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The Pez Outlaw Movie is on Netflix & Amazon Prime.
The Pez Outlaw Movie is on Netflix & Amazon Prime.
Below some of the Pez I bought in 1998 for $471,950.00
Warehouse Photos of some of the Pez Body Parts after they arrived.
The first container or 2 of body parts arrived while I was in Europe on a buying trip. My employees and family members supervised by Joshua emptied the trucks into my garage and house. For a couple of days there was only a thin Hoarders hallway through the entire house. Joshua and my employees then down-packed the boxes to reduce bulk.
Once down-packed the body parts were put into the basement.
If you think the pics of my warehouse are impressive, you should have seen my basement.
Did
you know that the original idea about Pez body parts was that
they were like Pez Make A Face? This was actually said to me by Marcos
and Ljuba (Ormoz Slovenia) in one of the hush hush talks we had.
Marcos was all excited about this really big new project he referred
to like Pez Make A Face. Obviously corporate thinking was Pez body
parts were somehow a way to capitalize on the fact that Pez Make A
Face was always said in books to be the Holy Grail of pez dispensers
& at the time selling for 2 to $3,000.00 each.
The Holiday Colors/Misfits
Looking at these dispensers today in view of the fact that so many pez are now done in a wide range of colors, you may think. What's the big deal? It's probably hard to understand what all the hubbub was all about. Up until the arrival of the Pez Holiday Colors/Misfits, crazy color combination's like these were not really done in mass production. This group of pez was the idea that started it all. For that reason alone they deserve a special place in the modern history of Pez. This book is about, correcting the history of Pez to include Pez Outlaw's contributions to it.
It's of great significance that my ideas for this project in 1998 were the beginning of Crystals and Glow in the Dark Pez Dispensers. The idea of using clear plastic or glow in the dark plastic for pez dispensers had never occurred to Pez Corporation until I asked for it. As a point of fact they thought clear plastic could not be used until I asked. My original release Crystal Pez Dispensers were the test pieces for this concept. Notably they have air bubbles in the plastic. Which signifies how new the process was to Pez Corporation.
For the record, the name Crystal Pez Dispenser that you use to describe clear Pez heads in various colors is the name I gave the original 8 Crystals. I paid $6.00 each for the original 7,488 Crystal pez dispensers made to my specification of clear plastic heads. I believe $45,000.00 gives me the right to claim the idea and the name I gave them.
Mex-Tex Pez dispenser 3,060 pieces. This Pez dispenser was done with a
Tan face so it could be the first Hispanic Santa. I was reluctant at
the time to go with another black Santa Pez dispenser out of deference
to the ones that had preceded it. Today the decision would be
different I would have done Black head glow in the dark hat &
beard. The Tan face was half hearted, I should have made him the way I
really wanted to.
Diablo Pez dispenser 3,060 pieces. Black Skull. Just a no brainer, the name & the color.
Jaundice Witch Pez dispenser 3,060 pieces. Yellow head, white hat, brown hair Witch. Almost a good idea. Original concept being that naturally an old witch would have jaundice color skin.
Mex-Tex Pez dispensers, Diablo Pez dispensers & Jaundice Witch Pez dispensers. Total cost $43,230.00
3,060 pieces Orange Snowman Pez dispensers. no great shakes can't even remember what I called it. *** I now realize from my notes that this one was German Andres idea. At that moment I was at a loss, he suggested it & I just said ok whatever.***
26,016 Santa Play World Pez
28,000 more Pez body parts, above.
1872 Psych Eyes Pez dispensers
Orange snowmen, santa play worlds, more pez body parts & psych eyes. Total cost $36,000.00 1,050 Peter Pez coin plates Total cost $5,250
2,160 Pez Aral Gas Play Worlds Yellow Hair
2,160 Pez Aral Gas Play Worlds Red Hair
205 more Psych Eyes Pez dispensers
1,728 of original 4 color Pez dispensers. That I was told was "production over run" & if I didn't buy would be sold elsewhere. Actually what was left of Andre's production, that he wanted to get rid of after grabbing all the quick sales he could behind my back.
Pez Arals, Psychs & lot of 4 loose colors Total cost $26,000.00
11,520 of 4 different Glow in dark Ghosts Pez dispensers
2,880 Gargomel Pez dispensers
Pez Glow Ghosts & Gargomels Total cost $24,480.00
3,456 pieces Detys Pez dispensers. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow. No
regrets yellow head snowman with a comic back story done in initials.
He was perfection.
3,456 pieces VooDoo Mama Pez dispensers. Black head, Orange hat, White hair Witch. Again no regrets she was awesome.
3,456 pieces David W. Pez dispensers. Kinda weak. Brown face lion meant to bring reality to the dispenser. Should have done a different character for this one, yellow witch & orange snowman. Like Pez Pal boy & Pez Pal Girl in Black. The only good thing about this dispenser is it's name, an homage to David Welch & his contribution to the hobby of collecting pez. All Pez price guides really need to stop using the carpetbagger name misfit lion & call it by it's correct name. David W.
3,456 pieces Pinky Pez dispensers. Named after the Pink Elephants a drunk might see. Dark nose because he has a snoot full.
Detys, VooDoo, David & Pinky Pez dispensers Total cost $55,296.00
1,236 each of 5 Different Shell Gas Pez Pal, Gold, Blond, Gray & Orange Hair. Total cost $32,136.00
2,361 pieces Buyout of loose Pez Colors. 248 Mex-tex Pez dispensers, 302 Diablo Pez dispensers, 177 Y Witch Pez dispensers, 284 O snowman Pez dispensers, 280 Pinky Pez dispensers, 309 David Pez dispensers, 389 VooDoo Pez dispensers & 372 Detys Pez dispensers all loose. From German Andre. A very large wooden crate of loose Pez colors, Andre (the Snake) had produced on the side & was selling behind my back to other dealers undercutting my prices. He said it was overproduction & if I did not buy it. He would sell elsewhere. I knew better but the price was cheap & it helped defray some of the losses so I bought it. Total cost $4,720.00
936 Pez dispensers each x 8 dif = 7,488 total of Original 8 Crystal Pez dispensers. I payed $6.00 each. My idea including the name. Early on in the color project I asked about clear head Pez dispensers Crystals. I was told it would be to difficult to do. Several months later Andre said, "Hey remember those Pez Crystal head dispensers you wanted, I got them for you 8 different Ghosts n new Zoo" Pez dispensers. Quite a few of these original Pez Crystals have the imperfections stated as the difficulty in making them. Air bubbles in the clear plastic. Total cost $44,926.00 October 1998
1,680 pieces Pez Silver Hair Shell Gas Play World. Again my guess is Andre made these for himself, then realized how long it takes to sell. Total cost $12,600.00
3,456 pieces Bear C Pez dispensers & 3,456 pieces Bear D Pez dispensers. Black & Brown Ice Bear Pez dispensers. Great pieces. I loved them. I think I called them Bear C & Bear D. The Bear D Pez dispenser was the brown one named after Donna a really terrific person who worked for me back then. The Bear C Pez dispenser was named after my grandson Corey. Total cost $27,648.00
216 Tyke Pez dispensers. Total cost $648.00
2,935 pieces Large advertising Pez Balloon stickers. Total cost $880.00
3,456 each x 3 dif = 10,368 pieces. Pal S, J, & M Pez dispensers. I loved these three Pez dispensers, I think they were my most creative Pez dispensers. Glow in the dark heads with Hip-Hop hats. Also the first use of Glow in the Dark plastic for heads or anything else for that matter. Named after my kids Steph, Josh & Moriah. Total cost $41,472.00
1,500 pieces Pez Take Off Play World. Total cost $7,500.00
11,520 pieces of 4 different carded Nintendo Pez dispensers. Total cost $19,584.00
If my math is correct The items listed above comes to $403,470.00 Total. The other roughly $68,000.00 comes from 3 buys my records suck on. Approximately 4,000 loose Joes trucks Pez dispensers, Approx 4,000 Pez Pal Mariner Play Worlds, and a large amount of Double cards with Dinosaur Pez dispensers & Pez body parts side by side.
The figure of $471,950.00 comes from a fax I sent to German Andre on 9-15-98. In it I stated after adding receipts the total was approx $350,000.00. Using this figure as a bludgeon to try to get a better price on the proposed Pez Space Gun project. $350,000.00 that year prior to 9-15-98. Then additionally the following payments were made that same year.
9-28-98 I sent him a cashiers check for $11,000.00
10-19-98 a cashiers check for $27,400.00
11-10-98 a cashiers check for $83,550.00 as the final payment for product bought in the Pez Color Wars. This is where the $471,950.00 figure comes from and as you see above from list of Pez dispensers bought & amounts paid $403,470.00 is accounted for. I know the other $68,000.00 was spent just can't find the records on it.
I also bought the rest of Joes Pez trucks from Joe & Dave sometime in the year of 2,000.
My absolute favorites of all the colors made in 1998 were Diablo, VooDoo Mama & Pals S, J & M. Hands down these were my favorites & the ones I was most proud of. I also thought Detys & Pinky were at the very least, funny.
My 3rd project was to be the following.
1,000 Black Spaceguns
1,000 Glow in dark Spaceguns
5,000 of 5 x 1,000 ea neon color spacegun
3,000 Black Snowman
I also had plans for glow in the dark trucks which Andre shopped to Joe n David G
4th planned project
Pez Pal Boy n Girl
Brown head, black hair
Glow in dark head. boy neon green hair, girl neon pink hair
The Black Santa Pez Dispenser was probably when the seeds of Scott
McWhinnies hatred for me were planted. For over a decade then n all the
way to today Pez USA n Int. reject the idea of a Black Santa.
When Black Santa was made for n distributed by me Pez Corporation went absolutely Ballistic with outrage. I think Marcos n I were the only ones who thought a Black Santa was an obvious natural thing.
For my impudence of giving the world a Black Santa Pez I became enemy #1 of Pez USA. From that moment on everything change for me as a Pez dealer. The only Black Santa Pez you will see anywhere in the world are the ones I smuggled into the USA in 1994.
Day 1 my very first trip to Ormoz in Slovenia. When Marcos gave me that first Black Santa Pez dispenser the die was cast, everything was set in motion. Scott McWhinnie and I were from that moment set on our inevitable path to destroy each other. The sale of that Fist Black Santa Pez dispenser was when I appeared on Scott McWhinnie's radar.
I tried to change our path by buying the Holiday Colors. Scott McWhinnie President of Pez USA would have none of it and our mutual destruction was sealed. In the end it was his choice to make, not mine. I'd like to say even though we both crashed and burned after the Pez Color War, his landing was better than mine. Scott McWhinnie got eased out with a good retirement package, I got $250,00.00 of debt which I still owe the bank.
You would think two seemingly intelligent people could avoid the conclusion that awaited Scott and myself. Unfortunately when you are in the middle of it you can not see what is obvious on reflection.
As a point of interest, possibly to anyone who reads this story. The Black Santa Pez dispenser is my all time favorite Pez dispenser. For me the most prized pez dispenser I ever owned and at one time or another I owned most.
Marcos first created the
Black Santa Pez dispenser with the thought process that some children
in America might like an accurate representation of Santa for them.
This was his Job to create and propose various Pez dispenser
ideas. Several different samples were produced by him and sent
to Austria in the hope that others would agree. Which is why other
Black Santa Pez dispensers have been bought from other locations than
Ormoz. The feedback was that a Black Santa Claus was to
controversial and that the majority of there customer
base would be offended. This may have been the
case in 1990 when the project was first proposed by Marcos, but
surely today in 2016 this is not the case. Now though, it is long
over due.
Pink Bunny pictured left was also one of Marco creations.
Marcos was a visionary. There were at least 3 versions of the Black Santa Pez dispenser from the early 90s, and this was where that spark that later became the Pez Color Wars first kindled.
Although it was the Pink Rhino MMM Pez dispenser that was the trigger and when I decided to pursue the project. If I remember right John the cool pez man Devlin was going to pay about $500.00 for this item. I had been talking to German Andre about this idea by then for a while, but when John was ready to pay that kind of money I decided the project was a go. My logic was surely people who till then had been paying at minimum several hundred dollars each for Pez color variations would jump at $25.00 each. With how much I had to invest to get them and how much each one cost me, $25.00 was what I needed.
Yes $25.00 each was over 100% profit per Pez dispenser, but I had to buy approx 1/2 million dollars worth of pez items as part of the overall project. Had things gone as planned, it would have taken 5 to 10 years to sell it all, tying up half a million dollars for years. Which meant interrupting cash flow and the roll over rate of capital. Plus at that point $150,000.00 of it was borrowed using my companies line of credit. Not to mention the cost of operating my pez business, which was very high. So for all these reasons $25.00 each was the number required for the investment. When $25.00 turned into $10.00 then $5.00 and finally $2.00 to $3.00 per pez dispenser, that's how things went south at the speed of light.
There was also the product I was required to buy from Andre Zeich in order to have the privilege of buying the pez colors I desired. The product bought during the pez color wars totaled $471,950.00 and ended with me in debt $250,000.00.
The following is a list of the Pez dispensers I bought in 1998 for $471,950.00, which includes the Pez Holiday Colors/Misfits and there real names. This list is the entire group of product bought from Andre / Pez Austria, the product involved in the Pez Color War.
$21,100.00 for One Shipping Container full of Pez Body parts. This was
the 105,500 carded pez body parts I was forced to buy as a
precondition to getting the pez colors produced. I hated this deal, I
think I paid 20cents each. In the end it was one of the smarter things
I was forced to buy in the pez color project. I gave them away as
inducements to buy at certain dollar levels and elevated pez
sales quite a bit. Also face it at a quarter each in the end I was not
going to lose money. So yeah even though forced to buy them I came out
ok. I could have moved double the amount I bought.
Recently somebody asked. "do you guys still have PEZ body parts?" I only have the Pez. body parts left that I buried in the back yard. Also way back when I had tons, I traded a truckload to Okatoni for a truckload of Ren and Stimpy candy heads. Which I still have as it was one of my more genius moves.
So yeah I still have some Pez body parts, but they are in a hole out back. Which I never plan to dig up. Never. Never ever. Never!
Jeff Maysh asked me to dig them up.
Mike Mitros said, dig them up, you could sell them as Zombie Pez.
So last summer I dug up the yard with the tractor searching for them, only to find out that I had burned them before I buried them.
Answering Mike Mitros idea about Zombie Pez.
Mike everybody knows you can't just bury a Zombie Pez, you gotta burn them first.
So what happened?
Pez Corporation agreed to make $250,000.00 worth of special pez for me. To qualify I had to buy another $250,000.00 worth of product, so 1/2 million total. After I borrowed every penny I could get my hands on from 20 years building my finances and credibility to lenders, Pez Corporation reproduced the product with the sole intent to destroy my company.
The Pez Color War. This phrase represents a 3 year period where my life as a Pez Outlaw became an open conflict with Pez USA. Scott McWhinnie was the guy who ran Pez USA at that time. For years I had been a thorn in Pez USAs back side, just out of reach for him to remove. It was not until I contracted with Pez Austria/Haas for just under 20 exclusive special Pez color variations, approx 8 different Crystal Pez and the glow in the dark Halloween Pez that Pez USA finally saw there opening. The Pez Color War began when I first received these dispensers and started selling them. Followed by Pez USA reproducing most of them for sale on the NEW Pez USA website. The Pez Color Wars refers to the clash of that product in the collector arena. It was the Holiday Colors/Misfits, my product vs Scotts product. Approximately 300,000 to 500,000 Pez Dispensers were involved in this conflict.
When I bought the Holiday Colors it was my attempt to move on from all the smuggling and intrigue that had built my company. I wanted to put all that behind me n start new with legit product bought from Pez International. Unfortunately Scott McWhinnie was not of a same mind, rather than begin anew by leaving the past behind, he wanted revenge.
By ordering such a large group of Pez dispensers from Pez Austria at a very high price per dispenser I handed Scott McWhinnie President of Pez USA the opening for the revenge he desperately desired. Like they say, when you seek revenge dig two holes first, because truth be told when all was said n done, we were both dead.
The biggest outrage is, The President of PEZ USA conceived and ruthlessly carried out his plan to reproduced my product with the sole intent of destroying my company.
Intent is everything. Add to that Malice of Forethought. Pez USA planned this meticulously.
It would not matter if I were the worst person on planet Earth, that fact would not excuse Pez Corporations actions or there intent by those actions.
Pez USA President Scott McWhinnie's first response to the Holiday Colors/Misfits was to start a rumor that these dispensers were not legitimate dispensers. Pez USA did this through PCN the Pez Collectors News letter. The second thing Pez USA did was to have a collector buy samples of the Holiday colors, so they could be sent to Pez Austria to be copied. Which when you think about it is kinda odd because Pez Austria authorized and made the original dispensers. My guess as to why samples were required is as follows. Pez Austria really disliked Scott McWhinnie so nobody in Europe was going to make anything easy for him. It is also possible that so little regard was given to the choices I made for the Holiday Colors, that no records were kept. My guess is both reasons were factors in why samples were required.
The copies were named the Misfits by Scott McWhinnie, he did all of this in his capacity as President of Pez USA. By the end of Pez USAs smear campaign through PCN, the Pez Corp copies were this shiny good thing and my originals were dubious at best. The name Holiday colors was jettisoned with remarkable speed and replaced with the name of the copies, MISFITS. The Misfits were the copies. The individual names were; Diablo, Detys, VooDoo Mama, David W, Pinky, Mex-Tex, Jaundice Witch, Bear C, Bear D, Pal S, Pal J and Pal M etc.
Once Pez USA received the Misfits the retail was set at the price I paid wholesale to my broker Andre Zeich. Andre is the person who placed the order through Van Melles of Germany for the Holiday colors from Pez Austria Haas for me and handled all of the shipping arraignments.
I have to admit to you that I do hate Pez Corporation for what they stole from my family. Though to carry that hate every day would destroy me. I believe n hope that my hate of Pez Corporation is a passive emotion. To be honest I rarely think of it anymore, but down deep it remains.
Today though I choose to bring my hate of Pez Corporation forward to promote Pez Outlaw Diary.
The Charges
Under Scott McWhinnie's Pez Corporation, the following was done.
Pez Corporation Committed a $250,000.00 Fraud through Breach of implied Contract.
Pez Corporation used a clients ideas to destroy that clients business.
Pez Corporation used there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation sold then devalued there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation initiated a smear campaign against there own product once a client bought that product.
Pez Corporation manipulated the price n value of there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation destroyed a client then used that clients ideas for 2 decades of profit.
I've never been the type of person that things came to easily.
As a matter of fact my ability to fit into what is "Normal" has always been a challenge.
Despite that I found my path.
The Day I Died
It took me 25 years to get to the point in 1994 that I was ready to make my move.
Finally I had scraped together a few thousand dollars to begin my journey.
The next 4 years flew by at light speed, I had finally caught the wave.
Everything was built on the momentum of the previous success.
Flea markets, Good Will stores, Collectibles of every description, McDonalds premiums, cereal premiums and finally Pez.
Every success rolled into the next, all building to the decisions of 1998.
In 1998 I remortgaged my home ($125,000.00) and took out an additional line of credit loan for $125,000.00.
I put that borrowed $250,000.00 with another $250,000.00 of earnings in 1998 on the biggest play I had ever made.
A half million dollars pushed into the middle of the table.
In late 1998 I lost and sj glew died.
Everything I had worked a lifetime for ended.
Like I said my path in life has not been an easy fit.
Pez Outlaw was born.
Every day since that fateful day in 1998 I've been at war with Pez Corporation..
Yes I earned 4.5 million dollars in 11 years on a $4,000.00 investment, but in the end I lost $250,000.00 on a half million dollar investment that should have yielded a million, minimum.
The question then became, when you have lost almost everything what's your next move.
All material resources gone, what's left to draw on.
It was at that low point that I realized the one asset I still had, my mind.
Over the next decade I used it along with the new tool of the internet to write my story.
The process has been very slow, 15 years now.
The goal to sell the Pez Outlaw story as a book and a movie.
Which I did.
I can say this much as to the progress of that dream.
Having your story optioned does not guarantee that the movie will actually be made.
So I continue working.
That day in 1998 when sj glew and all his dreams died, that was the day Pez Outlaw was born.
The Legend of Pez Outlaw.
http://www.playboy.com/articles/pez-outlaw
My Sins
I conceived n sold the first Crystal (clear plastic) Pez Dispensers.
I conceived n sold the first Glow in The Dark Pez Dispensers.
I conceived n sold the first Holiday Colors (you know them as the copies Misfits) Pez Dispensers.
I sold the first 2 Bubble Boy Pez Dispensers after Pez initially abandoned him. Which by no coincidence is why he exists today.
I brought an entire group of C class trucks (pink, yellow n orange cabs, black stems) to the USA.
I brought almost every Black Santa in collections today to the USA.
except 1or2 the only Black Santa Pez that exist anywhere in the world were brought to the USA by me.
I brought almost all of the original Pink Bunny Pez to the USA.
I imported the entire initial group ( approx 250,000 ) Pez Body Parts to the USA.
I imported almost all of Aral, Shell Oil, BP gas, Pilots, Mariners, Alpine boys n all color variations to the USA.
I imported almost all of the Santa n Easter with body parts to the USA.
I created the California Pez Convention.
I Reduced common Foreign Pez prices from $25.00 each to $5.00 each.
I Reduced recently discontinued Pez at $50 n $75.00 each to $10 to $25.00 each.
I bought n sold more pez in 1990s than any other dealer (even if you combined top 3 dealers), over 2 million.
I am the only person that large groups of Pez are known as sj glew/Pez Outlaw Pez.
The First Pez Corporation Website ever was created with copies of my pez, with the sole intent to destroy me.
To say I had an impact on the Hobby of Collecting Pez is a very big understatement.
The above list is nowhere near everything.
The Reason Scott McWhinnie's Pez Corporation Targeted Me.
For approx 3 years by default I ran Pez USA. The reason I say this is for 2 to 3 years most of what Pez USA did was in direct response to what I was doing.
For 3 years I was the largest Pez Dealer in the world.
Over an 11 year period of selling Pez I earned $4,530,899.00 in Gross Sales. Then lost everything in the Pez Color War
For 10 years I traveled to Europe almost every month buying Pez. Spending just under 1 million dollars.
I smuggled roughly 1.5 million pez dispensers into the USA from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia n Canada. Over 700,000 pez were hand carried by me personally between Europe and the USA.
Total Amount of money spent buying Pez worldwide, well over 2 million dollars.
I operated in an underground black market Pez economy for 10 years. Making me a Pez Outlaw. A man on the run with a giant bulls-eye on my back.
Countries visited buying Pez included; Canada, Australia, Austria, South Africa, Spain, France, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Switzerland and Sweden.
Calling Dr Phil.
Pez Corp has a customer who is willing to and spends 1/2 million dollars in one year buying Pez dispensers from Pez Corp to resell. In doing so this customer also brings several unique innovations to that product. How does Pez corporation reward this customer? They do everything possible to destroy that investment. Call me stupid but this does not sound like good business practice.
After reviewing my records from 1998 I'm actually surprised that I only lost $250,000.00 when it was all done. I believe that because I was willing to take the hit and reacted quickly to the events as they unfolded, that I reduced a potential 1/2 million dollar loss by half.
The really ironic part of all of this is that before I tried to go legit by doing business directly with pez corp I earned over 4 million dollars. After trying to go legit buying directly from Pez Corp, I lost everything and went $250,000.00 in debt. Who woulda thunk that doing business around the edges was better than partnering with Pez corp.
Kinda reminds me of the movies where a criminal tries to go straight. The criminal figures after handling business in a criminal world, that corporate types would be pussy cats. Only to find out Corporate types are more dishonest than criminals
You have to be asking yourself. How can this guy say these things and not get in legal trouble with Pez Corp? The answer is easy. The statements are true, therefore not slander but simply a statement of fact.
It would also be interesting, to me anyway. To have Pez USA explain how there website when it first came on line mirrored the product I paid just under 1/2 million dollars for.
Since we all know I am not a shrinking violate I will also state the following. There would not have been any Bubble Boy release by Pez USA had I not sold 2 for approximately $1,000.00 each, causing Scott McWhinnie to wig out & other dealers to start selling there's. There would not have been Crystal pez dispensers at all if not for the Crystal Pez Project that was part of the Pez Color Wars. There would not have been color variation Pez Dispensers sold by Pez Corp & others in any significant quantities had it not been for my Black Santa Pez Dispensers & the Holiday Colors Pez Dispensers that were part of the Pez Color Wars.
Bubble Boy Pez Dispensers in all colors, Crystal Pez dispensers of all types & Color variation Pez Dispensers of all types in any significant quantity all are a direct result of the Pez Color Wars. So in effect all of these Pez Dispensers & those that followed are my children as they were born of this time. The Crystal & Color variation Pez Dispensers that have followed to this day are all born as a direct result of the Pez Color Wars. So they too are my children. None of this would have happened had it not been for the Pez Colors project, The Pez Crystals Project or the Pez Color Wars.
The following stats are to illustrate how the 11 years I sold Pez dispensers went.
These are the gross sales that can be documented with the tax returns for these years.
Pez Year #1 = $191,817.00 gross
Pez Year #2 = $291,902.00 gross
Pez Year #3 = $448,277.00 gross
Pez Year #4 = $754,069.00 gross
Pez Year #5 = $569,330.00 gross
Pez Year #6 = $426,163.00 gross
Pez Year #7 = $552,277.00 gross
Pez Year #8 = $412,758.00 gross
Pez Year #9 = $253,844.00 gross
Pez Year #10 = $331,459.00 gross
Pez Year #11 = $299,003.00 gross
This 11 year time frame represents once things were up and running, selling Pez through final closeout of the bulk of the remaining Pez inventory. These numbers were taken from the tax returns for each year. In Pez Year # 4 a couple of my employees actually received bonuses. The 4th year was also the year my accountant called me n said, "Do you realize you are going to make $750,000.00 this year". It was all pretty crazy, going from $35,000.00 a year to Pez Money. I accomplished all this by seeing something, then throwing everything I had at achieving the goal. Remember I started with less than $3,000.00
You also would be safe in assuming that because I sold 4.5 million dollars in Pez over 11 years, that the amount of Pez I bought was closer to 2 million dollars. As my markup averaged 100%. My records on pez bought are not as good as gross sales, as about 1/2 of my buys were cash.
My deals with German Andre buying Pez dispensers alone totaled $471,950.00 in 1998. I also know that I spent over 1/2 million in cash on over 1/2 million Pez dispensers in mostly Hungary, approx 70 trips (Hungary, Slovenia & Austria) averaging $9,000.00 per trip on product. Hotels, flights and cars were usually paid by credit card. Which totals 1 million dollars spent on Pez between Germany/Austria and Hungary alone.
My company was devastated when Pez USA, Pez Austria, Haas duplicated most of the product I bought in 1998. I had told people this product was mine exclusively as that is what I had been told when I invested almost 1/2 million dollars. People who bought from me lost all trust in my word after this.
Problem is, even before the rumors that Pez USA was going to launch a website with my product, other rumors hurt sales. Months before Pez USA had people buy samples from me, to duplicate my product he started rumors that my Pez dispensers were fake. Richie should be able to provide more on this , as it was reported that Pez USA had stated my dispensers were not authorized or some such thing. Which led people to question if I was having dispensers made outside of Pez Corp.
I have no idea why, but this rumor seemed to pop up every time I acquired a bunch of Pez dispensers. I seemed to have to constantly assure people I did not have a factory that was churning out Pez dispensers. I never knew who was starting these rumors for sure. These rumors were passed down the chain until people like the person who ran Pezamania were saying that I was making pez in my basement as almost fact to other collectors.
I believe I bought more Pez, Sold more Pez and spent more money on Pez in the 1990s than any other Pez dealer.
The second aspect of the color war was that for approx 3 years by default I ran Pez USA. The reason I say this is for 2 to 3 years most of what Pez USA did was in reaction to what I was doing. Examples: I sold Pez Bubble boy then after passing on him, Pez USA started selling Bubble boy. Canadian & Euro Pez dispenser were often different which I exploited to the max, so distribution networks & product distributed was changed. I created the Crystal pez dispenser concept & name, so Pez USA started selling Crystal Pez. I imported Body parts, so soon Pez USA imported body parts after initially saying no to them. I created the Color Project, soon Pez USA was selling the identical product. I imported Glow in the dark Ghosts after a year Pez USA imported Glow in the Dark Ghost. You might remember for the first year Pez USA Ghosts were a cream color, until they saw mine in Glow in the Dark. One year later there's were also Glow in the Dark.
Pez USA executives always worried I was making more money on Pez than they were with my website. So Pez USA created a website, which by no coincidence came online selling duplicates of my product. The entire Pez USA mail away program was started with my product, in reaction to my product. The Pez USA website opened selling my Pez Crystals, my Holiday Colors/Misfits, my Glow in the Dark pez, my pez pal variations, body parts and Bubble Man.
A few of my other responsibilities during the 3 years I ran Pez USA by default were. Product development, market testing for viability of new concept pez dispensers & the only significant advertising of Pez dispensers. Besides general promotion of pez by way of premiums, written materials and give aways. I performed my duties with great joy.
So by default because so much of what Pez USA did for about 3 years was as a direct result of what I did & the fact that for 3 years all of the innovations in Pez product were copies literally of my Pez dispensers. I feel very comfortable saying I ran Pez USA for 3 years. This control over the company also extended to at least two trips to Europe by Pez USA executives that were solely about my activities.
Over the years I have heard many times people say how cool it would be to run Pez USA. Let me tell you by default I did run Pez USA for 3 years & it was no fun at all. If I had made $250,000.00 for running Pez USA instead of losing $250,000.00, maybe then it would have been fun.
The only upside to the Pez Color Wars was the introduction of crystals, colors and glow in the dark dispensers to the hobby. These dispensers did not exist prior to my introduction of them during the Pez Color Wars. Last but not least Bubble Boy was an orphan only release after I released him. In the end, still a Pez Outlaw. I should have stuck to the plan.
Not in my wildest dreams while working in the shop, would I have imagined the adventure I was about to take. Yes in the end I did lose it all in the Pez Color Wars, but the adventure is not over. After all if it all had not happened, I would not have this story to tell and I love a good story. My hope is that writing this story and selling it on ebay is the actual end of the story. Even the act of writing the story and listing it on ebay for sale is beginning to be a story of its own.
For more on or from Pez Outlaw
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| Mex-Tex picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Jaundice Witch, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Orange Snowman, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| David W. picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Pinky, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Diablo, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| DETY's = don't eat the yellow snow, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| VooDoo Mama, picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Corey Bear - picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Donna Bear - picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Joshua - picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Moriah - picture provided by john disbrow |
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| Stephanie - picture provided by john disbrow |
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| The 1st crystal head pez from the idea I had to use clear plastic on pez dispenser heads |
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| The 1st glow in the dark head pez from the idea I had to use GITD plastic on pez dispenser heads |
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| My Pez. 1st use of colors in crystal pez. I named them the Rainbow Crystal Zoo |
Warehouse Photos of some of the Pez Body Parts after they arrived.
The first container or 2 of body parts arrived while I was in Europe on a buying trip. My employees and family members supervised by Joshua emptied the trucks into my garage and house. For a couple of days there was only a thin Hoarders hallway through the entire house. Joshua and my employees then down-packed the boxes to reduce bulk.
Once down-packed the body parts were put into the basement.
If you think the pics of my warehouse are impressive, you should have seen my basement.
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| The Pez Body Parts arrived while I was in Europe getting Ducks. |
The Holiday Colors/Misfits
Looking at these dispensers today in view of the fact that so many pez are now done in a wide range of colors, you may think. What's the big deal? It's probably hard to understand what all the hubbub was all about. Up until the arrival of the Pez Holiday Colors/Misfits, crazy color combination's like these were not really done in mass production. This group of pez was the idea that started it all. For that reason alone they deserve a special place in the modern history of Pez. This book is about, correcting the history of Pez to include Pez Outlaw's contributions to it.
It's of great significance that my ideas for this project in 1998 were the beginning of Crystals and Glow in the Dark Pez Dispensers. The idea of using clear plastic or glow in the dark plastic for pez dispensers had never occurred to Pez Corporation until I asked for it. As a point of fact they thought clear plastic could not be used until I asked. My original release Crystal Pez Dispensers were the test pieces for this concept. Notably they have air bubbles in the plastic. Which signifies how new the process was to Pez Corporation.
For the record, the name Crystal Pez Dispenser that you use to describe clear Pez heads in various colors is the name I gave the original 8 Crystals. I paid $6.00 each for the original 7,488 Crystal pez dispensers made to my specification of clear plastic heads. I believe $45,000.00 gives me the right to claim the idea and the name I gave them.
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| Left to Right - Orange Snowman, Mex-Tex, Jaundice Witch & Diablo Pez Dispensers. These were part of the original color design by me for the Pez Holiday Colors. This was a special order & I was promised exclusivity. late May/April 1998 |
Diablo Pez dispenser 3,060 pieces. Black Skull. Just a no brainer, the name & the color.
Jaundice Witch Pez dispenser 3,060 pieces. Yellow head, white hat, brown hair Witch. Almost a good idea. Original concept being that naturally an old witch would have jaundice color skin.
Mex-Tex Pez dispensers, Diablo Pez dispensers & Jaundice Witch Pez dispensers. Total cost $43,230.00
3,060 pieces Orange Snowman Pez dispensers. no great shakes can't even remember what I called it. *** I now realize from my notes that this one was German Andres idea. At that moment I was at a loss, he suggested it & I just said ok whatever.***
26,016 Santa Play World Pez
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| above 15 items are other types of body parts I also had to buy in 1998 |
28,000 more Pez body parts, above.
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| Original 2
Different Neon Psyh Eye Pez Dispensers. The group of Psych Eyes I bought
were part of the test dispensers for what later was produced for sale.
I did not know this at the time. Picture Courtesy of Rudi approx june 1998 |
Orange snowmen, santa play worlds, more pez body parts & psych eyes. Total cost $36,000.00 1,050 Peter Pez coin plates Total cost $5,250
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| Aral Gas Pez
Pal Orange & Yellow Hair Pez Dispensers. Hair color for the mass
production of this item was Black. May/june 1998 |
2,160 Pez Aral Gas Play Worlds Red Hair
205 more Psych Eyes Pez dispensers
1,728 of original 4 color Pez dispensers. That I was told was "production over run" & if I didn't buy would be sold elsewhere. Actually what was left of Andre's production, that he wanted to get rid of after grabbing all the quick sales he could behind my back.
Pez Arals, Psychs & lot of 4 loose colors Total cost $26,000.00
11,520 of 4 different Glow in dark Ghosts Pez dispensers
2,880 Gargomel Pez dispensers
Pez Glow Ghosts & Gargomels Total cost $24,480.00
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| Left to Right -
Detys, Pinky, David W. & VooDoo Mama Pez Dispensers. These
were part of the original color design by me for the Pez Holiday
Colors. This was a special order & I was promised exclusivity. August 1998 |
3,456 pieces VooDoo Mama Pez dispensers. Black head, Orange hat, White hair Witch. Again no regrets she was awesome.
3,456 pieces David W. Pez dispensers. Kinda weak. Brown face lion meant to bring reality to the dispenser. Should have done a different character for this one, yellow witch & orange snowman. Like Pez Pal boy & Pez Pal Girl in Black. The only good thing about this dispenser is it's name, an homage to David Welch & his contribution to the hobby of collecting pez. All Pez price guides really need to stop using the carpetbagger name misfit lion & call it by it's correct name. David W.
3,456 pieces Pinky Pez dispensers. Named after the Pink Elephants a drunk might see. Dark nose because he has a snoot full.
Detys, VooDoo, David & Pinky Pez dispensers Total cost $55,296.00
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| Shell Gas Pez
Pal Pez Dispensers with Gold, Silver, White, Brown & Gray Hair.
Hair color for the mass production of this item was Black. Picture
Courtesy of Rudi August 1998 |
1,236 each of 5 Different Shell Gas Pez Pal, Gold, Blond, Gray & Orange Hair. Total cost $32,136.00
2,361 pieces Buyout of loose Pez Colors. 248 Mex-tex Pez dispensers, 302 Diablo Pez dispensers, 177 Y Witch Pez dispensers, 284 O snowman Pez dispensers, 280 Pinky Pez dispensers, 309 David Pez dispensers, 389 VooDoo Pez dispensers & 372 Detys Pez dispensers all loose. From German Andre. A very large wooden crate of loose Pez colors, Andre (the Snake) had produced on the side & was selling behind my back to other dealers undercutting my prices. He said it was overproduction & if I did not buy it. He would sell elsewhere. I knew better but the price was cheap & it helped defray some of the losses so I bought it. Total cost $4,720.00
936 Pez dispensers each x 8 dif = 7,488 total of Original 8 Crystal Pez dispensers. I payed $6.00 each. My idea including the name. Early on in the color project I asked about clear head Pez dispensers Crystals. I was told it would be to difficult to do. Several months later Andre said, "Hey remember those Pez Crystal head dispensers you wanted, I got them for you 8 different Ghosts n new Zoo" Pez dispensers. Quite a few of these original Pez Crystals have the imperfections stated as the difficulty in making them. Air bubbles in the clear plastic. Total cost $44,926.00 October 1998
1,680 pieces Pez Silver Hair Shell Gas Play World. Again my guess is Andre made these for himself, then realized how long it takes to sell. Total cost $12,600.00
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| Left to Right -
Bear C & Bear D Pez Dispensers. Bear C stands for Cody Bear.
Bear D stands for Donna Bear. Donna was the best employee I had
& the last to be fired when everything went to hell. These were
part of the original color design by me for the Pez Holiday Colors.
This was a special order & I was promised exclusivity. November 1998 |
3,456 pieces Bear C Pez dispensers & 3,456 pieces Bear D Pez dispensers. Black & Brown Ice Bear Pez dispensers. Great pieces. I loved them. I think I called them Bear C & Bear D. The Bear D Pez dispenser was the brown one named after Donna a really terrific person who worked for me back then. The Bear C Pez dispenser was named after my grandson Corey. Total cost $27,648.00
216 Tyke Pez dispensers. Total cost $648.00
2,935 pieces Large advertising Pez Balloon stickers. Total cost $880.00
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| Left to Right - Original 5 different Pez Pals as released in Europe. Pez Pals Alpine Boy, Pilot, Shell Gas Black Hair, Aral Gas Black Hair & The Rare BP Gas Pez Dispensers. The Bp Gas Pal had a very small production & Hardly any distribution at all. Picture Courtesy of Rudi |
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| Left to Right -
Pez Pals S, J & M my version Pez Dispensers. These 3
dispensers were named after my children. Pal S = Pal Stephanie. Pal J =
Pal Joshua. Pal M = Pal Moriah. These were part of the original color
design by me for the Pez Holiday Colors. This was a special order
& I was promised exclusivity. Picture Courtesy of Rudi November 1998 |
3,456 each x 3 dif = 10,368 pieces. Pal S, J, & M Pez dispensers. I loved these three Pez dispensers, I think they were my most creative Pez dispensers. Glow in the dark heads with Hip-Hop hats. Also the first use of Glow in the Dark plastic for heads or anything else for that matter. Named after my kids Steph, Josh & Moriah. Total cost $41,472.00
1,500 pieces Pez Take Off Play World. Total cost $7,500.00
11,520 pieces of 4 different carded Nintendo Pez dispensers. Total cost $19,584.00
If my math is correct The items listed above comes to $403,470.00 Total. The other roughly $68,000.00 comes from 3 buys my records suck on. Approximately 4,000 loose Joes trucks Pez dispensers, Approx 4,000 Pez Pal Mariner Play Worlds, and a large amount of Double cards with Dinosaur Pez dispensers & Pez body parts side by side.
The figure of $471,950.00 comes from a fax I sent to German Andre on 9-15-98. In it I stated after adding receipts the total was approx $350,000.00. Using this figure as a bludgeon to try to get a better price on the proposed Pez Space Gun project. $350,000.00 that year prior to 9-15-98. Then additionally the following payments were made that same year.
9-28-98 I sent him a cashiers check for $11,000.00
10-19-98 a cashiers check for $27,400.00
11-10-98 a cashiers check for $83,550.00 as the final payment for product bought in the Pez Color Wars. This is where the $471,950.00 figure comes from and as you see above from list of Pez dispensers bought & amounts paid $403,470.00 is accounted for. I know the other $68,000.00 was spent just can't find the records on it.
I also bought the rest of Joes Pez trucks from Joe & Dave sometime in the year of 2,000.
My absolute favorites of all the colors made in 1998 were Diablo, VooDoo Mama & Pals S, J & M. Hands down these were my favorites & the ones I was most proud of. I also thought Detys & Pinky were at the very least, funny.
My 3rd project was to be the following.
1,000 Black Spaceguns
1,000 Glow in dark Spaceguns
5,000 of 5 x 1,000 ea neon color spacegun
3,000 Black Snowman
I also had plans for glow in the dark trucks which Andre shopped to Joe n David G
4th planned project
Pez Pal Boy n Girl
Brown head, black hair
Glow in dark head. boy neon green hair, girl neon pink hair
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| Black Santa C |
When Black Santa was made for n distributed by me Pez Corporation went absolutely Ballistic with outrage. I think Marcos n I were the only ones who thought a Black Santa was an obvious natural thing.
For my impudence of giving the world a Black Santa Pez I became enemy #1 of Pez USA. From that moment on everything change for me as a Pez dealer. The only Black Santa Pez you will see anywhere in the world are the ones I smuggled into the USA in 1994.
Day 1 my very first trip to Ormoz in Slovenia. When Marcos gave me that first Black Santa Pez dispenser the die was cast, everything was set in motion. Scott McWhinnie and I were from that moment set on our inevitable path to destroy each other. The sale of that Fist Black Santa Pez dispenser was when I appeared on Scott McWhinnie's radar.
I tried to change our path by buying the Holiday Colors. Scott McWhinnie President of Pez USA would have none of it and our mutual destruction was sealed. In the end it was his choice to make, not mine. I'd like to say even though we both crashed and burned after the Pez Color War, his landing was better than mine. Scott McWhinnie got eased out with a good retirement package, I got $250,00.00 of debt which I still owe the bank.
You would think two seemingly intelligent people could avoid the conclusion that awaited Scott and myself. Unfortunately when you are in the middle of it you can not see what is obvious on reflection.
As a point of interest, possibly to anyone who reads this story. The Black Santa Pez dispenser is my all time favorite Pez dispenser. For me the most prized pez dispenser I ever owned and at one time or another I owned most.
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| Pink Bunny |
Pink Bunny pictured left was also one of Marco creations.
Marcos was a visionary. There were at least 3 versions of the Black Santa Pez dispenser from the early 90s, and this was where that spark that later became the Pez Color Wars first kindled.
Although it was the Pink Rhino MMM Pez dispenser that was the trigger and when I decided to pursue the project. If I remember right John the cool pez man Devlin was going to pay about $500.00 for this item. I had been talking to German Andre about this idea by then for a while, but when John was ready to pay that kind of money I decided the project was a go. My logic was surely people who till then had been paying at minimum several hundred dollars each for Pez color variations would jump at $25.00 each. With how much I had to invest to get them and how much each one cost me, $25.00 was what I needed.
Yes $25.00 each was over 100% profit per Pez dispenser, but I had to buy approx 1/2 million dollars worth of pez items as part of the overall project. Had things gone as planned, it would have taken 5 to 10 years to sell it all, tying up half a million dollars for years. Which meant interrupting cash flow and the roll over rate of capital. Plus at that point $150,000.00 of it was borrowed using my companies line of credit. Not to mention the cost of operating my pez business, which was very high. So for all these reasons $25.00 each was the number required for the investment. When $25.00 turned into $10.00 then $5.00 and finally $2.00 to $3.00 per pez dispenser, that's how things went south at the speed of light.
There was also the product I was required to buy from Andre Zeich in order to have the privilege of buying the pez colors I desired. The product bought during the pez color wars totaled $471,950.00 and ended with me in debt $250,000.00.
The following is a list of the Pez dispensers I bought in 1998 for $471,950.00, which includes the Pez Holiday Colors/Misfits and there real names. This list is the entire group of product bought from Andre / Pez Austria, the product involved in the Pez Color War.
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| Pez Body Parts. picture Courtesy of Rudi. April -1998 = 105,500 body parts April 1998 = 28,300 April 1998 = 26,016 santa playworld |
Recently somebody asked. "do you guys still have PEZ body parts?" I only have the Pez. body parts left that I buried in the back yard. Also way back when I had tons, I traded a truckload to Okatoni for a truckload of Ren and Stimpy candy heads. Which I still have as it was one of my more genius moves.
So yeah I still have some Pez body parts, but they are in a hole out back. Which I never plan to dig up. Never. Never ever. Never!
Jeff Maysh asked me to dig them up.
Mike Mitros said, dig them up, you could sell them as Zombie Pez.
So last summer I dug up the yard with the tractor searching for them, only to find out that I had burned them before I buried them.
Answering Mike Mitros idea about Zombie Pez.
Mike everybody knows you can't just bury a Zombie Pez, you gotta burn them first.
So what happened?
Pez Corporation agreed to make $250,000.00 worth of special pez for me. To qualify I had to buy another $250,000.00 worth of product, so 1/2 million total. After I borrowed every penny I could get my hands on from 20 years building my finances and credibility to lenders, Pez Corporation reproduced the product with the sole intent to destroy my company.
The President of PEZ USA ruthlessly carried out his plan until my company was totally destroyed. When PEZ International reproduced my $250,000.00 special order of PEZ dispensers for PEZ USA, it was Fraud and Breach of Implied Contract, because I never would have designed and placed the order if I thought it would be reproduced. Quite the opposite I was assured that this product I designed would be exclusive to me as a condition of the purchase.
War n Pez, I can't believe how long it took me to see that.
The Pez Color War. This phrase represents a 3 year period where my life as a Pez Outlaw became an open conflict with Pez USA. Scott McWhinnie was the guy who ran Pez USA at that time. For years I had been a thorn in Pez USAs back side, just out of reach for him to remove. It was not until I contracted with Pez Austria/Haas for just under 20 exclusive special Pez color variations, approx 8 different Crystal Pez and the glow in the dark Halloween Pez that Pez USA finally saw there opening. The Pez Color War began when I first received these dispensers and started selling them. Followed by Pez USA reproducing most of them for sale on the NEW Pez USA website. The Pez Color Wars refers to the clash of that product in the collector arena. It was the Holiday Colors/Misfits, my product vs Scotts product. Approximately 300,000 to 500,000 Pez Dispensers were involved in this conflict.
When I bought the Holiday Colors it was my attempt to move on from all the smuggling and intrigue that had built my company. I wanted to put all that behind me n start new with legit product bought from Pez International. Unfortunately Scott McWhinnie was not of a same mind, rather than begin anew by leaving the past behind, he wanted revenge.
By ordering such a large group of Pez dispensers from Pez Austria at a very high price per dispenser I handed Scott McWhinnie President of Pez USA the opening for the revenge he desperately desired. Like they say, when you seek revenge dig two holes first, because truth be told when all was said n done, we were both dead.
Scott McWhinnie "retired" very very soon after the Pez Color War ended. I mean real soon after. I've always believed he got squeezed out after the Pez Color War ended. He ordered then had to liquidate a very large amount of the Pez Misfits in dollar stores. I also hear that Scott McWhinnie has not spoken to anyone in 10 years. Whoa! That's worse than me.
Jeff Maysh did locate Scott McWhinnie for comment on his Pez Outlaw story in the April 2015 Playboy.
I have real problems with the choices made by Pez Corporation. First Pez Austria agrees to a special order of unique dispensers by me that I paid just under 1/2 million dollars to my broker for in 1998. Then Pez Austria goes back on the agreement by agreeing to duplicate that order. Knowing that the duplicated product will be used to destroy the value of the original pez dispensers they sold me.The biggest outrage is, The President of PEZ USA conceived and ruthlessly carried out his plan to reproduced my product with the sole intent of destroying my company.
Intent is everything. Add to that Malice of Forethought. Pez USA planned this meticulously.
It would not matter if I were the worst person on planet Earth, that fact would not excuse Pez Corporations actions or there intent by those actions.
Pez USA President Scott McWhinnie's first response to the Holiday Colors/Misfits was to start a rumor that these dispensers were not legitimate dispensers. Pez USA did this through PCN the Pez Collectors News letter. The second thing Pez USA did was to have a collector buy samples of the Holiday colors, so they could be sent to Pez Austria to be copied. Which when you think about it is kinda odd because Pez Austria authorized and made the original dispensers. My guess as to why samples were required is as follows. Pez Austria really disliked Scott McWhinnie so nobody in Europe was going to make anything easy for him. It is also possible that so little regard was given to the choices I made for the Holiday Colors, that no records were kept. My guess is both reasons were factors in why samples were required.
The copies were named the Misfits by Scott McWhinnie, he did all of this in his capacity as President of Pez USA. By the end of Pez USAs smear campaign through PCN, the Pez Corp copies were this shiny good thing and my originals were dubious at best. The name Holiday colors was jettisoned with remarkable speed and replaced with the name of the copies, MISFITS. The Misfits were the copies. The individual names were; Diablo, Detys, VooDoo Mama, David W, Pinky, Mex-Tex, Jaundice Witch, Bear C, Bear D, Pal S, Pal J and Pal M etc.
Once Pez USA received the Misfits the retail was set at the price I paid wholesale to my broker Andre Zeich. Andre is the person who placed the order through Van Melles of Germany for the Holiday colors from Pez Austria Haas for me and handled all of the shipping arraignments.
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| Pez Outlaw Pez Dispenser |
I have to admit to you that I do hate Pez Corporation for what they stole from my family. Though to carry that hate every day would destroy me. I believe n hope that my hate of Pez Corporation is a passive emotion. To be honest I rarely think of it anymore, but down deep it remains.
Today though I choose to bring my hate of Pez Corporation forward to promote Pez Outlaw Diary.
The Charges
Under Scott McWhinnie's Pez Corporation, the following was done.
Pez Corporation Committed a $250,000.00 Fraud through Breach of implied Contract.
Pez Corporation used a clients ideas to destroy that clients business.
Pez Corporation used there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation sold then devalued there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation initiated a smear campaign against there own product once a client bought that product.
Pez Corporation manipulated the price n value of there own product to destroy a client.
Pez Corporation destroyed a client then used that clients ideas for 2 decades of profit.
I've never been the type of person that things came to easily.
As a matter of fact my ability to fit into what is "Normal" has always been a challenge.
Despite that I found my path.
The Day I Died
It took me 25 years to get to the point in 1994 that I was ready to make my move.
Finally I had scraped together a few thousand dollars to begin my journey.
The next 4 years flew by at light speed, I had finally caught the wave.
Everything was built on the momentum of the previous success.
Flea markets, Good Will stores, Collectibles of every description, McDonalds premiums, cereal premiums and finally Pez.
Every success rolled into the next, all building to the decisions of 1998.
In 1998 I remortgaged my home ($125,000.00) and took out an additional line of credit loan for $125,000.00.
I put that borrowed $250,000.00 with another $250,000.00 of earnings in 1998 on the biggest play I had ever made.
A half million dollars pushed into the middle of the table.
In late 1998 I lost and sj glew died.
Everything I had worked a lifetime for ended.
Like I said my path in life has not been an easy fit.
Pez Outlaw was born.
Every day since that fateful day in 1998 I've been at war with Pez Corporation..
Yes I earned 4.5 million dollars in 11 years on a $4,000.00 investment, but in the end I lost $250,000.00 on a half million dollar investment that should have yielded a million, minimum.
The question then became, when you have lost almost everything what's your next move.
All material resources gone, what's left to draw on.
It was at that low point that I realized the one asset I still had, my mind.
Over the next decade I used it along with the new tool of the internet to write my story.
The process has been very slow, 15 years now.
The goal to sell the Pez Outlaw story as a book and a movie.
Which I did.
I can say this much as to the progress of that dream.
Having your story optioned does not guarantee that the movie will actually be made.
So I continue working.
That day in 1998 when sj glew and all his dreams died, that was the day Pez Outlaw was born.
The Legend of Pez Outlaw.
You can read "The Pez Outlaw" in the April 2015 Playboy.
Steve Glew's adventures make for an outrageous tale..
Jeff MayshSteve Glew's adventures make for an outrageous tale..
http://www.playboy.com/articles/pez-outlaw
My Sins
I conceived n sold the first Crystal (clear plastic) Pez Dispensers.
I conceived n sold the first Glow in The Dark Pez Dispensers.
I conceived n sold the first Holiday Colors (you know them as the copies Misfits) Pez Dispensers.
I sold the first 2 Bubble Boy Pez Dispensers after Pez initially abandoned him. Which by no coincidence is why he exists today.
I brought an entire group of C class trucks (pink, yellow n orange cabs, black stems) to the USA.
I brought almost every Black Santa in collections today to the USA.
except 1or2 the only Black Santa Pez that exist anywhere in the world were brought to the USA by me.
I brought almost all of the original Pink Bunny Pez to the USA.
I imported the entire initial group ( approx 250,000 ) Pez Body Parts to the USA.
I imported almost all of Aral, Shell Oil, BP gas, Pilots, Mariners, Alpine boys n all color variations to the USA.
I imported almost all of the Santa n Easter with body parts to the USA.
I created the California Pez Convention.
I Reduced common Foreign Pez prices from $25.00 each to $5.00 each.
I Reduced recently discontinued Pez at $50 n $75.00 each to $10 to $25.00 each.
I bought n sold more pez in 1990s than any other dealer (even if you combined top 3 dealers), over 2 million.
I am the only person that large groups of Pez are known as sj glew/Pez Outlaw Pez.
The First Pez Corporation Website ever was created with copies of my pez, with the sole intent to destroy me.
To say I had an impact on the Hobby of Collecting Pez is a very big understatement.
The above list is nowhere near everything.
The Reason Scott McWhinnie's Pez Corporation Targeted Me.
For approx 3 years by default I ran Pez USA. The reason I say this is for 2 to 3 years most of what Pez USA did was in direct response to what I was doing.
For 3 years I was the largest Pez Dealer in the world.
Over an 11 year period of selling Pez I earned $4,530,899.00 in Gross Sales. Then lost everything in the Pez Color War
For 10 years I traveled to Europe almost every month buying Pez. Spending just under 1 million dollars.
I smuggled roughly 1.5 million pez dispensers into the USA from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia n Canada. Over 700,000 pez were hand carried by me personally between Europe and the USA.
Total Amount of money spent buying Pez worldwide, well over 2 million dollars.
I operated in an underground black market Pez economy for 10 years. Making me a Pez Outlaw. A man on the run with a giant bulls-eye on my back.
Countries visited buying Pez included; Canada, Australia, Austria, South Africa, Spain, France, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Switzerland and Sweden.
Calling Dr Phil.
Pez Corp has a customer who is willing to and spends 1/2 million dollars in one year buying Pez dispensers from Pez Corp to resell. In doing so this customer also brings several unique innovations to that product. How does Pez corporation reward this customer? They do everything possible to destroy that investment. Call me stupid but this does not sound like good business practice.
After reviewing my records from 1998 I'm actually surprised that I only lost $250,000.00 when it was all done. I believe that because I was willing to take the hit and reacted quickly to the events as they unfolded, that I reduced a potential 1/2 million dollar loss by half.
The really ironic part of all of this is that before I tried to go legit by doing business directly with pez corp I earned over 4 million dollars. After trying to go legit buying directly from Pez Corp, I lost everything and went $250,000.00 in debt. Who woulda thunk that doing business around the edges was better than partnering with Pez corp.
Kinda reminds me of the movies where a criminal tries to go straight. The criminal figures after handling business in a criminal world, that corporate types would be pussy cats. Only to find out Corporate types are more dishonest than criminals
You have to be asking yourself. How can this guy say these things and not get in legal trouble with Pez Corp? The answer is easy. The statements are true, therefore not slander but simply a statement of fact.
It would also be interesting, to me anyway. To have Pez USA explain how there website when it first came on line mirrored the product I paid just under 1/2 million dollars for.
Since we all know I am not a shrinking violate I will also state the following. There would not have been any Bubble Boy release by Pez USA had I not sold 2 for approximately $1,000.00 each, causing Scott McWhinnie to wig out & other dealers to start selling there's. There would not have been Crystal pez dispensers at all if not for the Crystal Pez Project that was part of the Pez Color Wars. There would not have been color variation Pez Dispensers sold by Pez Corp & others in any significant quantities had it not been for my Black Santa Pez Dispensers & the Holiday Colors Pez Dispensers that were part of the Pez Color Wars.
Bubble Boy Pez Dispensers in all colors, Crystal Pez dispensers of all types & Color variation Pez Dispensers of all types in any significant quantity all are a direct result of the Pez Color Wars. So in effect all of these Pez Dispensers & those that followed are my children as they were born of this time. The Crystal & Color variation Pez Dispensers that have followed to this day are all born as a direct result of the Pez Color Wars. So they too are my children. None of this would have happened had it not been for the Pez Colors project, The Pez Crystals Project or the Pez Color Wars.
The following stats are to illustrate how the 11 years I sold Pez dispensers went.
These are the gross sales that can be documented with the tax returns for these years.
Pez Year #1 = $191,817.00 gross
Pez Year #2 = $291,902.00 gross
Pez Year #3 = $448,277.00 gross
Pez Year #4 = $754,069.00 gross
Pez Year #5 = $569,330.00 gross
Pez Year #6 = $426,163.00 gross
Pez Year #7 = $552,277.00 gross
Pez Year #8 = $412,758.00 gross
Pez Year #9 = $253,844.00 gross
Pez Year #10 = $331,459.00 gross
Pez Year #11 = $299,003.00 gross
This 11 year time frame represents once things were up and running, selling Pez through final closeout of the bulk of the remaining Pez inventory. These numbers were taken from the tax returns for each year. In Pez Year # 4 a couple of my employees actually received bonuses. The 4th year was also the year my accountant called me n said, "Do you realize you are going to make $750,000.00 this year". It was all pretty crazy, going from $35,000.00 a year to Pez Money. I accomplished all this by seeing something, then throwing everything I had at achieving the goal. Remember I started with less than $3,000.00
You also would be safe in assuming that because I sold 4.5 million dollars in Pez over 11 years, that the amount of Pez I bought was closer to 2 million dollars. As my markup averaged 100%. My records on pez bought are not as good as gross sales, as about 1/2 of my buys were cash.
My deals with German Andre buying Pez dispensers alone totaled $471,950.00 in 1998. I also know that I spent over 1/2 million in cash on over 1/2 million Pez dispensers in mostly Hungary, approx 70 trips (Hungary, Slovenia & Austria) averaging $9,000.00 per trip on product. Hotels, flights and cars were usually paid by credit card. Which totals 1 million dollars spent on Pez between Germany/Austria and Hungary alone.
My company was devastated when Pez USA, Pez Austria, Haas duplicated most of the product I bought in 1998. I had told people this product was mine exclusively as that is what I had been told when I invested almost 1/2 million dollars. People who bought from me lost all trust in my word after this.
Problem is, even before the rumors that Pez USA was going to launch a website with my product, other rumors hurt sales. Months before Pez USA had people buy samples from me, to duplicate my product he started rumors that my Pez dispensers were fake. Richie should be able to provide more on this , as it was reported that Pez USA had stated my dispensers were not authorized or some such thing. Which led people to question if I was having dispensers made outside of Pez Corp.
I have no idea why, but this rumor seemed to pop up every time I acquired a bunch of Pez dispensers. I seemed to have to constantly assure people I did not have a factory that was churning out Pez dispensers. I never knew who was starting these rumors for sure. These rumors were passed down the chain until people like the person who ran Pezamania were saying that I was making pez in my basement as almost fact to other collectors.
I believe I bought more Pez, Sold more Pez and spent more money on Pez in the 1990s than any other Pez dealer.
The second aspect of the color war was that for approx 3 years by default I ran Pez USA. The reason I say this is for 2 to 3 years most of what Pez USA did was in reaction to what I was doing. Examples: I sold Pez Bubble boy then after passing on him, Pez USA started selling Bubble boy. Canadian & Euro Pez dispenser were often different which I exploited to the max, so distribution networks & product distributed was changed. I created the Crystal pez dispenser concept & name, so Pez USA started selling Crystal Pez. I imported Body parts, so soon Pez USA imported body parts after initially saying no to them. I created the Color Project, soon Pez USA was selling the identical product. I imported Glow in the dark Ghosts after a year Pez USA imported Glow in the Dark Ghost. You might remember for the first year Pez USA Ghosts were a cream color, until they saw mine in Glow in the Dark. One year later there's were also Glow in the Dark.
Pez USA executives always worried I was making more money on Pez than they were with my website. So Pez USA created a website, which by no coincidence came online selling duplicates of my product. The entire Pez USA mail away program was started with my product, in reaction to my product. The Pez USA website opened selling my Pez Crystals, my Holiday Colors/Misfits, my Glow in the Dark pez, my pez pal variations, body parts and Bubble Man.
A few of my other responsibilities during the 3 years I ran Pez USA by default were. Product development, market testing for viability of new concept pez dispensers & the only significant advertising of Pez dispensers. Besides general promotion of pez by way of premiums, written materials and give aways. I performed my duties with great joy.
So by default because so much of what Pez USA did for about 3 years was as a direct result of what I did & the fact that for 3 years all of the innovations in Pez product were copies literally of my Pez dispensers. I feel very comfortable saying I ran Pez USA for 3 years. This control over the company also extended to at least two trips to Europe by Pez USA executives that were solely about my activities.
Over the years I have heard many times people say how cool it would be to run Pez USA. Let me tell you by default I did run Pez USA for 3 years & it was no fun at all. If I had made $250,000.00 for running Pez USA instead of losing $250,000.00, maybe then it would have been fun.
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The only upside to the Pez Color Wars was the introduction of crystals, colors and glow in the dark dispensers to the hobby. These dispensers did not exist prior to my introduction of them during the Pez Color Wars. Last but not least Bubble Boy was an orphan only release after I released him. In the end, still a Pez Outlaw. I should have stuck to the plan.
Not in my wildest dreams while working in the shop, would I have imagined the adventure I was about to take. Yes in the end I did lose it all in the Pez Color Wars, but the adventure is not over. After all if it all had not happened, I would not have this story to tell and I love a good story. My hope is that writing this story and selling it on ebay is the actual end of the story. Even the act of writing the story and listing it on ebay for sale is beginning to be a story of its own.
Funny story about Pez body part from this time period. The Funs
(a chain of novelty & collectibles stores; Big fun, Uncle Fun
& Sister Fun) which is how Mike Metros referred to them.
Anyway the Funs also bought a container of Pez body parts from German
Andre. While at the Raba in Hungary, I came down for breakfast one
morning & had an urgent fax from Mike Mitros. In it he was
asking if I could help, stating that the container of Pez body parts
that the Funs had bought was hung up at a customs port of entry. I had
made the whole process look so easy that the Funs thought anybody
could do it. I can't remember what I told Mike, probably that they
should hire a broker. I have no idea if they ever got that container
cleared.
No I did not offer my broker to the Funs. No I did not share the customs number or any of the things I had learned or about which ports of entry were best. I'm kinda superstitious in this regard. I figured I only had so much luck in these matters & giving some of it away would not be wise. All by myself I was already running the string pretty thin.
No I did not offer my broker to the Funs. No I did not share the customs number or any of the things I had learned or about which ports of entry were best. I'm kinda superstitious in this regard. I figured I only had so much luck in these matters & giving some of it away would not be wise. All by myself I was already running the string pretty thin.
