A simple note on Pin trading at the parks.

[Romancing_Train]

Hi there, I just wanted to let some people in on a few things. It might help ease the pain of getting scrappers.

First note is for DTD pin trading. If you've been there you know what it's like pin trading there and how much of a huge risk it is. But I wanted to share a few good tips to help you find better pins!

In downtown Disney there are credit card merchants trying to get you a Visa for disney, and the vacation club. These people are allowed to wear lanyards but trading with them comes at a huge risk. All of their pins are fakes and scrappers. Since they are a separate company their managers don't care what condition their pins are in and thus rarely ever get them new ones from Disney. Many regulars know this and abuse it when a child or someone trades with the merchants and makes sure to take any real pins and gives back only scrappers. Trading with these merchants is really dangerous.

The DTD pin trading cart. There are really nice, and really evil people here. There are a few people who work here that are realatively rude, which is what hurts my feelings D: But my favorite shift was during the day (I was a custodian) so I loved to be there for a bit and help the guests that weren't getting proper attention from the day cast members. THE night crew on the other hand are very fun and friendly usually and if you ASK NICELY they will actually look in their drawers for you in the hundreds of thousands of pins they have in there and will HELP ypu find a pin you need. Obviously they can't when they're super packed, but go ahead and try it out! Be friendly and I'm sure they will be kind enough to help.

DTD custodians are regulars too, and on especially, he's an older gentlemen by the name of Tom and he collects hidden Mickey's and Haunted mansion pins, he's the nice fellow that if you can point him in the direction of a pin he likes or wants he'll do the same for you. SOMETIMES he will even go and find you the exact pin!

Now for the DLR in general. If you didn't know, merchants have a box of lanyards that you get to grab a lanyard or hip pack in the morning/begining of your shift and that's what you have. Because of this, it's up to the manager to put new pins on everysingle lanyard. So guess what happens? Alot of fakes end up sitting on them.

But custodians, we have a different thing. We get to keep our lanyards and pins to take home, care for and everything else. Obviously if you come back with all fake pins or messed up ones WE have to pay to replace them out of our paycheck. But what is nice is what we do to replace them. 2 - 4 times a month, about once a week now because of our new manager (In DCA) we can get brand new lanyard pins. And what alot of us tried to do was say, if I was getting new pin at the end of my shift I'd give out all of my left over good ones from my lanyard and take all the scrappers and fakes from my co workers, custodial, pin board or anyone else. That way at least that day, 12 fake pins went OUT of circulation.

The custodial managers also throw away and we destroy bad pins. This year over 10, 000 scrappers and fakes were sent to a facility to be destroyed.

I hope some of this info can help you go pin searching with more confidence...

 

[MMiano]

Thank you so much for all you do.

 

[PeterYup]

Tom is Awesome He is the Bomb Tom is the greatest custodian in the DTD area hes been a custodian for 23 years and is the most loving soul you will every meet
I trade with him all the time.

 

[catburger]

great advice for new pin traders out there! must read!

 

[YoSoyAhPuch]

Good post, and I'll have to find you the next time I'm in the park to trade! And it makes me happy to hear that your dept. takes the time to destroy your scrappers. But I will say that a lot of DL cast member pin trading has to do with luck. I've been to the park on days where all I find are scrappers on all dept. lanyards. And then there are days when I find great pins all over the park!

Again, its great to hear that there are some people out there looking out for us traders!

 

[echan50]

Thank you for posting such great information. It's always great to hear that there are Cast Members who understand us fans and get excited as we do when getting a pin we want.

 

[Milky]

Oh Wow! Thanks so much for your informative posts!

 

[H2454]

This was great! As a new pin trader, I actually learned a lot from you.. especially your warnings. :}

 

[ashkai]

Thank you very much for all your shared information. It is always great to hear things from people who care about others.

 

[allenmay8]

thanks for the advice!

 

[starry_solo]

Tom is great!

 

[starry_solo]

But custodians, we have a different thing. We get to keep our lanyards and pins to take home, care for and everything else. Obviously if you come back with all fake pins or messed up ones WE have to pay to replace them out of our paycheck.

This is completely wrong and I would think against the law. It's like if a cashier's drawer is short at the end of the day, the employer cannot make him/her pay for it (in CA). Obviously, if it happens a lot, the cashier is probably going to get fired. But if, like at Disney, you are required to trade with a person and cannot refuse, I cannot see how Disney can legally require you to pay for it.

 

[Romancing_Train]

This is completely wrong and I would think against the law. It's like if a cashier's drawer is short at the end of the day, the employer cannot make him/her pay for it (in CA). Obviously, if it happens a lot, the cashier is probably going to get fired. But if, like at Disney, you are required to trade with a person and cannot refuse, I cannot see how Disney can legally require you to pay for it.

Oh I guess I said it wrong D: Like if you came back soon, or all the time with nothing but broken, bad pins. Like every couple of days or somthing? We can bring in a few broken ones but there's a point when it looks more like you are putting scrappers on there more then anyone els.e