Why can't we have them in the USA? Why are they so much more expensive?
Pez Candy, Inc. must obtain the right to use licensed characters on the pez dispensers. The laws, rules and costs for licensing rights in the USA are different than those in European countries. Pez Co has not released the Monsters vs. Aliens in the USA, presumably because they do not have the licensing rights to the DreamWorks characters. The US has not had a Warner Bros release in many years, yet there are crystal Tweety and Taz, Warner Bros soccer sets, Looney Tunes Back in Action etc that are available in European countries. Gary from SpongeBob is another example. Sometimes the characters are not popular in the USA and thus do not warrant the purchase of licensing rights, such as in the case of the Winx, Tweenies, Asterix, or even the Mr. Bean set. The Japanese Parrot pez set, the Bullet Trains set and others are licensed for distribution in Japan. Pez International does not sell directly to retailers in other countries because it would be a violation of the licensing agreement, so US dealers must go through European dealers or other contacts to purchase the European dispensers, have them shipped, often pay the customs duty and other fees. The European dealers have to make their profit and US dealers must pay them as a middle man. The US dollar is not strong, so it costs more dollars to match the Euro. All of this makes purchasing the European dispensers rather expensive. This is why the European dispensers cost so much more than the regular US releases which can be found in retail stores across the USA.