Organizing Pez dispensers from an inherited collection, junior Jaidyn Rogers is moving them from their boxes onto shelves in his bedroom. The memories of his childhood flood his mind, as he remembers his initial reaction to such a huge PEZ candy collection.

“I started collecting PEZ candy dispensers when a family friend of mine passed away,” Rogers said. “As a kid I would go visit him and was fascinated with all of them, so when he passed he left them to me. I don’t remember much of him, but I have always appreciated that he thought of me to give his collection to. The dispensers were kept in boxes for me until I was mature enough to take care of them and display them.”

The inherited collection, purchased by his family friend, took ten years to grow and the total collection cost was about $2,000. Since then, Rogers has owned the collection for eight years.
“Currently in my collection I have 779 Pez dispensers, but only 450 are displayed on shelves,” Rogers said. “The entire collection is now worth around $13k. Since it is worth a lot, when I am older I would consider selling them, especially over the years the price will continue to go up, and it’ll be hard to store those. The memories of my family friend that gave it to me will always live on and are important to me, but realistically, it could be a lot in the future to take care of.”

In total, he has 60 different completed series of Pez dispensers in Roger’s collection and 10 different PEZ candy flavors.

“I have a series of Pez’s like the presidents, Marvel characters, and Disney Princesses,” Rogers said. “All of which came with the Pez candy. None of my displayed dispensers actually have candy in them. I personally don’t care for the candy as much, I am more interested in the Pez dispensers.”

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A large collection can be difficult to maintain and keep organized. Over the past eight years, Rogers has found better ways to help clean and support his collection.

“I discovered the air duster can which was the best way for me to take the dust off the shelves without individually wiping each dispenser,” Rogers said. “It is more time efficient and does not knock down the dispensers from the shelf. Plus, the shelves attract so much dust that I try to frequently or whenever I remember to dust them down with the can.”

Rogers’ immediate family is invested with the collection as well.

“I really like my brother’s collection,” younger brother Wyatt Rogers said. “I like looking at them, and I enjoy picking my favorite ones off the wall like Mario, Batman and Spongebob. I have even helped Jaidyn put them on the wall and put the others that couldn’t fit back into the boxes. Even with my cousins, we like to look at them and pick the ones we like to look at.”

In the future, when Rogers graduates, he plans to move out for college and leave his collection behind.

“The collection is too large and it was hard enough to put up the shelves, store and move the big boxes of all the dispensers,” Rogers said. “But I know everytime I go home they will be there, and it just seems more realistic and safe keeping them there. I would consider taking a few of my favorites with me to college to put on a shelf, which would feel like a piece of home is with me.”