Norcom Composition Books - Made In The Usa?

July 17, 2017

Well, it's "Back-to-School" time at Wal-Mart, if not in the real world. And I've already been to my local store to check out the goodies.

Why so early? I'm an English professor who keeps a stash of cheap little staplers to give to my students so they can staple their damn papers. And since I discovered that my Wal-Mart only gets a very limited number of the 97-cent staplers, I'm always there by mid-July. I also stock up on composition notebooks (both to give away and to use myself), especially since they remain a bargain at only 50 cents for a 100-sheet notebook.

This year, I noticed that almost all of the Norcom composition books are prominently marked "Made in the USA." I saw a few from Vietnam and a few from Colombia, but none from Brazil, which is -- as many have noted -- the best for fountain pens.

I don't know if this is a permanent or widespread change, but if you were planning to get some cheap notebooks during "back to school," you may want to check this out sooner rather than later. And while we're on the topic, has anyone seen the "Made in Brazil" Norcom notebooks lately?

BTW: I just compared the paper in a Colombian notebook with that in a Brazilian, and while the Brazilian paper is a brighter white, the Colombian paper does not seem to feather or bleed-through.

July 17, 2017

I was there last week. I looked for "Made in Brazil" Composition books. Found none. I still have a couple dozen from previous years. I bought a few Made in USA" book, just to give value to the trip. I haven't tried any, yet. I find that I never writing on the back of pages, anyway.

July 17, 2017

I've got one of the Made in Colombia ones - it's great.

July 18, 2017

I tried the made in Brazil Norcom comp books several years ago, and was very disappointed.

The paper quality was inconsistent; some pages were decent, others were BAD. This inconsistency in the paper quality was really frustrating. I used one, and gave the rest to my nephew for his kids to draw on.

Staples has single subject, wire bound, notebooks, made in BRAZIL. Country of origin is critical.

They used to be 17 CENTS each, I think this year the price went up to 25 CENTS each.

The first year I bought 30. Last year I bought only 10, because that was all the Brazil notebooks they had.

August 14, 2017

Some Norcom "Made in Brazil" composition notebooks were available at my local Wal-Mart today for 50 cents each. Most, however, were either made in Colombia or USA.