The Esterbrook Forum Estie Loaner Program

[Toulouse]

Bruce gives me WAY too much credit! :embarrassed_smile:

And, as tends to be his style: Gives himself way too little credit.

 

But then again, that's why we're all lucky to know Bruce.

 

Thank you Bruce.

 

Your dear friend,

 

Todd

[pajaro]

I have had totally positive experience with pen borrowers reimbursing postage. I just hope the borrowing is worthwhile for them.

 

I agree with Sasha Royale about vintage Parkers. I also still like them best, but I have learned a lot from using and fixing Esties and from the helpful people here.

 

Thanks.

Edited April 22, 2013 by pajaro

[mhguda]

Bruce,

I tried to contact you backchannel, but it seems not to have worked.

I wanted to make the Silver J with 2668 generally available - there has been no interest for it locally.

Also, I have a choice of two additional nibs, both Osmiroid: one italic, broad, and one rolatip broad. The borrower should indicate what nib they want me to put in the pen. And they should know the postage will be slightly more than when sent in their own country. I would like some help with that cost too, because I have noticed when I send packages my costs are disproportionately higher. Usually when I send a single pen (e.g. as a PiF) the cost is slightly over $6.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Esterbrook Loaners Available as of 4/22/13

 

Blue SJ, Medium 2668 nib

Green SJ, Medium 2668 nib

Blue LJ, 9556 F or 9550 XF nib (Borrower to specify which nib)

Blue SJ, 1550 XF, 2556 F, 2284 S (Borrower to specify which nib)

Copper J, 2556 F nib and a 2668 M

Copper J, 9556 F or 9668 M or 9048 whichever the Borrower desires

Green J, 9788 M

Red SJ, 9461 F-M

Red J, 2668

Turquoise M2, Red SJ, Green SJ, Blue J, Gray Deluxe, or light blue purse pen

(Borrower to select nib from; 2668 M, 2556 F, 2460 M, 1551 M, 9450 F, 9460 M, 2314-B, 9314-F, 9550 F, 9556 F, 2284 B stub

 

Silver J, 2668, or Osmiroid: one italic, broad, and one rolatip broad. (This pen will come from Curacao, it's postage may be slightly higher and postage delay a bit longer, it's Loaner Outter has more info on this.)

 

Pens residing overseas for in country loan only; Postage for these pens may be

noticeably lower than pens sent from the U.S.A.

 

Australia-Silver SJ, with either a 1551 M or 2668 M

 

The United Kingdom-Green J 2556, Copper SJ 2668 (Either can come with a 1555 or 2314 B too) NO LOANER POSTAGE FEE on these two UK only pens!

 

 

 

The subject of a few Estie Borrowers not fulfilling their part of the postal reimbursement has been discussed among the Estie Loaner Outters. They are those most immediately impacted.

 

As a result, there is a Pending change to at least the order of how things happen in the Loaner Program.

 

The change is simply that the Borrower will Paypal Gift the agreed on postage to them to their Lender Outter, either $3.00 or the amount they agree to with the Lender Outter, BEFORE the Estie is placed into the mail to the Borrower.

 

This eliminates the After borrowing postage issue thusly solving it.

 

This change Will Remain *A Pending Change* to the point at which Another Borrower than the ones currently known of, fails to keep their end of the Loan Out agreement up. At that point it changes from Pending to In Force.

 

The decision of when or if that ever occurs lies solely in the hands of those borrowing the Esties.

 

Mhguda, yes, sorry, my Inbox gets full sometimes but I did get your email, thank you. The Loaner List has been changed accordingly. If you haven't already, please weight your pens as you'll ship them so you'll be able to give any prospective Borrower a good idea of his postal reimbursement and turn around times. Thank you again.

 

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL and The Esterbrook Forum

[senor47]

GClef' Esterbrook has arrived! Really nice.

[mhguda]

OK Bruce, I see the change you made. Regarding the postage from Curaçao, my experience in the last four months has been that a bubble envelope with adequate protection (plastic tube or cardboard) and of course a pen, will cost the equivalent of $6 US for me to mail to the rest of the world. From the rest of the world to me, however, is significantly less. Depending on the number of borrowers, something regarding this mailing cost could be worked out.

[Mags]

I received a new to me Estie and will be tinkering with it to add to a loaner rotation here in Canada.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Well, Happy Birthday Everyone! We just passed The First YEAR of having the Esterbrook Loaner Program. Perhaps you might be curious as to how it has worked out. I waddled through the 9 pages of the thread and made some notes of summation;

 

 

We had 22 loan outs. Almost 1 every 2 weeks. Of those 22 borrowers, 5 of them purchased their very own Esties or came to get one as a result of the loaner program. 3 of the borrowers ended up continuing in the program as :Loaner Outters.

 

Was there any downside? From those 22 loan outs, ALL pens and nibs returned cleaned out and undamaged. We only had 1 borrow stiff their Loaner Outter for mailing fees. That is so little of any downside to me as to almost not even register as such.

 

Currently there are 18 Esterbrook pens available for borrowing along with 27 nibs. We have pens available for borrowing for reduced mailing fees in 5 countries on 3 continents and the island of Curacao.

 

Lastly but not leastly, just the Loaner Program thread itself is a very enjoyable one with lots of neat writing example and pen pics from Borrowers who are having Big Fun with their Loaner pens.

 

That sounds like a resounding success no matter which Estie color you paint it with.

 

Much Thanks! to the Esterbrook forum, our Moderator Brian for his help and ALL THOSE who participated in any way with the Program.

 

ONWARD!

 

Esterbrook Loaners Available as of 7/28/13

Blue SJ, Medium 2668 nib
Green SJ, Medium 2668 nib
Blue LJ, 9556 F or 9550 XF nib (Borrower to specify which nib)
Blue SJ, 1550 XF, 2556 F, 2284 S (Borrower to specify which nib)
Copper J, 2556 F nib and a 2668 M
Copper J, 9556 F or 9668 M or 9048 whichever the Borrower desires
Green J, 9788 M
Red SJ, 9461 F-M
Red J, 2668
Turquoise M2, Red SJ, Green SJ, Blue J, Gray Deluxe, or light blue purse pen
(Borrower to select nib from; 2668 M, 2556 F, 2460 M, 1551 M, 9450 F, 9460 M, 2314-B, 9314-F, 9550 F, 9556 F, 2284 B stub

Silver J, 2668, or Osmiroid: one italic, broad, and one rolatip broad. (This pen will come from Curacao, it's postage may be slightly higher and postage delay a bit longer, it's Loaner Outter has more info on this.)

Pens residing overseas for in country loan only; Postage for these pens may be
noticeably lower than pens sent from the U.S.A.

Australia-Silver SJ, with either a 1551 M or 2668 M

The United Kingdom-Green J 2556, Copper SJ 2668 (Either can come with a 1555 or 2314 B too) NO LOANER POSTAGE FEE on these two UK only pens!

The subject of a few Estie Borrowers not fulfilling their part of the postal reimbursement has been discussed among the Estie Loaner Outters. They are those most immediately impacted.

As a result, there is a Pending change to at least the order of how things happen in the Loaner Program.

The change is simply that the Borrower will Paypal Gift the agreed on postage to them to their Lender Outter, either $3.00 or the amount they agree to with the Lender Outter, BEFORE the Estie is placed into the mail to the Borrower.

This eliminates the After borrowing postage issue thusly solving it.

This change Will Remain *A Pending Change* to the point at which Another Borrower than the ones currently known of, fails to keep their end of the Loan Out agreement up. At that point it changes from Pending to In Force.

The decision of when or if that ever occurs lies solely in the hands of those borrowing the Esties.

Bruce in Ocala, FL and The Esterbrook Forum

 

[dcpritch]

Yay Bruce! Thanks for starting the Estie Loaner Program and keeping it going. I'm one of the loaners and, like all the others, stand ready to send an Esterbrook pen to someone for a two week trial run. You won't find a better way to try out a great vintage pen!

 

David

[OcalaFlGuy]

Please forgive my way too weak of a Thank You to the Loaner Program's 10 current Loaner Outter's. You are the backbone of the program and it could not stand on it's own without you.

 

Thanks yall! (Sure do miss the clapping hands emoticon)

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Letsdisinfect]

This is one of the coolest threads on FPN, I can't believe that I didn't see it until yesterday!

 

I'm interested in trying out the Green J, 9788 M if at all possible.

 

Thanks!

[OcalaFlGuy]

Let's, I'll contact it's owner. In the meantime, please read through the first post in this thread and be sure you are ok and up to speed with how the Loaner Program works, and Thanks!

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0445-1_zps09728b5f.jpg

[Harlequin]

Loaner = you, Loanee = lucky to get that pen!

[Rabbit713]

I've never tried out an Esterbrook before, or any vintage pen for that matter, and would love to give one a test drive! I tend to lean toward larger pens with Medium nibs, so would that be a J?

[alc3261]

It would, the J is the largest size.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I've never tried out an Esterbrook before, or any vintage pen for that matter, and would love to give one a test drive! I tend to lean toward larger pens with Medium nibs, so would that be a J?

 

Do you have a color preference you'd like to see? If so, what and we can try and set you up. Please go to the first post in this thread and check out how the program works while you're figure out a color to try.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Rabbit713]

Bruce,

Thanks for the direction. I read the earlier post and think I have a handle on how the loaner program works. I noticed that the payment options have changed, in that a paypal is expected before shipment instead of being able to add $3 cash to the package being sent to the next person. Am I reading that correctly? So far as color, I'd love to see a Copper Esterbrook.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Rabbit, no, that is just a Pending change based on some prior reimbursement situations that thankfully have not reoccurred.

 

You may include your postage $ back with the pen when you return it.

 

Stay tuned, I am contacting the owner of your loaner pen.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[OcalaFlGuy]

Rabbit, FPNer Hex is the person with the pen matching your request. He'll be contacting you shortly.

 

Enjoy!

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl and the Estie Loaner program