out to better than 10,000 pins.

I have never seen an edition size of 10,000 (and my guess is this is more) ever sell out. While I know this one did I think you will see that a lot of these will be either be brought back or dumped on ebay.

As to how the DS handles this, well I thought they did a good job. I know pin one sold out but look at how many other pins are still on the racks. My local DS got 50 of each pin. They sill have all excepot the #1 pin and I bet they have at least 20 to 25 of each one left. Now add that up over 400 plus stores and then figure out that they still have 92 plus pins to go... That is a lot of extras. I know some sold out in the hot beds of trading but not in Mass or NH...

Disney learned a lesson with the 101 pins. and good companys learn fast. They know sales are lost but they also don't want to be caught with a lot of unsold inventory.

And I have to agree with Jonie... This will cause more trading. If the last pin is LE to 2 each and you want a complete set (and I feel a complete set is every variation of any pin in a set) you will need to do a lot and I mean a lot of trading to get all the state pins and Canadian pins and pins from places like PR and Guam... So this has a long way to go. I'm sure as we go along we will all have storys to tell and some will be good and some will be bad. But we will at least have fun hearing them all.


As to limiting the pins. I do think it's fair for the DS store to hold sales to 5 pins per person for the first day. That way everyone has a chance to get the pins they want. If you need more you can always go back on sunday... Except me...

I gotta work:)

[NHMickey]

Oh and one more thing...

Thank you everyone for keeping this calm and open minded.

[megashark]

But 10:20 was a quickly as I could get the person I was with to the store. And pins take a second place to friendship, though I can usually arrange to be available when a pin comes out.

:D

[amcnj]

Well I had to time a visit to the Disney store between two soccer games Saturday morning. I arrived around 10:45 and was informed that all pins were sold out by about 10:30 am! Did this occur in other areas too? I had purchased the pin book to hold them all, but now it looks like I can return that. I guess they seriously underestimated the demand for these pins. Now I know not to waste my time going there any other weeks.

[eeyore0062]

Don't know where you are from, but we still have all of the week 2 pins at our store in Chesapeake VA. They will ship them to you gladly! Also, word has it, that some of the 1st pins will be reproduced due to the overwhelming demand. Don't give up!

[SharonS]

I was in our local store this Saturday night, and all of the pins from week #2 were gone. Our stores have none of either week #1 or #2. So, while the Disney Store may have been trying to distribute based upon previous purchase, it appears they have miscalculated. It seems that some stores have most of week #1 and 2 available, yet other areas have none of either.

I really enjoy pin collecting, but as someone else said, I want to be able to purchase what I want, and not have to rely on trading to obtain these. I called Homebase Guest Services to state my complaints. They had a list of questions they were asking as to how I believed things should be changed, etc. Everyone has to make their own decisions, but as for me, I will chose to show my displeasure with this by not purchasing the pins.

Good luck to everyone who is collecting the set!

[JudithM]

This morning there were still week #2 pins available at the Store where I have been buying pins.

[SueEllen]

I just wanted to add to this. You will never please everyone. Yes, there are things that Disney could have done to make this better. However, I think that they responded quickly by limiting the first days purchase to 5 pins each. This was done based on week one's sales.

Now, I wanted this entire collection. Being that I can't drive (because of the surgery) I was reliant on someone else to help me get the pins. My "home" store was already sold out of the first pin. A trip had to be made to another DS to get that pin.

Week two, my "home" DS only had 3 different pins (and this was only 1 hour after opening) left. Again, a trip to another DS to get the rest of the set. The point? While some stores are selling out quickly, others have plenty of pins that are not selling so quickly.

Best of luck to everyone who wants to complete the collection. Just remember, Disney has based its quantities on previous sales. Some stores will still have an overage and will be "stuck" with left over pins.

I agree with Nat, 10,000 plus pins is a large edition size. Instead of being located in one central place, they are spread out over the country (and other territories) so they seem to be smaller quantities.

Relax, eventually you will be able to complete a collection...either by trading with CMs (which is being tested in some stores) or by trading here.

Happy Collecting!
Sue Ellen

[eeyore0062]

Trading in all stores will begin the middle of October.

[tinkerbarb]

I believe it's either the 13th or the 15th of this month that we start trading in the DS.