I have received hundreds of notes concerning my article on Ty's Retirement and Web page.
Although MANY of you agree with the contents of this article, a few of you are confused.
Ty had initially reported May 1st as being the retirement date. Many websites and rumor mills had posted April 30th as the retirement date. I personally did not expect Ty to retire until May 1st sometime in the evening.
After reading the last entry in Fleece's dairy and April 30th, I came to the realization that Ty had in fact stuck with their May 1st retirement date and that once again rumors had been unfounded. I was still confused as to why Ty had not left any clues in the diary. I did receive a message from a very reliable source that Ty would make the announcement in the wee early morning hours, this promoted me to stay up! That little voice inside of me, kept saying I would miss the announcement if I went to bed. Remember the old song, "What kind of Fool Am I?" That's how I felt. But, I refused to let time slip up on me. I was determined to watch this retirement unfold!
BUT, this was not the main issue. The issue, is the TIME the retirement was announced. How can collectors get involved with a retirement that is announced at 3 AM? I received many notes at midnight, 1 AM and even 2 AM, people wanting to know when it was going to happen. I even told website owners to go to bed and I would contact them when the retirement took place.
Moms and Dads wanted to greet their children the next morning with the news. The problems is, the news just came to late! Friday morning brought total panic, confusion and dismay. MANY experienced problems with the Ty site. Some collectors were only able to receive a partial list. Some collectors could not even get through to the site. Many assumed Princess and Erin had retired because their pictures appeared on the screen. I addressed many angry e-mails from collectors saying they could not believe Ty had retired Princess and Erin.
What kind of lesson have I learned from this?
Normally, I'm not the type of person to get caught up in rumors, this time I did. I guess you can say, it paid off, but, Boy was there a price to pay for it the next day.
I'm still convinced that Ty had, and still has, server problems…Just today, I went into the Ty site to view their Attic collection, it was gone, instead I was taken into the Beanie section. Yesterday I received a report that the Ty Attic collection showed Shelby as being retired, but had no mention of Tulip's retirement.
I hope that this message clears up any misunderstandings. My intent is not to discredit Ty, but simply to make them aware of how MANY collectors feel. I have always supported Ty and will continue to do so. Beanie Babies are not only a common word used in my home, they are a large part of our lives! Ty should learn and benefit from reports such as this one.
I think, Ty may of announced the retirement early because they knew website owners would post the news and collectors would not have to load Ty's site. Maybe, in the future, Ty should work with website owners to correct this problem.
Ms. Janie May 4, l998
