"Just give it away for goodness sakes!": Funko Pop landfill dump worth $30 million leaves internet flabbergasted 

Funko Pop, the company behind the small action figurines we see on table shelves and gaming stores, vastly overestimated their demand. They are alleged to have dumped over $30 million worth of collectible figurines in a huge landfill.

These small action figures vaguely represent celebrities and superheroes.

Earlier this week, Funko Pop had poor earnings, which caused its stock price to fall. It reportedly dropped by a shocking 25 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Pop announced that the company was sitting on a huge pile of unsold inventory, which increased by 48 percent, year after year. The announcement was made through a press release that said:

"Inventory at year-end totaled $246.4 million, an increase of 48% compared to a year ago.This includes inventory that the Company intends to eliminate in the first half of 2023 to reduce fulfillment costs by managing inventory levels to align with the operating capacity of our distribution center."

It continued:

"This is expected to result in a write down in the first half of 2023 of approximately $30 to $36 million."

Each figurine costs around an average of $8 to $11. According to the press release, they are estimated to have dumped millions of figurines into the garbage.

When asked about the press release, CEO Brian Mariotti of Pop said that in the fourth quarter of 2022 and early 2023's, the company made progress in addressing operational issues.

These issues impacted the results in the second half of 2022. Mariotti claimed to have strengthened their executive and operational management team. They have claimed to be taking significant steps to improve their operations efficiently.

He continued by saying that the Funko brands are gratified to see their strong customer demand from an "incredibly loyal and resilient global fanbase". This was demonstrated by 37% direct-to-consumer growth and strong sell-through in the fourth quarter.

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Netizens are shocked by Funko Pop's huge waste dump

Users are appalled at Pop's decision to get rid of all the figurines. Some believe that they should be donated to children's hospitals or should get bundled up and sold instead.

They claimed that this was a bad move on the company's part and instead of dumping them, they could've donated it to charity.

Users are flabbergasted by the amount of waste and pollution this will be creating when there are more sustainable and child-friendly options.

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PVC pollution caused by the Funko Pop's large-scale disposal

Before the shocking declaration, Pop was already facing financial turmoil last year. Their distribution center in Arizona was allegedly overflowing with inventory and had to rent shipping containers to store all their mint-condition figurines.

By November 2022, the Pop stock had already cratered after it slashed its financial outlook for the rest of the year, according to Kotaku's reports.

Some models and figurines have gotten high on the buyer's market, with two golden figurines selling for $100,000 in cash recently. However, the value of their company is likely to fall sooner rather than later with huge recurring losses that are already underway. These small figurines are going to slowly decopose in landfills and lose their value over time.

Funko Pop figures are made of a substance called polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC. It is a petroleum derived chemical that is molded using vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride is the substance that the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, released into the environment and waterways nearby.