Posts
The Pez Outlaw Movie is on Netflix & Amazon Prime.
Reality TV pales to the life I lived for 11 years.
Hungary alone - 700,000 Pez Smuggled. Pez Outlaw
Spies, Black market deals, smuggling and Bribery.
Hungary - The Black Market Capital Of the World For Pez Dispensers.
Completing each and every deal I did in Europe was Dicey at best.
I could not do what I did in the 1990s today. My nerves could not take it. My Pez Outlaw life in the 1990s was a young mans game, Old Men tend horses n build stuff.
Maybe this story will help you understand why what I did was possible in Hungary
Early on in my trips to Hungary my middle man told me about a bank robber in Hungary. This bank robber would hold up a bank then make his getaway by swimming across the river that cuts through many towns in Hungary. The problem for police was, to much river & not enough bridges. So the bank robber was making fools of local law enforcement. Everybody in Hungary loved this guy, he was a modern day folk hero. His adventures were followed with obvious excitement by almost everybody I talked to. He was front page in every newspaper & the top of news broadcasts on TV.
After approximately 40 years under communist rule
most Hungarians had a very deep disdain for authority & a
very strong entrepreneurial desire. Most of what people had done for
40 years was under the radar. That is anything that was actually
going to help them better there lives. So me, I appeared at the right
time, in the right place, when and where what I wanted to do
was possible.
Add to this the very real feelings of resentment toward Pez USA n Scott McWhinnie by Pez Europe and Gunther Leitner n you get Pez Outlaw.
Europe really resented being ordered about by Scott because in there eyes Pez USA was owned by them n did not show the proper respect.
Joshua n I driving all over eastern
Europe ( Czech, Slovak, Hungary, etc) in a little clown car looking
for pez dispensers and the factories. I had been buying Pez
dispensers store to store in Canada for years at Zellers, so I
figured why not in Europe. I had heard about the silver glow Pez
dispensers from Dwayne D. Also a customer mentioned you could buy at
the pez warehouse in Ljubliana. So we drove from country to country
store to store with some success. Though trying to find pez factories
& pez warehouses was not so easy. We found a shoe factory,
we found a look alike candy manufacturer, but not pez. So I stopped a
taxi showed him the address on a Pez dispensers package and we
followed in the clown car, which led us to the pez yellow house in
Gyor n my first meeting with Gunther.
The Yellow House
The company name of the Pez Yellow House located in Gyor is Hungarocandy. Head of operations for the Pez Yellow House was Gunther Leitner. (Gunther's last name might actually be spelled Leitener, I honestly don't remember or care) I say was as I have no idea what his title is today. Last I heard Gunther & Robby were making trips to China setting up & overseeing pez operations there. I asked the Queen of Austria what Gunthers title is today when she emailed about Pez Outlaw Diary, but she never responded.
Inside the pez yellow house we were talking to the people who worked there about buying some pez dispensers, when a man in a plaid sports jacket came out of an office. He approached the conversation listened for a bit then introduced himself. Hello my name is Gunther Leitner. Getting no recognition he said "Don't you know who I am". Then he said "I know what you want, I'm the guy you need to deal with". He turned grabbed a post-it, wrote something on it & signed it.
I sold this post-it on ebay a couple of years
ago. While it was listed for sale Andy emailed me. He told me how
uncool it was to sell this post-it. All these years later and
they still thought I should play by there rules. Me I thought. Are you
kidding me? After being wiped out financially during the Pez Color
Wars you still expected me to take it and like it. How Bizarre.
How Bizarre.
That said. I don't think the person who won this post-it really realizes how significant a piece of Pez Outlaw memorabilia that little post-it is. That piece of paper signed by Gunther brought over 1/2 million dispensers to the hobby of collecting pez. The price it sold for on ebay was about $20.00. The actual value as an iconic mile marker in the hobby of collecting pez and Pez Outlaw History is more like $2,000.00 when you truly appreciate what it is.
Whoever bought Gunther's post it. I'd love a picture to put in the book. Right Here. I don't have a picture of it.
If you'd like it's value to be $2,000.00, give me a pic n it will be.
That little post-it signed by Gunther Leitner, single handedly
impacted the course of pez collecting in the early 1990s and for
the next 10 to 25 years. Let me ask you if you think that there would even be a Pez Outlaw without that little post-it signed by Gunther.
So please, I need a picture of it. Let me make it n your ownership of it famous.
Gunther gave us an address and said go here. When we arrived at the address, we showed the post-it to the guard & the gates opened. Once in the warehouse the manager snapped to & took us to a pile of boxes containing older pez dispensers. We selected what we could afford & paid Gunther. I believe though that he was very disappointed. Being one of my first few trips, we only spent a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money in the beginning, as we were just figuring this whole thing out. Though from my point of view a very successful encounter, we got a little of everything. The pez trucks sold out in a few days, so within two weeks, I went back to Gunther on a trip just for Truck Pez dispensers.
Janossomorja
jánossomorja
Jánossomorja was the name of the town or was it the warehouse where Gunther sent me. All you had to do was spot the smoke stack with Pez on it. then find the roads that got you there. This was the warehouse where Pez dispensers were stored. At the time it was also where candy was made and pez were carded. Like Kolinska in Slovenia. More or less the distribution hub for the old Eastern Block countries and Russia. Gunther owned that part of the world when it came to Pez.
On one trip Gunther sold me aprox 50 boxes of Silver glow Pez
dispensers. If I remember correct each box contained 24 carded Silver
glow Pez dispensers. At this point Josh & I were staying in
Austria so back to our hotel we went. At the Austria Hungary border the
Austrian guards required a bond on the 50 boxes of Pez dispensers to
be refunded when items were checked in at the airport. So we went back
to the hotel & down packed the 50 boxes of pez into 3 boxes
of pez. When we got to the airport customs refused to refund my bond,
saying 3 boxes is not 50. Where are the other 47 boxes of pez? The
scene escalated till what the Delta airlines rep saw when he walked
into the room was. An American with a pony tail & long beard
screaming at officials. Two machine gun armed Austrian border guards
looking on at the ready & Josh petrified at the whole scene.
Delta walked in calmed everybody down, gave Josh a couple aspirin
& mediated the whole situation. I flew Delta Airlines from then
on, they never failed to stand up for me in any situation.
Other Books By Pez Outlaw/sj glew
The Cereal Box Price Guide
The following are surveillance photos taken on the sly by me in Hungary of the Silver Glow Deal. The driver and I were then told where to meet off site by Gunther.
In Gyor I was like the invisible man.
The Raba Hotel in Gyor Hungary
The Raba played a huge role in my pez story, so I'd like to take a minute n tell you more about the hotel and centrum/downtown.
This is info Scott would have killed for back in the day. On every trip to Hungary buying Pez dispensers, I used to stay at The Raba Hotel (great espresso) in the town of Gyor. I loved that town, if you get off the highway at the border it is about a 25 minute drive east. Nice hotel nice people and only a short walk away in the middle of town, a pizza Hut and a McDonald's. The hotel and the Pizza Hut got to know me pretty good, even if they did think I was a bit eccentric. You see Gyor is the town Pez Gyoroplaste the injection molding company is located in. Along with the pez yellow house which is headquarters for all things east concerning pez corp. I had to keep a low profile. Again those pesky rules, because it seemed everybody from pez knew what I looked like. The most relaxing time I had traveling were at the Raba, that I miss. I also read a lot of good books at the Raba. If you added up all the time I spent at the Raba it would come out to about 10 months.
Another interesting aspect of my stay at the Raba was Reading Books. I used to spend almost all of my time in Europe in my room at the Raba reading books. The only place I have ever really read book in my life was at the Raba. Being somewhat dyslexic reading has never been easy & made a mess of my school years. In the 70 plus trips to Europe I conquered this problem. By the end of my trips to Europe I was reading over 2 books per trip. Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, W.E.B. Griffen, Stuart Woods and Stephen Coonts were among my favorites.
As I spent almost all my time in Europe, in my room at the Raba reading. I led a very robust fantasy life through these books approximately 5 days a month for 10 years. I only stopped reading to sleep go down for breakfast, afternoon espresso and fanta, then my evening pilgrimage to pizza hut. Through these books I lived the Hungarian revolt against the Soviet Union & the exodus to Austria that followed, 50 years prior to me being in the very same places. I lived through reading the intrigue of spies and life under communist rule while traveling the very same locations. Being there while reading these stories gave perspective to these books. in many ways brought them to life. When in Europe I led a very rich fantasy life mentally.
Truth be told, escaping into these books was indeed a huge part of why I traveled to Europe over 70 times in 10 years. The adventure of travel to Europe, the escape from the reality of everyday life. For 5 to 7 days every month I led a secluded, disconnected existence from reality. I talked to hardly anybody & was able to move around unnoticed. For my personality type this was heaven on earth.
In the beginning I used to stay in hotels of the countries I was in, but after the first 10 or so trips I always stayed at the Raba. I used the Raba as my home base. Even if going to Slovenia for an overnight buying Pez dispensers, I kept my room at the Raba and returned to Gyor. You could easily day trip anywhere else Vienna, Linz etc. Gyor was a nice quiet town where people pretty much minded there own business, plus after a bit they got used to me & what I was doing. It became normal to them, any questions they had, they had long answered in there own mind. It worked so why break in a new hotel. Most people in Hungary in the mid 90s were on the hustle trying to earn, so actually I fit right in.
Gyor always had a very positive effect on me. Just walking the streets, having espresso, eating at the Pizza Hut & reading Tom Clancy. Staying at the Raba was my place to re energize from everything. In Gyor I was like the invisible man. All my comings & goings were ignored, not speaking the language helped isolate me from everybody else. Which resulted in my favorite thing, people left me alone for the most part. I only miss one thing from the Pez years, besides Pez money. That is staying at the Raba, drinking espresso and walking to the pizza hut, where the waiters knew without asking. Large peperoni pan pizza and Pepsi light.
The feel of both Hungary and Slovenia changed very fast from my first trip buying pez to my last. When I first visited Gyor, there first McDonald's had just opened & Coke had a Suite at the Raba. On my first trip to Slovenia the first McDonald's in the whole country had just opened in Ljubliana. I mention this because to the people in these cities this was a very big deal. One I personally could relate to, because I can still remember that same feeling from the late 1950s & early 1960s when a McDonald's, Burger king or Domino's Pizza first opened. The feeling that the good life had finally arrived. If I ever were to live in a different country, Hungary or Slovenia would be my choice.
You know how you miss something & yet not really. That's me & the whole Pez life. Some of it I miss, a lot of it I do not. I don't miss flying, customs, airports or the greed of the people I bought from. I miss the Raba Hotel, downtown Gyor and for about 3 to 5 days every month unplugging from the world there. Gyor was like my other life, a private life I led before diving back into reality.
On my room. For the first couple years I stayed in the same room always. Always asked for and always got that room. The staff after a couple years noticing that I spent almost all my time in that room and started trying to pry me out of it into a bigger room. A few trips later I let them relocate me from the tiny room to a corner suite with a balcony that overlooked centrum.
The first few years at the Raba because of the communist years the hotel was very overstaffed. Me I liked it. I got along very well with the staff. They thought I was a bit weird but never questioned it, always respected & protected my privacy.
Each afternoon I would go down to the restaurant/bar for 3 or 4 of each, espresso, Fanta and cigarettes.
I noticed early on the composition of the afternoon crowd in the bar/restaurant & the pecking order. Each day in the afternoon pretty much the same crowd showed up. There was a very definite pattern to who sat with whom & where they sat. I almost always had the same table & sat alone, I tipped the waiters to keep it that way. As with my room the hotel & staff figured out pretty quick I liked the same table & the same room always. To which they were always more than happy to oblige.
I figured out pretty quick where the head group sat. Every day year after year pretty much the same people sat at this table. The head table group were the older guard types, quieter & more subdued. Then there was the table where the people who wanted to sit at that table sat. They were younger & on the make. Sometimes when the head table was lite someone from the wannabe table would be allowed over.
My place in this structure was unique & respected. The people from the head table & wannabe table always acknowledged my arrival by nodding. I was accepted as part of the ritual but separate. I think it fascinated them that I felt no need or inclination to be a part of a group. The fact that I was very comfortable alone within this pecking order got me respect & acceptance. I have no idea what any of these people did, but they did seem to have a lot of time to drink espresso & talk every day.
Like I've said almost everybody in Hungary was on the make wanting to earn. One of the guys at the wannabe table was kinda loud, a drinker & ran the wannabe table. For years I watched this guy work his way to the head table until finally he was allowed to be a regular. It was this guy the head wannabe who was the one who approached me in about year 5.
In about year 4 because Scott was giving Austria & Hungary so much heat I was required to take about 10 months off. When I resumed my trips the head wannabe came to my table. He asked if he could sit, then explained everybody thought I had died in the plane crash the year before. Said they were all pleased this was not the case & left. Where upon things went on as before except one change. He was now a player at the head table, eventually he took over the head table.
The Clicker story. Sometimes for my evening meal I would go down to the hotel bar/restaurant for supper. As the hotel in the early days was overstaffed (a hold over from the cold war years), the bar was staffed by 3 waiters watching TV. While eating I noticed one of the waiters kept getting really annoyed then he would walk over to the TV do something then go back lean on the bar & continue watching the program. This scene played out over & over & over, for most of my meal.
Finally when the waiter behind the bar noticed me watching he held up the remote behind the other waiters back. What he was doing with the remote was changing the channel on the other waiter every time he relaxed. I have no idea why the waiter being messed with never figured it out but he didn't. Repeatedly he would get very annoyed walk over & change the channel back. This went on my entire meal including my 3 after dinner espressos & 3 cigarettes. He never figured it out, I think they could have & very well might have done this to him for weeks & he would not have figured it out.
Before leaving my room I always made sure to leave $10.00 by the sink in the bathroom for the ladies who cleaned my room. Checked out & tipped the front desk people. Then tipped the porter even though I pulled my own bag because he always walked me out & helped me load. Besides he was the guy who kept an eye on my car, which in Hungary was important. I also would slip him a $5 when I left to drive anywhere because he would then chain off a spot for me to park in upon my return. A good relationship with the hotel staff was why my privacy was respected & protected.
3 am. Pez Pickup. As I've said before over the years of buying Pez in Hungary Many things changed. One big change was in the last two years. My contacts were getting so paranoid, that they no longer wanted me to take the dispensers to the Raba. As the pez yellow house was pretty much across the street, they felt the duffel bags full of pez were drawing to much attention. Kinda nuts really as everybody at the Raba knew I was there buying Pez. It was decided I should leave my bags at the middle mans house in the garage until I was on my way to the airport in Vienna to leave. So there I was at the end of every trip in somebodies garage at 3 am until 4 am filling my duffel bags with Pez dispensers & loading them in the car. What ever, it was on the way to the airport anyway & it made them feel better.
After loading bags it was off to the airport. Once at the airport in Vienna I always had to hunt for a porter as it was usually 5 to 5:30 am & they were just coming on there shifts. The porter would take the bags from the curb to my check in, while I turned the car in & walked back to the terminal. Porters are very useful when you are trying to move things along as they have relationships with the airline people. He would hand the bags to the airline, I'd give him $40.00 & the European end was mostly done.
Let me expand just a bit. Gyor is a moderately sized town outside of Budapest. The people are all kind & helpful. I felt very safe and at home in Gyor, especially staying at the Raba. The people who staff the Raba look out for you and have your safety at heart. I said if you travel in the area you should stay there. That's incorrect, I actually think you should make Gyor and the Raba Hotel your destination. Using The Raba & Gyor as your home-base for day-tripping. Vienna or Budapest are only 2 hours away by car. Even when traveling to Slovenia or other countries for overnight trips I kept my room at the Raba to return to. Travel can be unsettling. Staying at the Raba in Gyor gave me a place to decompress from other activities in Europe.
South Africa 18 plus hours to get back to the Raba and rest. Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic or Slovak Republic. Always back to the Raba and Gyor to recuperate. The Raba in Gyor was my second home for 10 years in the 1990s. I really don't leave my property now, but even being a smidge agoraphobic I would feel comfortable in Gyor at the Raba. Go there you will see what I mean. Also Eat at the Pizza Hut in centrum, you won't regret it.
Also if you are a pezzy the yellow house is sotra just across the way from the Raba. You also pass the injection molding plant on the way into town.
Tell the Raba the Strange Old American with the ponytail n beard sent you.
To me Gyor Hungary was the Black-market Capital of the World, if what you sought was Pez. Word of warning though, if you think you will ever get the best of a Hungarian in a business deal. You are a Fool!
"pizza hut.győr". I can't believe this search term showed up & led people to Pez Outlaw Diaries, let alone twice. My fondest memories of traveling to Europe, specifically Hungary were at the Pizza Hut in Gyor. This was my second home when I traveled to Gyor. Large pan pizza, peperoni & Pepsi Lite. The waiters used to tell me what my order was. If you travel to Gyor you must eat there. I would travel to Gyor just to eat there again & relive the memories. Tell them the old bearded American with the ponytail sent you. P.S. Yes I bought the T-Shit, actually 2 of them. Whenever I wore the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt it was like a secret Pez Code T-shirt. I always felt the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt was the ultimate Pez T-shirt, if you were in the know you knew what it meant. As Gyor is the unknown Capital of Pez in Europe, besides being the Black Market Capital of Pez in Europe.
The Elvis Cafe.
The Elvis Cafe was this really weird restaurant located at the side of the road. I used to pass this cafe every trip in Hungary. Like I said, If you take the M1 freeway you really don't see Hungary. You have to take two lane blacktops if you want to see a passenger plane sticking out of a building. This restaurant was located about midway between the Vienna Hungarian border and Gyor. I actually stopped at this cafe several times. Had espresso up in the plane and bought several T-shirts.
Here are some of the Pez Dispensers I smuggled into the USA from Hungary.
To be clear. I had thousands n thousands of each of these Pez Dispensers.
The rest of the story.
The hows n whys of what I did in Hungary.
I've also mentioned that border crossings were tricky. Well the following 10 pages will explain in exact detail what tricky means and why I carried a bottle each of Tums and Advil.
For customs purposes I needed to keep the amount I brought into the country on each trip below $2,000.00 in stated value. Otherwise my pez would have been held at the border by customs and my broker would be needed. More paper work, more fees and more people involved in general. Wanting to keep it simple, the numbers always needed to be massaged, in order to use the customs form you get on every international flight.
So here is the dilemma. Cash carried on international flights must be below $10,000.00 or you must declare it. Not wanting to bring attention to the fact that almost every month for years I was taking just under $10,000.00 to Europe. I usually carried between $9,000.00 and $9,800.00 in order to legally avoid the requirement of declaring the amount of cash I was taking to Europe. Left the USA with just under $10,000.00 returned with just under $2,000.00 stated value of pez dispensers. This was done about 70 times, see the problem.
This is where, we will call him Andy came in. Andy was the middle man, assigned to me by the people who I actually bought all my pez from. Andy was found so that they could maintain distance, today he would be referred to as a cutout. Those who I actually bought from felt I was just to hot to go near or take even a remote chance of being seen with. This always happened after roughly 5 trips anywhere in Europe that I bought Pez dispensers. Hungary was the only country though where the people I bought from got creative enough to use a cutout for handling business after I got to hot.
There also was an unseen hand that moved my activities from Hungary, Slovenia and Austria to eventually just Hungary. After a couple years of buying in Europe my face was known to everybody in or from Pez Austria. I know this because I was told this by people I bought from in Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. Also on one occasion an Austrian I had never seen before came up to me in a factory in Slovenia and said. " I know who you are." That's all he said after which he immediately turned walked away and disappeared. After which I was hustle out and off the property. In the clandestine meeting that followed I heard it for the first time. "Everybody at pez knows what you look like. I can't be seen talking to you ever again."
The unseen hand kept reducing the number of places in Europe where I could buy Pez, until Hungary was all that remained. This was done I believe, so that I could be controlled and a cutout could be used to avoid exposure. Yes I believe it was orchestrated. By doing this the money could be more easily controlled and the number of people who got a cut was reduced. On rare occasions one of the people I was actually buying from would meet with me to iron out a detail but after the first year I never saw Gunther again. Although I could always feel his hand controlling me. On those rare occasions that the other person I was actually buying from would appear. He would show up after I had been at the designated house for a while, then leave before I did. There were usually things Andy and I had to do until a suitable amount of time passed after he left.
Once my contacts had been reduced to just Andy, the price I was required to pay per dispenser went from 25 cents each to a high of $1.10 each. Each time I tried to explain reality to Andy, his English would get bad all of a sudden or he would wince to indicate I was being unreasonable or mean.
I was always reminded of all the risk that they were taking as to why the price kept going up. In reality there risk was once, when the vehicle drove out the gate with the pez. By the way the guy at the gate was another reason I was told as the price went up. They got there money all at once, cash, large bills please. One day and done. My risk was at every border I crossed and the 3 to 5 years it took to sell every load. At any point in the journey home everything could have gone south and I would have lost over $10,000.00 in a minute. Not only that, they barely had to leave the city most of them lived in. Where I had to travel thousands of miles to make it happen.
My activities now isolated, Andy handled everything. Funny thing is when I met him he was a kid who helped his mother with me because he spoke English. His mother was actually who was assigned to me at first because she had a retail sales license. After a few visits though she disappeared. From then on I dealt with Andy.
I would arrive in Vienna / Wien then drive to the Raba in Gyor where dispensers were individually bagged then put into duffel bags. This is when each duffel bag was configured to place licensed characters or dispensers without country safely in the middle of each duffel bag.
For the last few years of travel though, things changed. I was only allowed to take possession of my pez as I drove out of Hungary at 3am. They got real nervous about people at the Raba helping me move about 9,000 pez up and down from my room every trip. As the Hungarian Headquarters for pez Hungaro Candy was located less than a mile from the Raba and the injection molding facility was a little over a mile away. This eventually made everybody real nervous. So for the last few years I drove to Andy on the way in just to pay him and go over everything. Then pick the pez up on the way out of Hungary at about 3 am.
The first 5 or 6 years trips were 5 or 6 days each. Though in the last few years I shortened them to 4 days. What changed was in the first 5 years I drove around a lot. Slovenia, Austria, Czech, Slovak, etc. buying pez at other factories, warehouses, stores wherever. Buying pez not just in Hungary. As the unseen hand slowly confined my activities to Hungary Though the longer trips just became a waist of time. By reducing the length to 4 days it was the optimal amount of time. More than enough time to get everything done, yet not so short as to appear odd at customs. This was the way it was now, except trips to specific countries like Spain, Sweden, Australia or South Africa.
Once I had been assigned Andy a formula was used to calculate the bill of sale. These bills of sale were also something everybody worried about. Who all looks at them? What do you do with them after each trip. Border officials and US Customs were who saw them. Other than that nobody saw them. What did I do with all those Bills of Sale? I still have every last one of them.
Let me share something with you.
If I were doing all this today a lot of things would be very different.
For one I would demand that the respect for the amount of money I paid these people was paid.
Today as I read this n think back about it all I have to question why I put up with all this, I was making them rich.
$100,000.00 a year back then in the 1990s in Hungary was a very large sum of money.
Hell a hundred thousand dollars a year today in 2016 to me would be a lot of money.
I
smuggled approximately 700,000 Pez Dispensers into the USA from Europe.
Get yours signed and authenticated as a Pez Outlaw Pez Dispenser.
These are small inspection slips that were in each box of approx 400 Pez Dispensers. $200.00 each for your choice of box inventory slip pictured in chapter 5. Postal money order only. steven j glew 5611 lehman rd dewitt mi 48820. I retain rights to these pictures.
Hungarian black market Bills of Sale. Some examples from my 70+ Trips.
receipts have some redaction. 1st few to sell $10,000.00 each take your pick. No it will not be blacked out like picture. $35,000.00 for all bills of sale pictured in chapter 5. Postal money order only. steven j glew 5611 lehman rd dewitt mi 48820. I retain rights to these pictures.
Legal bill of sale from Hungary.
The formula used to make out these bills of sale by Andy was based on the original price, the actual value of an unpackaged pez dispenser back then. Twenty three to twenty five cents each. Bills of sale almost always read 8,000 to 8,900 pez
dispensers at .23 to .25 cents each. As long as the number came out
below $2,000.00 total. What I actually paid overall was $1.10 per
dispenser around $9,000.00 to $9,500.00. In the first year .25 each,
then .75 each for a couple years and mostly though $1.10 per dispenser.
The way I always looked at it the actual cost per pez dispenser was about .25 cents each. The difference between that and $1.10 was bribes and payoffs. Assuming anything was actually paid to Pez Europe, which I now doubt. That left .85 cents times approximately 9,500 dispensers to be divided up between all concerned per trip. Pretty good for a couple days work once a month for a decade, if you can get it.
That brings it to .85 cents to $1.10 times approximately 9,000 pez dispensers per trip That comes to at .85 cents, $7,650.00 per trip paid in payoffs or bribes per trip. There were 70 trips, which brings the total in payoffs to $535,500.00 and if no money went to pez corp $693,000.00 in Hungary alone. No matter how you slice it about 3 people in Europe made a lot of money for 70 to 140 days of work. Though I have no doubt some made more than others. That I know of 1 new house, 2 cars and a vacation or 2 were obtained with this money.
Now maybe you understand why I got so annoyed at being jerked around so much on these trips to Europe. Over 1/2 million dollars and people did not want to know me. All to often getting what I wanted, when I wanted it was like pulling teeth. Being scolded, told to keep a lower profile and keep quiet. That I was talking to much when selling. Honestly what they wanted was for me to buy it and not sell it at all.
The under $2,000.00 rule did not always work at customs in the US. Get the wrong customs agent and everything could go south pretty fast. On at least 3 occasions, it did go south. Thanks to my broker though everything turned out OK after a few days.
Lost bags in Austria, no problem. I'd just tell the people trying to help, no problem they usually arrive at my hotel in Gyor tomorrow morning. Same thing when arriving back home, as it actually relieved me of the burden of shepparding around my luggage. Delta always went to extraordinary measures to retrieve my luggage & get it to me. Here's an example. On the flight from Cinci to Vienna my luggage was lost more than 50% of the time. Delta/Austrian Airlines would always send it by cab from Vienna Austria to the Raba in Gyor Hungary the next day before noon. We are talking over 25 times they never failed me.
I may not feel any loyalty to the people I bought Pez from because they were usually working every possible angle. Delta Airlines though was always a good friend who never failed me & always went the extra mile to keep there word. I can't say enough about how many times they were there for me.
My luggage was never permanently lost. It came close only a couple times. The bags were full of santa Pez dispenser playwords. I remember this because I have a vivid recollection of speaking to a person in the lost luggage department in Frankfurt from home. Telling him, they are the big black duffel bags with strap handles & if you unzip them you will see hundreds of Santa Pez dispensers. My luggage arrived a couple days later. The other time was the hundreds & hundreds of carded silver glow Pez dispensers. On that one I got more than a little nervous as they were the whole reason for that trip. Also it was early days & I hadn't really figured things out yet.
You want to know a sight that will really break your heart. Several times while waiting to get off a plane, I was able to watch my luggage being removed from the cargo hold. I sat looking out the window of the plane to see my duffel bags tossed from the hatch down onto the tarmac. At least an eight or ten foot drop. Now that will break your heart.
In short patience is rewarded when traveling. Be the one person who is not going nuts when your whole flight misses its connection. The people behind the counter really appreciate it & its fun to see the look of amazement on there faces. You will arrive at your destination, your luggage will be found & your blood pressure will thank you. Plus its way more fun to step outside the situation & watch the insanity, than to participate.Crazy is not a team sport. In aprox 90 trips my luggage was never permanently lost & I always made it home.
Breaking it in cinci. black bags, green bags, springs. In my early travels I used standard military type green duffel bags for transporting Pez dispensers. Not the little ones you see slung over one shoulder with ease. No, I used the ones that hunch you over & when full weigh about 100 pounds. You see the goal was 1200 pez dispensers per bag. A few years in I switched to a very large black canvas cargo type bag that zipped across the top for transporting Pez dispensers. I always lined the exterior with 1 layer of cardboard & individually zip lock bagged each pez dispenser.
One of the biggest problems I ran into was country of origin on Pez dispensers. *In the early days people working for the company would switch out pez stems with no country for made in Hungary pez stems. This was done with 10,000 to 20,000 Pez dispensers. Honestly there was no other way, until I started using the made in Hungary zip lock bags. Old Smurf Pez dispensers were some of the items that required this procedure.* Also care had to be taken to put Pez dispensers without country of origin in the middle near the bottom. Once problem Pez dispensers were carefully placed, a box of 400 generic Pez dispensers with country were poured over them. Like 4 inches of frosting to make the cake look good. This problem was later solved by having my zip bags printed MADE IN HUNGARY. This method worked terrific, except for one trip to get Merlin Pez dispensers where I filled each bag to 1500 per bag. This was accomplished by tamping the bags & filling to brim. With 1200 Pez dispensers per bag it is a nice loose fill that allows floating & can absorb impacts. The Merlin Pez dispensers trip bags were tight & impacts had nowhere to go except into the Pez dispensers. So about 30% were damaged, that's where I got all the Merlin pez heads.
In Cinci sometimes I was transferred over to the Xray machine with my luggage. It was always interesting to get the questions from the person viewing the Xray. You see all they were seeing was 1200 springs, which presented a very odd picture & conversation. The luggage was so large that on one occasion it actually broke a large square of Plexiglas at the opening of the machine.
I had a very odd conversation with one of the customs guys once. This was the guy who helped me find the correct Pez dispenser customs number for what I was doing. Which as I said translates to plastic tubing. On one trip he was going through his list of what can not be brought into the US. When he finished I heard him say to himself, "If they are that stupid, I'm not going to do it for them". When I asked what he meant, he just said "it is Pez Corps responsibility to put there product on the list, if they don't want other people bringing Pez dispensers into the country". He never mentioned this again in the years that followed.
Borders
Hungary to Austria. This border got better over the years but early on it could be tricky. A car filled to the gills with duffel bags, well I guess that is not just your luggage. Most of the time my ticket for a flight out of Vienna in 2 hours was enough. Sometimes a bill of sale was required. OTHERS NOTHING WAS ENOUGH. You would have to take out the bags open them, then pay a fee/ bond on the items. That bond was usually redeemable at the airport. After once having people at the Budapest airport try to confiscate the duffel bags and another time having to fight with customs people in Vienna over the bond. I just preferred to slide through the border. The Budapest thing, next day different people and I slid through. So never flew out of Budapest again only Vienna, it worked. The fight with customs, Delta calmed everybody down & I slid through, always flew Delta from then on. So even though the border of Hungary to Austria was a stomach churner it was still the best way.
All of my routes were learned through trial & error. It took a few years to learn what worked.
Europe to US. This was the worst border of all and had a very steep learning curve. It got better after a bit cause the people there got to know me. I was, oh yeah he is that guy who brings pez dispensers in. Still though all my ducks had to be in a row again Delta helped. Pez dispensers had to have country of origin on them or bagged MADE IN HUNGARY. There was a specific customs # that smoothed the way, believe it or not it translated to plastic tube. I will never need it again so here is the US customs # I used to bring approx 1/2 million Pez Dispensers into the US # 3923. 90 .0000. I had to have a bill of sale & if I could maneuver myself into a user friendly line.
All in all it was always a crap shoot, because no
matter what border if you got the wrong official it could be a
nightmare. You always wanted to avoid officials over thinking it,
that's always where the problems started. Once I learned I always flew
into Cincinnati on Delta, it worked. Patterns could be the enemy
concerning Scott, but for moving Pez dispensers around patterns were
good because people got used to you, they resolved all there questions
& you were just that weird guy who sold Pez dispensers. So
the Raba, Delta and Cincinnati, don't mess with what works. Oh yeah
& one more thing I always avoided sleep the night before
arriving into Cincinnati, part necessity, part ritual & if you
looked tired & haggard things always seemed to go smoother.
People are kind by nature & tend not want to add to the burden
of someone who appears to be wore out. For freight Grand Rapids never
Detroit for anything or purpose, Detroit has a serious problem with
over thinking things.
Two more thing about duffel bags. I never permanently lost my luggage. It got lost a lot and I mean really a lot, but it always found its way home. Actually some of my best experiences with Cincinnati or New york was when my luggage got lost, because the airline worked overtime to clear it and get it to you. I loved it when my luggage got lost, those were peaceful relaxing days. Second thing. The first two duffel bags are or were free, the other 3 cost approx $150.00 each to fly & $20.00 to $25.00 to get from the curb to check in at the airport in Vienna.
Somewhere in Eastern Europe. I swear to god these three eastern European border guards were in the booth hitting each other. Finally one stepped out & he was not happy with all the bags of pez dispensers. He made us dump them all out & show cash receipts. By the way these guys were carrying machine guns. I noticed when bagging it all up that some of the Pez dispensers had vanished, but you usually don't argue with machine gun toting eastern European military. Austrian gun toting military ok, but not eastern European, especially not in 1994 only a few years after the wall came down. Old military habits & points of view die very hard. Anyway we were again on our way, though not before they said don't do this again. We did of course, but not ever again at that crossing.
Now you understand why borders in Europe and customs in the US required 2 Tums and 2 Advil. Every trip home from Europe was an exorcise in Frayed nerves.
Hungary alone - 700,000 Pez Smuggled. Pez Outlaw
 |
| Pez Outlaw Dispenser |
Spies, Black market deals, smuggling and Bribery.
10 years, Nobody could catch me.
I ran circles around the corporate cool kids and made them look like incompetents.
Hungary - The Black Market Capital Of the World For Pez Dispensers. Completing each and every deal I did in Europe was Dicey at best.
I could not do what I did in the 1990s today. My nerves could not take it. My Pez Outlaw life in the 1990s was a young mans game, Old Men tend horses n build stuff.
Maybe this story will help you understand why what I did was possible in Hungary
Early on in my trips to Hungary my middle man told me about a bank robber in Hungary. This bank robber would hold up a bank then make his getaway by swimming across the river that cuts through many towns in Hungary. The problem for police was, to much river & not enough bridges. So the bank robber was making fools of local law enforcement. Everybody in Hungary loved this guy, he was a modern day folk hero. His adventures were followed with obvious excitement by almost everybody I talked to. He was front page in every newspaper & the top of news broadcasts on TV.
Add to this the very real feelings of resentment toward Pez USA n Scott McWhinnie by Pez Europe and Gunther Leitner n you get Pez Outlaw.
Europe really resented being ordered about by Scott because in there eyes Pez USA was owned by them n did not show the proper respect.
 |
| Pez Pal boy |
The Yellow House
 |
| Display case inside the Yellow House. |
 |
| Road Runner |
The company name of the Pez Yellow House located in Gyor is Hungarocandy. Head of operations for the Pez Yellow House was Gunther Leitner. (Gunther's last name might actually be spelled Leitener, I honestly don't remember or care) I say was as I have no idea what his title is today. Last I heard Gunther & Robby were making trips to China setting up & overseeing pez operations there. I asked the Queen of Austria what Gunthers title is today when she emailed about Pez Outlaw Diary, but she never responded.
Inside the pez yellow house we were talking to the people who worked there about buying some pez dispensers, when a man in a plaid sports jacket came out of an office. He approached the conversation listened for a bit then introduced himself. Hello my name is Gunther Leitner. Getting no recognition he said "Don't you know who I am". Then he said "I know what you want, I'm the guy you need to deal with". He turned grabbed a post-it, wrote something on it & signed it.
 |
| Merlin Mouse |
That said. I don't think the person who won this post-it really realizes how significant a piece of Pez Outlaw memorabilia that little post-it is. That piece of paper signed by Gunther brought over 1/2 million dispensers to the hobby of collecting pez. The price it sold for on ebay was about $20.00. The actual value as an iconic mile marker in the hobby of collecting pez and Pez Outlaw History is more like $2,000.00 when you truly appreciate what it is.
Whoever bought Gunther's post it. I'd love a picture to put in the book. Right Here. I don't have a picture of it.
If you'd like it's value to be $2,000.00, give me a pic n it will be.
 |
| Hungarian White Goofy |
So please, I need a picture of it. Let me make it n your ownership of it famous.
Gunther gave us an address and said go here. When we arrived at the address, we showed the post-it to the guard & the gates opened. Once in the warehouse the manager snapped to & took us to a pile of boxes containing older pez dispensers. We selected what we could afford & paid Gunther. I believe though that he was very disappointed. Being one of my first few trips, we only spent a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money in the beginning, as we were just figuring this whole thing out. Though from my point of view a very successful encounter, we got a little of everything. The pez trucks sold out in a few days, so within two weeks, I went back to Gunther on a trip just for Truck Pez dispensers.
 |
| The real for real Pez truck. Parked at the Yellow House aka Hungarocany in Gyor. For all the trucks that have been made and sold to collectors. I never understood why someone did not make the real thing. For me this truck is an icon. This truck is also the reason I thought Gunther was disappointed after we made our first Pez buy. He had them back it up to the warehouse, so once we were done it could be loaded for transport. That buy was early days only a few thousand dollars. What am I saying? I never in 10 years bought more than could fit in a good medium size car. Five duffel bags was my limit. I used to see this truck in Hungary, Slovenia and in between. Picture courtesy of Rudi. |
jánossomorja
Jánossomorja was the name of the town or was it the warehouse where Gunther sent me. All you had to do was spot the smoke stack with Pez on it. then find the roads that got you there. This was the warehouse where Pez dispensers were stored. At the time it was also where candy was made and pez were carded. Like Kolinska in Slovenia. More or less the distribution hub for the old Eastern Block countries and Russia. Gunther owned that part of the world when it came to Pez.
Other Books By Pez Outlaw/sj glew
The Cereal Box Price Guide
The following are surveillance photos taken on the sly by me in Hungary of the Silver Glow Deal. The driver and I were then told where to meet off site by Gunther.
 |
| Photos are of the silver glow buy. The driver was under orders from Gunther Leitner. I paid Gunther, then met the driver for delivery. |
 |
| That's me on the left. These are Photos I took covertly while buying Pez. |
 |
| Covert photos I took. That's me on the right. Tell a friend many more to come. |
In Gyor I was like the invisible man.
The Raba Hotel in Gyor Hungary
The Raba played a huge role in my pez story, so I'd like to take a minute n tell you more about the hotel and centrum/downtown.
This is info Scott would have killed for back in the day. On every trip to Hungary buying Pez dispensers, I used to stay at The Raba Hotel (great espresso) in the town of Gyor. I loved that town, if you get off the highway at the border it is about a 25 minute drive east. Nice hotel nice people and only a short walk away in the middle of town, a pizza Hut and a McDonald's. The hotel and the Pizza Hut got to know me pretty good, even if they did think I was a bit eccentric. You see Gyor is the town Pez Gyoroplaste the injection molding company is located in. Along with the pez yellow house which is headquarters for all things east concerning pez corp. I had to keep a low profile. Again those pesky rules, because it seemed everybody from pez knew what I looked like. The most relaxing time I had traveling were at the Raba, that I miss. I also read a lot of good books at the Raba. If you added up all the time I spent at the Raba it would come out to about 10 months.
Another interesting aspect of my stay at the Raba was Reading Books. I used to spend almost all of my time in Europe in my room at the Raba reading books. The only place I have ever really read book in my life was at the Raba. Being somewhat dyslexic reading has never been easy & made a mess of my school years. In the 70 plus trips to Europe I conquered this problem. By the end of my trips to Europe I was reading over 2 books per trip. Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, W.E.B. Griffen, Stuart Woods and Stephen Coonts were among my favorites.
As I spent almost all my time in Europe, in my room at the Raba reading. I led a very robust fantasy life through these books approximately 5 days a month for 10 years. I only stopped reading to sleep go down for breakfast, afternoon espresso and fanta, then my evening pilgrimage to pizza hut. Through these books I lived the Hungarian revolt against the Soviet Union & the exodus to Austria that followed, 50 years prior to me being in the very same places. I lived through reading the intrigue of spies and life under communist rule while traveling the very same locations. Being there while reading these stories gave perspective to these books. in many ways brought them to life. When in Europe I led a very rich fantasy life mentally.
Truth be told, escaping into these books was indeed a huge part of why I traveled to Europe over 70 times in 10 years. The adventure of travel to Europe, the escape from the reality of everyday life. For 5 to 7 days every month I led a secluded, disconnected existence from reality. I talked to hardly anybody & was able to move around unnoticed. For my personality type this was heaven on earth.
In the beginning I used to stay in hotels of the countries I was in, but after the first 10 or so trips I always stayed at the Raba. I used the Raba as my home base. Even if going to Slovenia for an overnight buying Pez dispensers, I kept my room at the Raba and returned to Gyor. You could easily day trip anywhere else Vienna, Linz etc. Gyor was a nice quiet town where people pretty much minded there own business, plus after a bit they got used to me & what I was doing. It became normal to them, any questions they had, they had long answered in there own mind. It worked so why break in a new hotel. Most people in Hungary in the mid 90s were on the hustle trying to earn, so actually I fit right in.
Gyor always had a very positive effect on me. Just walking the streets, having espresso, eating at the Pizza Hut & reading Tom Clancy. Staying at the Raba was my place to re energize from everything. In Gyor I was like the invisible man. All my comings & goings were ignored, not speaking the language helped isolate me from everybody else. Which resulted in my favorite thing, people left me alone for the most part. I only miss one thing from the Pez years, besides Pez money. That is staying at the Raba, drinking espresso and walking to the pizza hut, where the waiters knew without asking. Large peperoni pan pizza and Pepsi light.
The feel of both Hungary and Slovenia changed very fast from my first trip buying pez to my last. When I first visited Gyor, there first McDonald's had just opened & Coke had a Suite at the Raba. On my first trip to Slovenia the first McDonald's in the whole country had just opened in Ljubliana. I mention this because to the people in these cities this was a very big deal. One I personally could relate to, because I can still remember that same feeling from the late 1950s & early 1960s when a McDonald's, Burger king or Domino's Pizza first opened. The feeling that the good life had finally arrived. If I ever were to live in a different country, Hungary or Slovenia would be my choice.
You know how you miss something & yet not really. That's me & the whole Pez life. Some of it I miss, a lot of it I do not. I don't miss flying, customs, airports or the greed of the people I bought from. I miss the Raba Hotel, downtown Gyor and for about 3 to 5 days every month unplugging from the world there. Gyor was like my other life, a private life I led before diving back into reality.
On my room. For the first couple years I stayed in the same room always. Always asked for and always got that room. The staff after a couple years noticing that I spent almost all my time in that room and started trying to pry me out of it into a bigger room. A few trips later I let them relocate me from the tiny room to a corner suite with a balcony that overlooked centrum.
The first few years at the Raba because of the communist years the hotel was very overstaffed. Me I liked it. I got along very well with the staff. They thought I was a bit weird but never questioned it, always respected & protected my privacy.
Each afternoon I would go down to the restaurant/bar for 3 or 4 of each, espresso, Fanta and cigarettes.
I noticed early on the composition of the afternoon crowd in the bar/restaurant & the pecking order. Each day in the afternoon pretty much the same crowd showed up. There was a very definite pattern to who sat with whom & where they sat. I almost always had the same table & sat alone, I tipped the waiters to keep it that way. As with my room the hotel & staff figured out pretty quick I liked the same table & the same room always. To which they were always more than happy to oblige.
I figured out pretty quick where the head group sat. Every day year after year pretty much the same people sat at this table. The head table group were the older guard types, quieter & more subdued. Then there was the table where the people who wanted to sit at that table sat. They were younger & on the make. Sometimes when the head table was lite someone from the wannabe table would be allowed over.
My place in this structure was unique & respected. The people from the head table & wannabe table always acknowledged my arrival by nodding. I was accepted as part of the ritual but separate. I think it fascinated them that I felt no need or inclination to be a part of a group. The fact that I was very comfortable alone within this pecking order got me respect & acceptance. I have no idea what any of these people did, but they did seem to have a lot of time to drink espresso & talk every day.
Like I've said almost everybody in Hungary was on the make wanting to earn. One of the guys at the wannabe table was kinda loud, a drinker & ran the wannabe table. For years I watched this guy work his way to the head table until finally he was allowed to be a regular. It was this guy the head wannabe who was the one who approached me in about year 5.
In about year 4 because Scott was giving Austria & Hungary so much heat I was required to take about 10 months off. When I resumed my trips the head wannabe came to my table. He asked if he could sit, then explained everybody thought I had died in the plane crash the year before. Said they were all pleased this was not the case & left. Where upon things went on as before except one change. He was now a player at the head table, eventually he took over the head table.
The Clicker story. Sometimes for my evening meal I would go down to the hotel bar/restaurant for supper. As the hotel in the early days was overstaffed (a hold over from the cold war years), the bar was staffed by 3 waiters watching TV. While eating I noticed one of the waiters kept getting really annoyed then he would walk over to the TV do something then go back lean on the bar & continue watching the program. This scene played out over & over & over, for most of my meal.
Finally when the waiter behind the bar noticed me watching he held up the remote behind the other waiters back. What he was doing with the remote was changing the channel on the other waiter every time he relaxed. I have no idea why the waiter being messed with never figured it out but he didn't. Repeatedly he would get very annoyed walk over & change the channel back. This went on my entire meal including my 3 after dinner espressos & 3 cigarettes. He never figured it out, I think they could have & very well might have done this to him for weeks & he would not have figured it out.
Before leaving my room I always made sure to leave $10.00 by the sink in the bathroom for the ladies who cleaned my room. Checked out & tipped the front desk people. Then tipped the porter even though I pulled my own bag because he always walked me out & helped me load. Besides he was the guy who kept an eye on my car, which in Hungary was important. I also would slip him a $5 when I left to drive anywhere because he would then chain off a spot for me to park in upon my return. A good relationship with the hotel staff was why my privacy was respected & protected.
3 am. Pez Pickup. As I've said before over the years of buying Pez in Hungary Many things changed. One big change was in the last two years. My contacts were getting so paranoid, that they no longer wanted me to take the dispensers to the Raba. As the pez yellow house was pretty much across the street, they felt the duffel bags full of pez were drawing to much attention. Kinda nuts really as everybody at the Raba knew I was there buying Pez. It was decided I should leave my bags at the middle mans house in the garage until I was on my way to the airport in Vienna to leave. So there I was at the end of every trip in somebodies garage at 3 am until 4 am filling my duffel bags with Pez dispensers & loading them in the car. What ever, it was on the way to the airport anyway & it made them feel better.
After loading bags it was off to the airport. Once at the airport in Vienna I always had to hunt for a porter as it was usually 5 to 5:30 am & they were just coming on there shifts. The porter would take the bags from the curb to my check in, while I turned the car in & walked back to the terminal. Porters are very useful when you are trying to move things along as they have relationships with the airline people. He would hand the bags to the airline, I'd give him $40.00 & the European end was mostly done.
 |
| This is the Raba Hotel in Gyor. I spent well over 6 months here if you add up all my stays over a 10 year period. I loved this place. Highly recommended if you visit Hungary. Last few years of my travels my room was in far left corner of picture. The ones with balconies. |
 |
| Restaurant at the Raba Hotel. I spent a lot of time here smoking cigarettes drinking espresso & Fanta orange as a chaser. Absolutely lovely place, many fond memories. Table with thingy on it was my table. |
 |
| This was the view of Centrum from my third floor corner suite in the Raba Hotel. This photo shows the completed renovations of the walking area in downtown Gyor. |
 |
| The pictures above & below are of the renovations to Centrum while they were going on. Thousands & thousands of bricks were layed on a sand base to create a beautiful walking area 4 or 5 blocks long. Prior to these renovations the walking area was a shabby worn blacktop. |
Let me expand just a bit. Gyor is a moderately sized town outside of Budapest. The people are all kind & helpful. I felt very safe and at home in Gyor, especially staying at the Raba. The people who staff the Raba look out for you and have your safety at heart. I said if you travel in the area you should stay there. That's incorrect, I actually think you should make Gyor and the Raba Hotel your destination. Using The Raba & Gyor as your home-base for day-tripping. Vienna or Budapest are only 2 hours away by car. Even when traveling to Slovenia or other countries for overnight trips I kept my room at the Raba to return to. Travel can be unsettling. Staying at the Raba in Gyor gave me a place to decompress from other activities in Europe.
South Africa 18 plus hours to get back to the Raba and rest. Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic or Slovak Republic. Always back to the Raba and Gyor to recuperate. The Raba in Gyor was my second home for 10 years in the 1990s. I really don't leave my property now, but even being a smidge agoraphobic I would feel comfortable in Gyor at the Raba. Go there you will see what I mean. Also Eat at the Pizza Hut in centrum, you won't regret it.
Also if you are a pezzy the yellow house is sotra just across the way from the Raba. You also pass the injection molding plant on the way into town.
Tell the Raba the Strange Old American with the ponytail n beard sent you.
To me Gyor Hungary was the Black-market Capital of the World, if what you sought was Pez. Word of warning though, if you think you will ever get the best of a Hungarian in a business deal. You are a Fool!
"pizza hut.győr". I can't believe this search term showed up & led people to Pez Outlaw Diaries, let alone twice. My fondest memories of traveling to Europe, specifically Hungary were at the Pizza Hut in Gyor. This was my second home when I traveled to Gyor. Large pan pizza, peperoni & Pepsi Lite. The waiters used to tell me what my order was. If you travel to Gyor you must eat there. I would travel to Gyor just to eat there again & relive the memories. Tell them the old bearded American with the ponytail sent you. P.S. Yes I bought the T-Shit, actually 2 of them. Whenever I wore the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt it was like a secret Pez Code T-shirt. I always felt the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt was the ultimate Pez T-shirt, if you were in the know you knew what it meant. As Gyor is the unknown Capital of Pez in Europe, besides being the Black Market Capital of Pez in Europe.
 |
| Anybody with the money can license & produce so called PEZ collectibles by slapping the PEZ logo on something. To me that stuff is cute, BUT! True PEZ collectibles other than dispensers are a part of the history of the PEZ. This shirt is a very unique piece of that PEZ history & how a lot of what is in your collection actually got to you. Special note; very soon I will be listing on ebay also the actual duffel bags that carried/smuggled those very dispensers. These duffel bags each served there part in bringing approx 1 million PEZ dispensers to you. The very bags used in my over 70 trips to Europe etc. buying PEZ dispensers on the Black Market. |
The Elvis Cafe.
The Elvis Cafe was this really weird restaurant located at the side of the road. I used to pass this cafe every trip in Hungary. Like I said, If you take the M1 freeway you really don't see Hungary. You have to take two lane blacktops if you want to see a passenger plane sticking out of a building. This restaurant was located about midway between the Vienna Hungarian border and Gyor. I actually stopped at this cafe several times. Had espresso up in the plane and bought several T-shirts.
 |
| Elvis Cafe outside Gyor in Hungary. Picture courtesy of Rudi. |
 |
| Anybody with the money can license & produce so called PEZ collectibles by slapping the PEZ logo on something. To me that stuff is cute, BUT! True PEZ collectibles other than dispensers are a part of the history of the PEZ. This shirt is a very unique piece of that PEZ history & how a lot of what is in your collection actually got to you. Special note; very soon I will be listing on ebay also the actual duffel bags that carried/smuggled those very dispensers. These duffel bags each served there part in bringing approx 1 million PEZ dispensers to you. The very bags used in my over 70 trips to Europe etc. buying PEZ dispensers on the Black Market. |
Here are some of the Pez Dispensers I smuggled into the USA from Hungary.
To be clear. I had thousands n thousands of each of these Pez Dispensers.
 |
| Left to right. King Loui, Baloo, Mowgli, Little Wolf, Barney Bear and Blue Dumbo Pez Dispensers. In total I bought between three to five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers. Except Lil Wolf and Barney Bear. I only bought about a thousand each of them. Picture courtesy of Rudi. |
 |
| In total I bought three to five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers. Except Camel (not pictured), Frog and Lamb. I was only able to get about a thousand each of them. By the way I missed the Rooster, Duck and Pig Melody Makers down in Slovenia by one month. Picture courtesy of Rudi. |
 |
| Smurf Pez Dispensers. In total I bought about five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers. |
 |
| I used to see this type Big Billa carded Pez Dispensers in Hungary when I used to store hop there. |
The rest of the story.
The hows n whys of what I did in Hungary.
I've also mentioned that border crossings were tricky. Well the following 10 pages will explain in exact detail what tricky means and why I carried a bottle each of Tums and Advil.
For customs purposes I needed to keep the amount I brought into the country on each trip below $2,000.00 in stated value. Otherwise my pez would have been held at the border by customs and my broker would be needed. More paper work, more fees and more people involved in general. Wanting to keep it simple, the numbers always needed to be massaged, in order to use the customs form you get on every international flight.
So here is the dilemma. Cash carried on international flights must be below $10,000.00 or you must declare it. Not wanting to bring attention to the fact that almost every month for years I was taking just under $10,000.00 to Europe. I usually carried between $9,000.00 and $9,800.00 in order to legally avoid the requirement of declaring the amount of cash I was taking to Europe. Left the USA with just under $10,000.00 returned with just under $2,000.00 stated value of pez dispensers. This was done about 70 times, see the problem.
This is where, we will call him Andy came in. Andy was the middle man, assigned to me by the people who I actually bought all my pez from. Andy was found so that they could maintain distance, today he would be referred to as a cutout. Those who I actually bought from felt I was just to hot to go near or take even a remote chance of being seen with. This always happened after roughly 5 trips anywhere in Europe that I bought Pez dispensers. Hungary was the only country though where the people I bought from got creative enough to use a cutout for handling business after I got to hot.
There also was an unseen hand that moved my activities from Hungary, Slovenia and Austria to eventually just Hungary. After a couple years of buying in Europe my face was known to everybody in or from Pez Austria. I know this because I was told this by people I bought from in Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. Also on one occasion an Austrian I had never seen before came up to me in a factory in Slovenia and said. " I know who you are." That's all he said after which he immediately turned walked away and disappeared. After which I was hustle out and off the property. In the clandestine meeting that followed I heard it for the first time. "Everybody at pez knows what you look like. I can't be seen talking to you ever again."
The unseen hand kept reducing the number of places in Europe where I could buy Pez, until Hungary was all that remained. This was done I believe, so that I could be controlled and a cutout could be used to avoid exposure. Yes I believe it was orchestrated. By doing this the money could be more easily controlled and the number of people who got a cut was reduced. On rare occasions one of the people I was actually buying from would meet with me to iron out a detail but after the first year I never saw Gunther again. Although I could always feel his hand controlling me. On those rare occasions that the other person I was actually buying from would appear. He would show up after I had been at the designated house for a while, then leave before I did. There were usually things Andy and I had to do until a suitable amount of time passed after he left.
Once my contacts had been reduced to just Andy, the price I was required to pay per dispenser went from 25 cents each to a high of $1.10 each. Each time I tried to explain reality to Andy, his English would get bad all of a sudden or he would wince to indicate I was being unreasonable or mean.
I was always reminded of all the risk that they were taking as to why the price kept going up. In reality there risk was once, when the vehicle drove out the gate with the pez. By the way the guy at the gate was another reason I was told as the price went up. They got there money all at once, cash, large bills please. One day and done. My risk was at every border I crossed and the 3 to 5 years it took to sell every load. At any point in the journey home everything could have gone south and I would have lost over $10,000.00 in a minute. Not only that, they barely had to leave the city most of them lived in. Where I had to travel thousands of miles to make it happen.
My activities now isolated, Andy handled everything. Funny thing is when I met him he was a kid who helped his mother with me because he spoke English. His mother was actually who was assigned to me at first because she had a retail sales license. After a few visits though she disappeared. From then on I dealt with Andy.
I would arrive in Vienna / Wien then drive to the Raba in Gyor where dispensers were individually bagged then put into duffel bags. This is when each duffel bag was configured to place licensed characters or dispensers without country safely in the middle of each duffel bag.
For the last few years of travel though, things changed. I was only allowed to take possession of my pez as I drove out of Hungary at 3am. They got real nervous about people at the Raba helping me move about 9,000 pez up and down from my room every trip. As the Hungarian Headquarters for pez Hungaro Candy was located less than a mile from the Raba and the injection molding facility was a little over a mile away. This eventually made everybody real nervous. So for the last few years I drove to Andy on the way in just to pay him and go over everything. Then pick the pez up on the way out of Hungary at about 3 am.
The first 5 or 6 years trips were 5 or 6 days each. Though in the last few years I shortened them to 4 days. What changed was in the first 5 years I drove around a lot. Slovenia, Austria, Czech, Slovak, etc. buying pez at other factories, warehouses, stores wherever. Buying pez not just in Hungary. As the unseen hand slowly confined my activities to Hungary Though the longer trips just became a waist of time. By reducing the length to 4 days it was the optimal amount of time. More than enough time to get everything done, yet not so short as to appear odd at customs. This was the way it was now, except trips to specific countries like Spain, Sweden, Australia or South Africa.
Once I had been assigned Andy a formula was used to calculate the bill of sale. These bills of sale were also something everybody worried about. Who all looks at them? What do you do with them after each trip. Border officials and US Customs were who saw them. Other than that nobody saw them. What did I do with all those Bills of Sale? I still have every last one of them.
Let me share something with you.
If I were doing all this today a lot of things would be very different.
For one I would demand that the respect for the amount of money I paid these people was paid.
Today as I read this n think back about it all I have to question why I put up with all this, I was making them rich.
$100,000.00 a year back then in the 1990s in Hungary was a very large sum of money.
Hell a hundred thousand dollars a year today in 2016 to me would be a lot of money.
These are small inspection slips that were in each box of approx 400 Pez Dispensers. $200.00 each for your choice of box inventory slip pictured in chapter 5. Postal money order only. steven j glew 5611 lehman rd dewitt mi 48820. I retain rights to these pictures.
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. Lower left one is from Slovenia. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
Hungarian black market Bills of Sale. Some examples from my 70+ Trips.
receipts have some redaction. 1st few to sell $10,000.00 each take your pick. No it will not be blacked out like picture. $35,000.00 for all bills of sale pictured in chapter 5. Postal money order only. steven j glew 5611 lehman rd dewitt mi 48820. I retain rights to these pictures.
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
 |
| Click picture once to enlarge. Click again for really big. |
The way I always looked at it the actual cost per pez dispenser was about .25 cents each. The difference between that and $1.10 was bribes and payoffs. Assuming anything was actually paid to Pez Europe, which I now doubt. That left .85 cents times approximately 9,500 dispensers to be divided up between all concerned per trip. Pretty good for a couple days work once a month for a decade, if you can get it.
That brings it to .85 cents to $1.10 times approximately 9,000 pez dispensers per trip That comes to at .85 cents, $7,650.00 per trip paid in payoffs or bribes per trip. There were 70 trips, which brings the total in payoffs to $535,500.00 and if no money went to pez corp $693,000.00 in Hungary alone. No matter how you slice it about 3 people in Europe made a lot of money for 70 to 140 days of work. Though I have no doubt some made more than others. That I know of 1 new house, 2 cars and a vacation or 2 were obtained with this money.
Now maybe you understand why I got so annoyed at being jerked around so much on these trips to Europe. Over 1/2 million dollars and people did not want to know me. All to often getting what I wanted, when I wanted it was like pulling teeth. Being scolded, told to keep a lower profile and keep quiet. That I was talking to much when selling. Honestly what they wanted was for me to buy it and not sell it at all.
The under $2,000.00 rule did not always work at customs in the US. Get the wrong customs agent and everything could go south pretty fast. On at least 3 occasions, it did go south. Thanks to my broker though everything turned out OK after a few days.
Lost bags in Austria, no problem. I'd just tell the people trying to help, no problem they usually arrive at my hotel in Gyor tomorrow morning. Same thing when arriving back home, as it actually relieved me of the burden of shepparding around my luggage. Delta always went to extraordinary measures to retrieve my luggage & get it to me. Here's an example. On the flight from Cinci to Vienna my luggage was lost more than 50% of the time. Delta/Austrian Airlines would always send it by cab from Vienna Austria to the Raba in Gyor Hungary the next day before noon. We are talking over 25 times they never failed me.
I may not feel any loyalty to the people I bought Pez from because they were usually working every possible angle. Delta Airlines though was always a good friend who never failed me & always went the extra mile to keep there word. I can't say enough about how many times they were there for me.
My luggage was never permanently lost. It came close only a couple times. The bags were full of santa Pez dispenser playwords. I remember this because I have a vivid recollection of speaking to a person in the lost luggage department in Frankfurt from home. Telling him, they are the big black duffel bags with strap handles & if you unzip them you will see hundreds of Santa Pez dispensers. My luggage arrived a couple days later. The other time was the hundreds & hundreds of carded silver glow Pez dispensers. On that one I got more than a little nervous as they were the whole reason for that trip. Also it was early days & I hadn't really figured things out yet.
You want to know a sight that will really break your heart. Several times while waiting to get off a plane, I was able to watch my luggage being removed from the cargo hold. I sat looking out the window of the plane to see my duffel bags tossed from the hatch down onto the tarmac. At least an eight or ten foot drop. Now that will break your heart.
In short patience is rewarded when traveling. Be the one person who is not going nuts when your whole flight misses its connection. The people behind the counter really appreciate it & its fun to see the look of amazement on there faces. You will arrive at your destination, your luggage will be found & your blood pressure will thank you. Plus its way more fun to step outside the situation & watch the insanity, than to participate.Crazy is not a team sport. In aprox 90 trips my luggage was never permanently lost & I always made it home.
Breaking it in cinci. black bags, green bags, springs. In my early travels I used standard military type green duffel bags for transporting Pez dispensers. Not the little ones you see slung over one shoulder with ease. No, I used the ones that hunch you over & when full weigh about 100 pounds. You see the goal was 1200 pez dispensers per bag. A few years in I switched to a very large black canvas cargo type bag that zipped across the top for transporting Pez dispensers. I always lined the exterior with 1 layer of cardboard & individually zip lock bagged each pez dispenser.
One of the biggest problems I ran into was country of origin on Pez dispensers. *In the early days people working for the company would switch out pez stems with no country for made in Hungary pez stems. This was done with 10,000 to 20,000 Pez dispensers. Honestly there was no other way, until I started using the made in Hungary zip lock bags. Old Smurf Pez dispensers were some of the items that required this procedure.* Also care had to be taken to put Pez dispensers without country of origin in the middle near the bottom. Once problem Pez dispensers were carefully placed, a box of 400 generic Pez dispensers with country were poured over them. Like 4 inches of frosting to make the cake look good. This problem was later solved by having my zip bags printed MADE IN HUNGARY. This method worked terrific, except for one trip to get Merlin Pez dispensers where I filled each bag to 1500 per bag. This was accomplished by tamping the bags & filling to brim. With 1200 Pez dispensers per bag it is a nice loose fill that allows floating & can absorb impacts. The Merlin Pez dispensers trip bags were tight & impacts had nowhere to go except into the Pez dispensers. So about 30% were damaged, that's where I got all the Merlin pez heads.
In Cinci sometimes I was transferred over to the Xray machine with my luggage. It was always interesting to get the questions from the person viewing the Xray. You see all they were seeing was 1200 springs, which presented a very odd picture & conversation. The luggage was so large that on one occasion it actually broke a large square of Plexiglas at the opening of the machine.
I had a very odd conversation with one of the customs guys once. This was the guy who helped me find the correct Pez dispenser customs number for what I was doing. Which as I said translates to plastic tubing. On one trip he was going through his list of what can not be brought into the US. When he finished I heard him say to himself, "If they are that stupid, I'm not going to do it for them". When I asked what he meant, he just said "it is Pez Corps responsibility to put there product on the list, if they don't want other people bringing Pez dispensers into the country". He never mentioned this again in the years that followed.
Borders
Hungary to Austria. This border got better over the years but early on it could be tricky. A car filled to the gills with duffel bags, well I guess that is not just your luggage. Most of the time my ticket for a flight out of Vienna in 2 hours was enough. Sometimes a bill of sale was required. OTHERS NOTHING WAS ENOUGH. You would have to take out the bags open them, then pay a fee/ bond on the items. That bond was usually redeemable at the airport. After once having people at the Budapest airport try to confiscate the duffel bags and another time having to fight with customs people in Vienna over the bond. I just preferred to slide through the border. The Budapest thing, next day different people and I slid through. So never flew out of Budapest again only Vienna, it worked. The fight with customs, Delta calmed everybody down & I slid through, always flew Delta from then on. So even though the border of Hungary to Austria was a stomach churner it was still the best way.
All of my routes were learned through trial & error. It took a few years to learn what worked.
Europe to US. This was the worst border of all and had a very steep learning curve. It got better after a bit cause the people there got to know me. I was, oh yeah he is that guy who brings pez dispensers in. Still though all my ducks had to be in a row again Delta helped. Pez dispensers had to have country of origin on them or bagged MADE IN HUNGARY. There was a specific customs # that smoothed the way, believe it or not it translated to plastic tube. I will never need it again so here is the US customs # I used to bring approx 1/2 million Pez Dispensers into the US # 3923. 90 .0000. I had to have a bill of sale & if I could maneuver myself into a user friendly line.
 |
| Old Regular |
Two more thing about duffel bags. I never permanently lost my luggage. It got lost a lot and I mean really a lot, but it always found its way home. Actually some of my best experiences with Cincinnati or New york was when my luggage got lost, because the airline worked overtime to clear it and get it to you. I loved it when my luggage got lost, those were peaceful relaxing days. Second thing. The first two duffel bags are or were free, the other 3 cost approx $150.00 each to fly & $20.00 to $25.00 to get from the curb to check in at the airport in Vienna.
Somewhere in Eastern Europe. I swear to god these three eastern European border guards were in the booth hitting each other. Finally one stepped out & he was not happy with all the bags of pez dispensers. He made us dump them all out & show cash receipts. By the way these guys were carrying machine guns. I noticed when bagging it all up that some of the Pez dispensers had vanished, but you usually don't argue with machine gun toting eastern European military. Austrian gun toting military ok, but not eastern European, especially not in 1994 only a few years after the wall came down. Old military habits & points of view die very hard. Anyway we were again on our way, though not before they said don't do this again. We did of course, but not ever again at that crossing.
Now you understand why borders in Europe and customs in the US required 2 Tums and 2 Advil. Every trip home from Europe was an exorcise in Frayed nerves.
 |
Here's the secret. If the bags hadn't had MADE IN HUNGARY printed on them, I couldn't have brought the PEZ into the country. These bags were the grease that made it all work. I used to bring thousands of pez home from Europe in duffle bags (probably 1/2 million anyway total), each in one of these MADE IN HUNGARY bags with no damage. |
 |
| Ebay Buy it now $8.95 200 PEZ MADE IN HUNGARY Protection Bags for Pez Clear P... |
 |
| Pez Pal Girl |
 |
| Pic of Gyori Plast courtesy of Frank Syperrek |
Directions to Gyori Plast.
Coming from the direction of Budapest, M1 highway direction Wien (Bécs)/Győr:
Take the M1 highway until Exit "Pápa". At this exit, go to the left, following Győr Centrum. At the second traffic light (after Tesco), go to the left. Follow this road for approximately 2 km crossing the railroad intersection. Beyond this railroad crossing, after 800 m you will see a dead-end street to the left (Győri Plast). Follow this street to the end, where you will find The West-Gate Business Center. CDA Group is on the third floor to the left, in 306.
Coming from Vienna, M1 highway direction Budapest/Győr:
Take the M1 highway direction Győr/Budapest. At the exit Csorna-Sopron, go right direction Győr Centrum. At the first traffic light, go right and continue until you reach the city center. Continue at the traffic light and drive on to the viaduct. After the viaduct, go immediately right and drive onto another viaduct. Follow this road until the first traffic light. At this light, take a right hand turn and immediately again turn right, into a dead-end street (Győri Plast). Follow this street to the end, where you will find The West-Gate Business Center. CDA Group is on the third floor to the left, in 306.
I have to tell you though, I never used these directions coming from Vienna. I always got off the highway just after crossing the border into Hungary. Where I took a two lane road into Gyor. Coming from Budapest you don't really have any choice. You see M1 is a toll road. None of the locals use it. After you cross the Hungarian border coming from Austria, you have to get off in a hurry. Otherwise you will be required to pay the first of several tolls. Ten years ago it was this beautiful new highway, that only Austrians used to get to Budapest. Plus if you stay on it, you might as well be on a highway anywhere. You won't see anything. For me the only way to really experience another country, is on a two lane blacktop.
