The Pez Outlaw

April 1, 2015 6:06 AM

How a Michigan Farmer Made $4 Million Smuggling Rare Pez Containers Into the U.S. [Playboy]

via Longform and Collector's Weekly

posted by the man of twists and turns (19 comments total)

Angry pimps hammered on the truck windows as father and son took turns guarding their Pez cargo.

This is my favorite sentence of the month.
posted by delfin at 6:26 AM on April 1, 2015 [9 favorites]

...and this is my favorite quote of the month...

“No way!” Steve cried. “I’ve finally found a use for all my crazy!”
posted by fairmettle at 6:32 AM on April 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

Pez de résistance

*gasps, eyes roll, head tips back*
posted by BlueHorse at 6:50 AM on April 1, 2015 [9 favorites]

I read Playboy for the Pez containers.
posted by tilde at 6:56 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Did Deep Throat blow the whistle?
posted by pracowity at 6:58 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I know everyone reads Playboy for the articles (and that's a good one), but that Pez portrait with the story is even more remarkable.
posted by LeLiLo at 7:04 AM on April 1, 2015

At 63, he spends his days writing a scathing blog aimed at terrorizing the Pez corporation.

And here is Steve Glew's blog.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:07 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

PEZINGA!
posted by freecellwizard at 7:13 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Helluva story. Really knocked my head back.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:22 AM on April 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

From the blog:

Acknowledgments
I want to thank Google for offering this space, for me it leveled the playing field.

Wait, did Google set up his blog? Does he think Google runs the internet?
posted by johnnydummkopf at 7:53 AM on April 1, 2015

At 63, he spends his days writing a scathing blog aimed at terrorizing the Pez corporation.

We all want the hand. Hand is tough to get.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:53 AM on April 1, 2015

"You got a problem? Throw some Pez money at it."
posted by filthy light thief at 8:30 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

johnnydummkopf: Wait, did Google set up his blog? Does he think Google runs the internet?

His blog is hosted by blogger, which was acquired by Gogole in 2003
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:54 AM on April 1, 2015

"I knew a guy who a knows a guy"

-Unoffical motto of the State of Michigan.
posted by clavdivs at 9:13 AM on April 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

The "Pez Color War"? Somewhere Billy Joel is thinking "you know, that gives me an idea for a song..."
posted by yoink at 9:22 AM on April 1, 2015

My wife, who is a moderately serious Pez collector, glommed on to this story as soon as I first heard about it last week. She's heard of the guy, bought a few items from him back in the day, but knew nothing about most of this. Great story!
posted by lhauser at 12:25 PM on April 1, 2015

The PezList has a note about Glew Variations and how to identify them, if you're interested. Unfortunately, the MoMo Pez database special filters don't include Glew Variations, but there are the official Misfits, which undercut Glew's heavy investment in making variant dispensers. Tropez does't look like it has Glew Variations, either, but if you dig into PezBase, you'll find a few Glew variants, but they're all trucks.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:36 PM on April 1, 2015

Glew is selling Santa Pez dispensers autographed "Pez Outlaw" on eBay. The description is a thing of wonder.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:56 PM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

The myth that may not be a myth is that eBay was started because of Pez. The story is that Pierre Omidyar's girlfriend was a Pez collector and he set up a website for her to help with buying and selling Pez dispensers. It began to be used for buying/selling all kinds of things and next thing you know we have eBay.

The company website initially mentioned these origins. Then I saw this interview where Pierre said that his (now) wife worked in medicine and didn't want to be known worldwide as the Pez collector lady, so all of a sudden eBay is saying that the story is all a myth, created because it made a good story.

I definitely recommend the 1 room Pez museum in Burlingame, California (right next to the train station). They have a few other classic toys such as the 'Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory' toy (with all radioactive materials removed).
posted by eye of newt at 8:06 PM on April 2, 2015