Once again, greedy jerks ruin everyone else’s fun.

The Pokémon Company is currently celebrating the franchise’s 25th anniversary. They’ve got all sorts of neat initiatives going on across their vast branding reach, from events in Pokémon GO to limited edition merch. Speaking of limited edition merch, one of the company’s big collaborations is a team-up with McDonald’s featuring Happy Meal boxes in the shape of the franchise mascot, Pikachu. Each of these special Happy Meals is supposed to contain a pack of four random limited edition 25th anniversary Pokémon cards. Notice how I said “supposed to” there.

Reports have come in from all over the internet of scalpers buying up Happy Meals en masse from their local McDonald’s locations in an effort to secure as many of the limited edition cards as possible. These cards have been popping up in large batches on bidding sites like eBay for prices ranging from $60 to $1,000. These scalpers have been so overzealous in their efforts to secure the cards, multiple McDonald’s locations have reported shortages, resulting in quite a few crying kids and upset parents.

@McDonalds @McDonaldsCorp love the Pokémon release but why didn’t you guys enforce some type of limit for buying the toys (cards) without a happy meal. Got a 6 year old son that was excited to get a pack but re-sellers bought them all in my area 🙁

— Cappy (@mayortoadsworth) February 10, 2021

Different McDonald’s locations seem to be dealing with scalpers differently. Some stores have begun putting purchase limits on Happy Meals, refusing to sell more than a few to one person. Other stores don’t seem to be as bothered by the scalpers, with some selling fully-packed cases of cards to them separately from the Happy Meals. Customers have been pleading with McDonald’s online to enact sweeping restrictions for the duration of the Pokémon event, but as of writing, McDonald’s corporate has remained silent on the matter.

My mom works at a McDonalds in southern Indiana, and her store is limited to only selling 5 packs per person per day, because someone bought 3 cases (around 450~ packs) from another area store, which was all they had

— Jake Jacobson (@Th3Composer) February 9, 2021

Oh, and as an additional insult to injury, those who have witnessed the scalpers in action have reported that they just throw all of the food away after grabbing the cards from the Happy Meals, which is just… depressing.