Olympic pin giving (Oups! Pin trading!) - Part 19
Pin trading wasn’t even on our radar when Dave and I applied to volunteer at the Olympics. Then our friend Christopher came to visit from BC and handed us a small bag. Inside? Pins, dozens of them, mostly from the 1988 Games he and his wife had attended. Then he said “I don’t know if this is still a thing but, in 1988, Olympic pin trading was a really big thing.” This was brand‑new information to us. A few months before the Games, I started following a Facebook group for Olympic volunteers. All the sudden people were posting photos of pins they had designed and planned to trade. Huh. Looks like it is still a thing.
I was way too late to design my own, so I turned to Amazon. I found a small red maple leaf pins; nothing fancy, about the size of a nickel, something simple to bring, along with Christopher’s pins. I ordered 50. Little did I know those pins were gonna make me really popular! Our first two shifts were at the rehearsal and Opening Ceremony. I slipped a dozen pins into my pocket and pinned a few of Christopher’s vintage ones to my volunteer lanyard which, as I later learned, is the universal sign for I’m open to trade.
Honestly, we had no idea how pin trading actually worked. Since my ultimate goal was to connect with people (as opposed to collect pins), I started to hand maple leaf pins to people from my team. Their reactions were priceless. Honestly, I could have handed them 100 euros and I don’t think they would have been more excited. They were thrilled, apologizing because they had nothing to give me in return. That’s when I learned the first fact of pin trading: People desperately want pins, but most don’t have any to trade.
After I gave away a few at the rehearsal, word spread. Soon strangers were approaching me asking for pins. One man, from a different team, literally got down on his knees to beg for one. I told him I had just given away my last one (a tiny white lie… I still had two, but I wanted to save them for people I actually connected with). By the end of that first shift, I had given away almost 12 pins. At that rate, I was going to run out long before the Games ended. Since Manon wasn’t joining us until the 7th, I ordered another 50 pins to her place. I figured 100 (+ Christopher’s pins) would be plenty. Ha!Ha! Cute. I ended up ordering another 40 that were delivered to a friends place in Milan.
The first pin I received was from an Italian volunteer I had given a maple leaf pin to during the rehearsal. When she arrived for her shift at the Opening Ceremony, she handed me an Italian flag pin to thank me. My first official trade! Then came my first shift at the Speed Skating arena, and the day I met Rachel (yes, that Rachel, my best‑friend volunteer – see Part 8). She had never heard of pin trading. I gave her a maple leaf and one of Christopher’s 1988 Team USA pins. That evening, she went home and ordered her own pins. What did she choose? Martini glasses! Yes, martini glasses. Nothing to do with the Olympics but they were adorable, and people loved them. She gave me one as soon as they arrived.
I won’t retell every pin story, many are already sprinkled throughout the blog: the PWHL Vice-President, the Coca‑Cola executive, Piper Gillis’ friend. There were the official volunteer pins we received after shifts #1, #5, and #9. There was also a pin for shift #15… which I didn’t “officially” get, but let’s just say I had a friend in the right place (thank you, Vero).
So far, you probably think that Pin trading looks more like pin giving! In my case, you would mostly be right. I gave away most of my pins without receiving anything in return . That said, there is a very real and very big pin trading community out there. You don’t really see it during the first week, but it certainly shows up the second week! All the sudden, if you wear pins on your lanyard, you will be looked a differently by the hardcore pin trading enthusiasts. They barely make eye contact and stare at your lanyard with a critical eye begging you to trade that Coca-cola pin because it is the only one they are missing for their complete collection! (Spoiler: Dave kept his Coca-Cola pin!)
By the second week, our maple leaf pins had gone from “rare treasure” to “no thanks, I already have that one.” Turns out I wasn’t the only Canadian who found that great Amazon deal. Everyone lives their Pin trading experience differently. For Dave and I, it wasn’t about collecting; it was about connecting. If we get the chance to volunteer again in 2030, I plan to design our own pins, get at least 150 of them, and spread Canadian love all over again!
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