Is The Fountain Pen Industry It's Own Worst Enemy?

[N2theBreach]

I wonder how many first-timers buy a fountain pen and stop using it because they don't know how? While I see introductory posts from people who say they've been using them since they were school-age, most of the world has not. To them, a fountain pen is either a mystery or it has a bad reputation ("they leak ink all over everything"). I held off getting a pen for a couple of months; a) because I was worried about appearing pretentious; and I didn't know how to get ink from the outside of the pen to the inside of the pen.

 

I don't think the person who buys an FP casually is going go online and watch a bunch of videos. Either the manufacturer or the seller should make that unecessary.

 

There are two places where the fountain pen industry industry fails people, in my opinion:

 

1-Companies do not include good instructions. I think these should cover the spectrum, from a brief overview of the new pen; how to use it (filling it, the best grip, etc.); to how to handle the most frequent problems. I think these should be crafted by a native speaker of the language in which they are written. I don't think this would take a big investment. Write them once, print many times. I expect a few pages would do it.

 

2- Test the pen before selling it. Make the pen enjoyable right out of the box. A few days ago, I posted that the Lamy EF nibs that I've tried were scratchy. Someone said they didn't agree with me, they said that after they tuned their EF nib using an online video for guidance, it worked great. Hello? That's like a car dealer selling you a car with the wheels out of alignment--"Don't worry buddy, there are You-Tube videos that will walk you right through it." I think the nibs should be tuned by either the manufacturer, or the dealer. I know that HisNibs.com and Richard Binder both do this. Maybe there are others. It's part of their customer service.

 

Given that fountain pens are currently on the periphery of the writing instrument industry, I think they would do a lot better if they helped people make the transition painlessly. Get rid of the barriers to entry.

 

Do you agree?

 

What else could the FP industry do to make it easy for newcomers?

[brunico]

1. I have filling instructions from Aurora and Sailor, even for a cartridge/converter pen. Lamy doesn't bother for the Safari, but any schoolkid should be able to figure out how it works, just as they can figure out how to turn a Bic biro into a missile launcher. Grip is an odd one. It always surprises me that people talk about a ballpoint grip, because I was taught there was a single correct way to hold a pen, regardless of what type it was. So to my mind, anyone who can't hold a fountain pen effectively isn't holding any pen correctly. I'm aware I might be sounding a little standoffish, but I saw someone today hold a biro almost vertically, and I did wonder at how imprecise the control must be (because the hand is tensed), so I don't think my view is entirely groundless. And in that case, perhaps shop assistants at Montblanc should be discreetly telling their customers how to hold their 149 biro properly, too!

 

Bear in mind I've been writing with fountain pens since I was in short trousers, and I've always taken things apart to see how they work.

 

 

2. Agree for expensive pens, certainly for those sold as exclusive luxury items from master craftsmen, or whatever illiterate guff the marketing people have come up with. I'd expect every Pilot Custom Heritage to be perfect out of the box, for example, but only 99% of Preppies or Penmanships. There's no excuse for gouging customers only to drop shoddy goods on them. That said, I'm not convinced all reports of scratchy nibs mean defects: some people will be holding their pens wrong, or pressing down, or not be familiar with how italic nibs work. Other people will just be a little more sensitive to the feel than I am.

 

I think a lot of the arguments about scratchiness stem from the fact it can mean anything from tearing paper (how I think of it) to making a faint noise or not gliding over the paper like oil on glass (what some people call 'tooth' others call 'scratchy').

 

I've never had to tune a nib, apart from a quick splay of the tines of a Jinhao to get the ink to flow, and the same for a Lamy nib that had fallen to the bottom of a box of spanners. Certainly I agree it's ridiculous to expect people to learn how to correct manufacturers' defects: a pen shouldn't need to be accompanied by a whole apparatus of brown paper bags, micromesh and razor blades.

[I like mango cheesecake]

you are so right. I had someone say to me that the Mont Blanc he bought was a total waste of money because it ran out of ink in a matter of a couple of weeks. Little did he know that he had to refill the ink reservoir each time. He thought it would last as long as his cheap ball point. I had to roll my eyes.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have two Waterman Phileas - both with papers - one is a very nice little booklet (earlier productions) with instructions on how to fill both the converter or use the cartridge. Even was comprehensive enough to cover mechanical pencils and rollerballs, maybe even ballpoints. In about 4 languages. The newer one? much cheaper foldout on cheap paper. I don't recall what came with my Al Star - I just know I don't have it. But I have a big Waterman box for a Hemisphere rollerball.It included a pen case.I can get 2 pens in it, although it is ideally designed for one I believe. (even two Phileas, alhough the Lamy won't fit)

[GabrielleDuVent]

There are pros and cons to this particular topic that I can think of.

 

The pro side is that implementing this sort of idea would expand FP user population, thereby popularising the products and possibly making them cheaper and more readily available. I began using FPs when I was in year 3, taught by my school teacher as it was mandatory, and both my parents use them, so I'm not entirely certain just how puzzling an FP can be to a non-user. Perhaps very? Either way, even with piston fillers it wasn't difficult; MB provides a booklet that has instructions with every FP.

 

The con side is that it's not really a skill one acquires overnight. Things we do unconsciously - stand, eat with chopsticks (for Asians), walk, grip a pen - are all taught when we are children, and we inherently end up doing them without thinking. Fixing them in adulthood takes quite a long time and patience. Having the "up" and "down" for the tips of the pens can also be a novel idea. These things can be taught quite easily to children, since it's their first time learning, but to an adult, who has been gripping cross-thumb or lateral tripod or four fingers grasp? It's going to take more than a 15 minute session for them to learn a proper grip.

 

And FYI, some brands of EF nibs do end up feeling scratchy. That is because the nib is an extra fine, not because the nib is defective. My Lamy EF feels scratchy on some paper surfaces.

 

Grinding nibs are best left to professionals, unless you know exactly what you are doing. You need specific equipment, apart from the obvious Arkansas stone, and beginners should not be grinding nibs or adjusting tines unless you know exactly what the proper nib alignment looks like and have the appropriate loupes.

 

To be honest, I really don't see the point of tuning mass-produced nibs, such as Lamy nibs (I can't imagine taking my Preppy to a pen dealer and asking them to grind it this way or that). You can also get personal instructions at brick-and-mortar pen shops which are far more detailed than a flimsy paper a company would include (I've often had to shoo away eager clerks trying to show me what to do with FPs... it's not a yo-yo trick, and I've been in the shop before to buy nibs or converters).

 

I also don't believe the companies are looking to "expand the FP population" too drastically; it's a niche market, and it has a stable and steadfast population of customers. There are rollerballs which take FP inks, and since pen companies' main sources of income are usually inks, as long as there are pens that accept the inks, they'll be financially okay. So they aren't desperately looking to increase customers, I guess.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Yes.

 

After Boll Weevils.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Stompie]

I don't see why they cannot have a mass produced cd disc that goes with every fountain pen, sort of generic instructions including things like grip, refilling etc.

Some years ago a friend of mine bought a motorcycle dealership. He told me how many of the customers returned their motorbikes within 6 months. They had or had nearly fallen over or were just plain scared of the thing. High end bikes purchased mostly by retiring or middle aged folk that now had some spare cash.
I suggested that he include a free rider training course with every bike sold - minor cost compared to the price of even their cheapest bike - he did a deal with an instructor school and Viola, problem solved! Now he had no returns and increased sales because his customer base expanded and with it all the periphery like services, bits and bobs to customise bikes etc etc.

So, even if your main income is inks and not pens, if folk are told how to use the pens properly, not only will your pen sales increase but so too will all the periphery like inks, papers, pen cases etc

Maybe even someone from FPN with experience in that sort of video market, could do that and market it to the pen shops/manufacturers and make some pocket money

[Harlequin]

Interesting question. I tend to agree with the OP.

[apkayle]

I wonder how many first-timers buy a fountain pen and stop using it because they don't know how? While I see introductory posts from people who say they've been using them since they were school-age, most of the world has not. To them, a fountain pen is either a mystery or it has a bad reputation ("they leak ink all over everything"). I held off getting a pen for a couple of months; a) because I was worried about appearing pretentious; and I didn't know how to get ink from the outside of the pen to the inside of the pen.

 

I don't think the person who buys an FP casually is going go online and watch a bunch of videos. Either the manufacturer or the seller should make that unecessary.

 

There are two places where the fountain pen industry industry fails people, in my opinion:

 

1-Companies do not include good instructions. I think these should cover the spectrum, from a brief overview of the new pen; how to use it (filling it, the best grip, etc.); to how to handle the most frequent problems. I think these should be crafted by a native speaker of the language in which they are written. I don't think this would take a big investment. Write them once, print many times. I expect a few pages would do it.

 

2- Test the pen before selling it. Make the pen enjoyable right out of the box. A few days ago, I posted that the Lamy EF nibs that I've tried were scratchy. Someone said they didn't agree with me, they said that after they tuned their EF nib using an online video for guidance, it worked great. Hello? That's like a car dealer selling you a car with the wheels out of alignment--"Don't worry buddy, there are You-Tube videos that will walk you right through it." I think the nibs should be tuned by either the manufacturer, or the dealer. I know that HisNibs.com and Richard Binder both do this. Maybe there are others. It's part of their customer service.

 

Given that fountain pens are currently on the periphery of the writing instrument industry, I think they would do a lot better if they helped people make the transition painlessly. Get rid of the barriers to entry.

 

Do you agree?

 

What else could the FP industry do to make it easy for newcomers?

 

 

1) Information is cheap to disperse. There isn't much of a point in creating that information when it already exists and is widely used. Then again, you have a point...why not create product maintenance videos? I see this as a failing for some individual businesses but not the industry as a whole

 

2) It costs extra money to test thousands and thousands of pens, that extra money could be better used.

Edited June 7, 2013 by apkayle

[arcadeflow]

I find it strange that some people claim that $20 pens or even $50 pens require tuning to write well. Were fountain pens always like this or has the quality become a problem?

 

In my opinion, all pens should write well after leaving the factory. It's not like they are so expensive to make, because they are not, some people love cheaps pens and say they write well. But why it is easy to find one that does not work well and need tuning?

 

I can understand that with some dedication you can make a nib perform better, something that would cost a premium if made by specialists, but, they should not require such tuning. Why do we pay up to $50 for a pen if it doesn't even have a gorgeous nib? I find it hard to believe. Is it because most fans are nit pickers? Some companies like Lamy claim that all pens are tested before going to the stores, and some people still complain about them, it seems strange to me.

[pankaj]

IMHO we FP lovers ( arguably we are the more passionate type than the ordinary users who cant tell a fp from a roller or ball point except in terms of credit card they have signed at the BM shop ) tend to behave more like a wine taster. Just let a sniff decide ! Most of the times, we buy a pen out of passion - we WANT it. How good it writes is of course sth that adds fire to the passion. But a little bit of testing or a lil bit of nib / converter DIY touch can take care of the writing part. Its no rocket science. That said, every manufacturer is obliged to ensure the best QC.

 

 

[Xray]

you are so right. I had someone say to me that the Mont Blanc he bought was a total waste of money because it ran out of ink in a matter of a couple of weeks. Little did he know that he had to refill the ink reservoir each time. He thought it would last as long as his cheap ball point. I had to roll my eyes.

 

I am just astounded...

[Readymade]

I take a slightly different tack -- why rely on companies to spread ideas about FP use? Pen lovers like us are the best people to do so, and some of us are already active in using pen clubs and internet tools to reach out to new pen users.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Readymade

[runguy]

Interesting post with a lot of good points. I probably would not be into fps if I had not stumbled onto a video put up by the Goulets about Ahab pens. They do a nice job of selling their own products while providing instruction about the hows and whys of fps, inks, etc. I learn a lot from various youtube videos and reviews, but most of the companies are probably still working from marketing models that precede the internet - and from a time when fps were more widely used.

 

2. Agree, especially when so many transations are on the web. I have bought some pens with nibs that skip, and that's just not acceptable considering the price. I do prefer to buy from sellers that test the pens before shipping. My two favorite nibs came from resale over the classifieds and the sellers vouched for them.

[PatientType]

To some extent I'm a contrarian on this. I've been impressed by the overall quality of fountain pens I've purchased. Yes, right out of the box. I've taken pens to nib meisters when I wanted a broad to be a cursive italic or when a pen has been damaged. I've only sent back one pen for manufacturer tuning and that was an over-$500-pen with a nasty skipping habit.

Instructions enclosed with each pen would be a plus but on simple, converter fountain pens even the most non-mechanical person (me) can figure them out. You have to admit its pretty obvious which is the end you write with and which end is up. Sure, I appreciated the written instructions that came with my NOS Sheaffer vacuum fills and a couple of snorkels.

[koa]

Wait, what? There is a fountain pen "industry"? Is that like the "tourism industry" or the "education industry" or the "intellectual property industry". Oh, tempores! Oh, mores! When such ignorant consumers can demand instruction on what they have purchased with no idea of what its function is! I guess this is why most fountain pens are purchased as gifts that never actually get used. It is just too difficult. Is there an app for this?

[proton007]

-- The decline of fountain pens has followed the decline of the emphasis on proper handwriting and penmanship.

-- They require a certain love and effort to run. Most of my friends at school stopped using them precisely because of that reason.

-- Its also possible that they went out of fashion, just like a lot of other things, and will see a resurgence.

-- Platinum and Pilot have tried to get things going again with Preppy/V-Pen, but someone needs to introduce young kids to these pens as well. If the adults don't use them, the kids wont.

-- Hence, I'd say if teachers in schools don't use them, the students won't either.

 

So I don't think its the FP makers to blame. Just like you can't blame the Typewriter companies for their decline.

Edited June 7, 2013 by proton007

[fabrimedeiros]

You're absolutely right! I know many people who think they can damage the pen if they wash with water.

[BrandonA]

you are so right. I had someone say to me that the Mont Blanc he bought was a total waste of money because it ran out of ink in a matter of a couple of weeks. Little did he know that he had to refill the ink reservoir each time. He thought it would last as long as his cheap ball point. I had to roll my eyes.

 

I hate to be rude but I can't believe many intelligent people think this. You might not know the precise filling mechanism of a pen when you buy it but surely most people with an average IQ know they can be refilled and would have the savvy to read the manual to determine exactly how to fill it? There aren't that many variables to a pen. I'd have thought that most people who are ignorant of fountain pens would assume they were dip pens rather than disposable - especially when you are paying Montblanc money as they'd never shift any pens if they were disposable.

 

I can't comment on the documentation that comes with brands other than Parker and Montblanc as these are the only pens I've bought. These pens have clear instructions.

 

I think the issue with fountain pen popularity is not people's inability to read provided instructions (or find them on the internet), it is the fact that whenever you go to a conference, stay in a hotel you are given free pens. Stationary cupboards at work are full of free pens. Most people are content to use these and have no need for a fountain pen. Add to the fact that computers/phones/tables are used for communications and you can now get excellent task management tools to manage lists a lot of people don't even need to use a pen.

 

A lot of the pens people buy are cheap and come in sealed packages, shops cannot afford to have staff showing people how to hold a pen or fill it when they need to sell in bulk. If you go into a Montblanc boutique though it is the complete opposite. Even though my local boutique knows me and knows that I know my stuff they still sit me down, let me look at the pens and then explain them to me. They also answer any questions you have and ultimately you are able to make an purchase knowing all the relevant information.

 

When I buy a new car, I can't hold the salesmen responsible for the way I drive it, he can give me the basics but I have to work out the best position for the seats and mirrors - similarly trial and error lets you determine the best way to hold a pen to make it work best for you.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Many people are taught to hold a ball point...just like a pencil. Fountain pens don't work well held like pencil. So one grip, is wrong if held like a pencil or BP.

That is why I often ask if the fountain pen is being held like a BP, when some one complains about it skipping and being scratchy.

 

But, you wouldn't want to scare off BP/RB users by putting complicated, un-natural holding a fountain pen behind the big knuckle of the index finger. They might not have the coordination or the three minutes to waste, learning how.

 

That is why they went over to the big fat blobby nibs that resemble the old 'kugle/ball' nibs that were made for them who held a fountain pen like a pencil...there were some...even then before 1960 in Germany.

 

 

Printing costly instructions subtracts from the bonus...and mostly fountain pens are very tiny companies of the conglomerate. The big picture guys...see only simple things, and don't have the time to listen to the small picture.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Bo Bo Olson