As recently reported, McDonald's in the UK will be preparing for an increase in sales as Pokémon Happy Meals are heading to the country in late May. With the days of small choke hazards / plastic toys being a distant memory, there's an expectation that Pokémon cards will be the 'toy' on offer, which will lead to lots of rational and calm people collecting them while enjoying a meal.
Just kidding, scalpers are ready to pounce. Such is the strange reality we live in that McDonald's is preparing to restrict purchases of additional toys to ensure that stock levels are maintained as best as possible. We've been passed the internal memo and it makes clear that customers will be limited to purchasing one additional toy beyond their Happy Meal allocation, though there doesn't appear to be any limit on buying the meals themselves.
If this gives you a sense of déjà vu, that's because the 25th Anniversary collector cards (which we expect to be part of the UK promotion) caused some minor chaos in North America. Scalpers were stepping in, and some were simply buying lots of meals just to get the cards (though some said they'd give the food to those in need); the UK policy is unlikely to properly stop some of this madness.
If you want to collect these as normal while having an occasional Happy Meal, we wish you the best of luck.
Comments 29
How about they just sell them to children as it was intended not bearded 30 year old fat men.
The thought of some kid having to leave the place disappointed because some jerkwad decided to buy the entire stock for some minor profit just makes me depressed.
The peoples who are scalping all the toys just for resell in insane price are childish peoples. They are sad peoples, i wish they will suffer by their karma.
Btw, every McD restaurant should paste a giant poster with a warning message "Scalping for kid toys is NOT Cool. Shame on you !"
Scalping is increasingly common in the gaming world.
But the only way to battle this is to STOP buying from scalpers!
I know scalping is bad but if you buy something from a scalper, just because you have the money and want it, you are part of the problem!
The same goes for people who bought PS5 from a scalper. If they wanted a PS5 so bad to pay double/triple price they should have just pre-ordered it like normal people.
We live in a strange World...
@Zuljaras Well, to be fair, pre-orders sold out in like 5 minutes. There would've been more if it wasn't for the pandemic. And it more people pre-ordered, it would've sold out even faster.
I hate the selfish so and so’s who scalp these.
Took my kids to McDonalds last time they had these and had both kids disappointed because they ran out of Pokémon toys within the first week because adults came in and bought 30 at a time (no meals, just toys according to store manager).
You can scalp my PS5 but if you steal my kids Happy Meal toys - I WILL FIGHT YOU!
@Octane So the pre-order system is not working as I think it is?
You pre-order a PS5 months before the release and those that pre-ordered it are not prioritized by Sony or anyone?
And when the next batch is ready those who paid are NOT next in line?
The scalpers made bot accounts for pre-orders too?
I mean there were stock available in stores. Doesn't that mean the pre-orders were served? Because otherwise people gave money and in the stores there were PS5s yet still they did not get any for pre-ordering?
Seriously if that is the case I don't get it
Even limited in Rotten Ronnies terms is not really limited. Instead of 18 Billion toys they will limit to 5 Billion Pokémon. Even the early 80’s toys are worth pennies today.
@Rika_Yoshitake I resent that comment.............i'm actually 40 😤
@Rika_Yoshitake I am 50 and don't have a beard, I am good to buy?
Well it's just McDonald's toys, I wouldn't call it a major issue.
I don't see why they can't produce more though, it's not like McDonald's or the Pokémon Company are running out of money.
@Rika_Yoshitake They have no way to restrict access by purchaser without opening themselves up for a lawsuit and these types will sue. I’d say only 5 happy meals per order get cards to keep the 30 happy meal people at bay, but they will just go all over town or loop the drive thru. There is no real way to stop scalpers or adult collectors (who are still taking product away from children, the intended target) from picking them clean. The only real deterrent is if the cards have a bad resale value which is beyond McDonald’s control. And they can’t just turn on the manufacturing lines like a printer because the original production agreement was not open ended. It’s just a spectacle of greed. All you can do is watch.
I feel bad for the workers though as that timer still runs even if someone orders 30 meals.
@Zuljaras I had to pre order a PS5 for my brother-in-law’s birthday and that thing was hard to come by. Stores were putting up their pre-orders and they would sell out in minutes flat, no option to pre-order for the future, they just listed the stock they’d have. I had to sign up to about 10 mailing lists until I was able to get a pre-order in.
In the UK, at least, they’ve remained just as difficult to find at RRP, stores don’t have them and online it’s all scalpers. Sony didn’t acquire all the parts they needed to produce as many consoles as are being sold so scalpers really are your only option if you didn’t pre order.
Not condoning the practice in any way, just attempting to paint a clearer picture
There honestly needs to be laws for scalping. If happy meals are being swiped, you know there’s a problem.
Don't sell them outside of the meal they come with and put a cap on how many meals a person can buy at a time (supermarkets do it with certain sales goods ). Do it at the pokrmon centre and likes of convention exclusive merch all the time
Halsi have a solid supply.
Okay you might get people coming back for second sneaky transaction or going through different locations but that's the best you can do.
Was about to say, how does this stop anyone just going to different restaurants to buy more? It’s not like they take down your personal details at McDonald’s and trace your whereabouts.
@Zuljaras In my experience it's never worked that way for pre-orders anywhere.
Most stores will know how many they're going to get, they put that amount up for pre-order and then once that many pre-orders have come in, they no longer accept anymore. Sometimes they accept more pre-orders than their allocated stock, but that just results in people having their pre-orders cancelled at the last minute. Amazon is particularly bad for this.
I've never seen an open pre-order like you describe.
What a bunch of jokers (and manchilds).
@Ogbert Well maybe they should. If there is no stock coming the shops could just return the money they got from pre-orders.
People should be put on lists to get what they paid for in advance. I bet that scalpers could not fight lists like that since they have to invest even more for such pre-orders.
As it is working right now they just buy all available stock and can afford to sell it for idiotic prices.
This crap "Subscribe to get notification when we got it in stock." is dumb and new system should be put in place.
But they do not care since they get the money from scalpers. It is sad to see that retailers value scalpers and regular customers the same way
Eh, people blow this way out of proportion. I always set the expectation with my kids that you don't always get what you want, most parents I know do the same. It's not that big a deal that kids might not get these toys. I feel more bad for the idiots who are going to spend all that effort for a meager profit that is absolutely not worth the time investment.
Supposedly the Pokemon card market is now crawling with investors, those who are into the cards for profit. Not so much because they're fans. People hoping to strike gold with limited editions and rare cards. I've heard there have been stock issues of the cards at retail outlets because of this.
While I have no problem with an adult buying a pack or two, stop hoarding the things. Plenty of kids are just as entitled to own the cards and - I dunno, actually have FUN with them - like everyone else.
@Zuljaras It's really not in their interest to do that though. That's going to result in a lot of orders that they can't fill, a lot of orders cancelled and a lot of upset customers. Amazon doesn't care about that because they're huge and nothing is ever going to stop them, but for the average business that's potentially very damaging to their reputation and customers returning.
Not to mention it'll massively skew their stats. If everywhere did pre-orders that way, obviously the majority of the pre-orders they have are going to be people that have pre-ordered elsewhere too, in case those other places get them in stock first. That could leave a shop with what looked like 10,000 pre-orders so they secure 10,000 of the product to come in to their shop, but then half of them get theirs elsewhere from a shop that got their stock maybe even just a day earlier, now they're left with 5,000 too many that they paid for. To which you might say "well now you have a good stock" but that shop now has a lot of money to re-coup.
The system you propose just isn't practical and that's why nowhere does it. I agree places need to do more to stop scalpers, at the very least a 'one per customer' when stock is so rare. But until then this is the best method.
@Zuljaras Those who pre-ordered have one, but the pre-orders sold out after 5 minutes. Meaning you couldn't pre-order one anymore.
It's really sad that they have to do that. I'm 29 and would like to get one. One. But I'll not buy one second hand, because I know most people selling them that way mass bought the hell out of them and in doing so, made it nearly impossible for any actual children to get any.
The state of the Pokemon TCG right now is unforgivable in my opinion. It's essentially impossible for children or casual fans to obtain product. I haven't seen anything, I mean ANYTHING from the last 4 TCG sets on store shelves.
Nothing from Vivid Voltage, Champion's Path, Shining Fates or Battle Styles. No single packs, no blisters, no Elite Trainer boxes, no theme decks, no booster boxes. The only way to get anything from these sets is to find small card shops that limit purchases to their customers, or to buy cards online at huge mark ups.
@Tyranexx There will always be a subset of people that will suck the fun out of anything for profit.
@Ryu_Niiyama Very true, unfortunately. And often with few to no repercussions for their actions either.
Applauds Way to go Uk McDonald's.
There's money to be made in pokémon cards currently and nothing wrong with buying up products to stick to one side while it appreciates, just don't take the piss too much and remember to support your local game store.
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