Greedy Giveaway People (Steel Vengeance Hats)

Yesterday I attended the Steel Vengeance announcement at the park. I thought the event was awesome especially since they handed out complimentary foam cowboy hats that sported the vintage "Cedar Point" writing on them. I thought these were awesome and a really great gesture by the park. Little did I know how greedy people are with this. I saw people taking stacks of these hats or asking the employees for "extras" for most likely non-existent family members. Upon review today, I see a listing on eBay of someone with 10+ hats selling them at $15.99 each and they are actually selling. What a joke! Am I wrong to feel this way? The park was doing something generous, and instead of just taking one hat, people feel the need to do this type of thing and take away from those that did not even receive one at the event yesterday.

Here is a picture of the ONE hat I received yesterday (that I do not plan on selling) in case you were wondering what they look like.

It's just like an Invasion of the Crumb Snatchers when there is free food at work.

Never sat on your front porch for Trick or Treat? I never dreamed there could be so many sick kids sitting at home.

Stuff like this makes me furious.
But having been part of a few giveaway promotions myself, you get to a point where you don't care who takes the s, just get rid of it. So maybe they don't care who has em or what they do with em.

But the sure thing is, people never fail to amaze me with their nerve and gall. It's especially bad if there were guests (or kids) that would've loved to have one (1) and couldn't get their hands on em.

This stuff is terrible and makes me feel bad for ever wanting to "get rid of" stuff I may have - here I am with a couple of things I've received from media events and whatnot that I'd like to sell, simply because they're way too big on me (if you've seen my posts, you've seen my weight loss story) - except I can't bring myself to do that because I feel bad about selling something that was given as a nice gesture, and I'll feel like I'm one of these people.

That's a different story. Sure you can sell something after awhile, but INTENTIONALLY taking more than enough and taking from those who didn't have a chance because of your selfishness to make money is pathetic.

I know, but I still feel like a bad person for doing it, if that makes sense. I've gotten some really cool stuff over the years, and some of it I don't want to part with, but it's just sitting in a closet.

It's interesting that people were able to get so many. Guest services chose not to give me 1 extra Valravn crown when my son lost his at the park that day they handed them out. He backtracked and found one he thought may have been his or if not one somebody else forgot to pick back up. Of course at the end of the season they were giving out PILES of them at Town Hall so I never understood why the park was being so stingy. I only asked for one paper crown...and had the kid with me...

If someone gets their allotted one hat and chooses to sell it on ebay to someone who would have liked to attend the Hootenanny but couldn't I'm cool with that but if they're taking more than what they were supposed to be getting for free and then selling that's not cool. My kids and I each got teo pins for last rides on Mean Streak because we rode twice. I wasn't going to take them at first but they had so many I figured it wasn't going to hurt. I ended up giving mine to a ride host who couldn't get a last ride because they were working that day.

I took 3 for my group of 2 because we had a friend coming. But this is just ridiculous.

Sell them if you want, but don't steal giant groups of them to make a quick buck. I'm probably keeping mine, they're fun CP memorabilia.

Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens several times a year. Anytime the park gives out free stuff for events, you'll always find several of those items on eBay the following day.

I remember a few years ago after 2014 media day, the park appeared to be getting rid of their stash of old poster calendars. They set out a dozen or so boxes of posters at the exit for guests to grab. Wide range of years and quantities. Like I said, appeared to be cleaning out storage space. But I distinctly recall seeing several people grabbing as many as their arms can carry and asking their kids to do the same. I mean what the hell are you going to do with a dozen or so of the same poster? Unsurprisingly there was an uptick of posters being sold on eBay after that day.

I think the worst has been the Top Thrill Cubster merch from last year. Lots of people buying out the merch only to sell on eBay knowing that it was a limited item and there was high demand. I recall seeing shirts sell for more than $100.

This obviously isn't a unique problem as it happens all the time in the real world with iPhone scalping, ticket reselling, etc. The only way to get rid of the problem would be for people to stop giving in and buying those items, leaving the seller out of luck. Unlikely to happen so unfortunately it's just a part of life. Though it's funny how people like to complain about companies/corporations being greedy but then will do stuff like this to make a quick buck.

People fighting over foam hats...this is why we can't have nice things.

I'd like to think I have nice things. And next weekend I get to go to Cedar Point.

One way to combat this douchbagery is to create a disposable eBay account and bid the items up to ridiculous amounts or even win the auction and never pay.

Stuff like this is exactly why we don't have media events or cool freebies (CoasterMania) anymore. People ruined it...but hey least it does keep those jerks away during CoasterMania for the most part.

Speaking of eBay and giveaways, I saw this listing a few weeks back. It's entirely made up of things that cost the seller nothing, including the ride safety stickers the seller must have actually peeled off the ride cars, then tried to make a quick buck. Of course, it apparently "sold"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-of-10-EXCLUSIVE-Cedar-Point-Memorabilia...true&rt=nc

Mr. Potato said:

I think the worst has been the Top Thrill Cubster merch from last year. Lots of people buying out the merch only to sell on eBay knowing that it was a limited item and there was high demand. I recall seeing shirts sell for more than $100.

See, I have no issue with anyone who buys stuff and resells it for profit. That's different than taking more than someone's fair share of free stuff and selling it for profit.

^Agreed, if they buy the item at the value anyone else has, and then sell it for more, that's just how it works. There are things such as appreciating assets. Now do I think it's lame for people to buy the stuff and same day flip it, oh of course, but that's not just specifically enthusiast items. I'm looking at you Nintendo Switch sellers..

Now the free stuff, that stuff needs to stop...period.

Switch sellers are the horrible. Even Amazon is $100 more than the MSRP of the thing, it's actually annoying.

But the free stuff and stickers are the worst.

I just personally find it very douchey in those situations because you are taking away the already limited supply away from the folks who legitimately want one for themselves and not looking to make a quick buck. Does it break any rules or laws, of course not. But I just find it annoying and inconsiderate.

Nothing is stopping you from doing the same.

The Switch situation will likely get worse as the holidays approach and don't get me started on Amiibo. If you are looking for one setup alerts on istocknow.com. They seem to be fairly accurate and helped me secure a second Switch in July, although I had to drive to Springfield to get it.