I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/10/2023 at 3:00 PM, lascosas said:

Unfortunately, I do not use it much because you can't add a pen

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Wouldn't a LAMY cp1, or Traveler's Company brass fountain pen, etc. fit inside the pen loop? https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2019/2/22/midori-md-goat-leather-notebook-cover-a5-a-review shows a Caran d'Ache ballpoint pen inside the pen loop with (a tiny bit of) room to spare without stretching the leather (on a still-new cover).

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/4/2023 at 9:19 AM, Misfit said:

I think I’ll wait on the yellow to decide. 

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Good news and bad news: I gave some product feedback to the seller, and was told they've already implemented one of my ideas, as well as another change in the construction, in a “new version”; and some of the colours, including the yellow one (which they call Fresh Orange, so I wonder how the colour actually looks in person), upon being restocked will be of the new version. But the prices are going up (or have gone up), irrespective of colour and version I think, because Amazon raised the Marketplace seller's fees.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill Thank you for the update. It’s nice for a company to listen to a customer, and then implement your ideas.  I hope that made you feel good. I’m impressed. 

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/12/2023 at 5:05 AM, Misfit said:

It’s nice for a company to listen to a customer, and then implement your ideas.

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Actually, it was more a case of, “Oh, thanks for your feedback, we already thought about the issue and made changes earlier, so the new batches will have what you suggested. We did this other thing to the design, too; what do you think of that?”

 

They're sending me the new version product before Amazon Australia gets stock, so that I can have it in time to bring to the Pelikan Hub. No, it's not a freebie, and I actually had to pay the new item price in full to buy it for myself. But they're not charging me shipping to send it to me now directly from China. I told them I won't be reviewing the product (and I already have one unit I am using and enjoy using, enough to be buying as gifts for friends) online if a new version is coming, which may invalidate my observations and comments based on the old version.

[A Smug Dill]

  On 7/13/2023 at 11:44 AM, Gloucesterman said:

I have to admit that your previous posting of the latest purchases did have me wondering why anyone would make all of those purchases.

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Well, that. played. out. badly.

[lascosas]

A Smug Dill-

I'm away from home for another month so will need to wait until then to check for the pen loop.  I certainly never noticed one.

[Penguincollector]

Well, now I am waiting on some Clairfontaine 50gsm Smart Print paper. I’m hoping it doesn’t feather; I don’t mind using only one side of the page but feathering drives me mad.  The description said it’s comparable to 80gsm so we will see.

[USG]

  On 8/15/2023 at 3:21 AM, Penguincollector said:

Well, now I am waiting on some Clairfontaine 50gsm Smart Print paper. I’m hoping it doesn’t feather; I don’t mind using only one side of the page but feathering drives me mad.  The description said it’s comparable to 80gsm so we will see.

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I know what you mean.  Feathering is really annoying.  I have a batch of interim 68gsm Tomoe River paper that feathers.  I suspect it was made on machine #9, after the switch from machine #7. 🤷‍♂️

[Penguincollector]

 @USG I think I lucked out and missed the machine #9 window. I have old old and current. 

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/3/2023 at 5:52 AM, Misfit said:

I might choose to wait for Mint Green.

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  On 8/4/2023 at 9:19 AM, Misfit said:

I think I’ll wait on the yellow to decide. 

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All colours are available now, when I checked on Amazon.com a minute ago, for the same price. I can't tell which colours are of the old product design and which one the new version. I also cannot give a first-hand assessment of any differences; my parcel is supposed to have been out for delivery more than 48 hours ago, but it still haven't been received, and there has been no more electronic updates to the tracking information.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill thank you for the update. I have a yellow one in my cart, while I think about if I really need it. 

[lascosas]

Okay,

This definitely qualifies for a Sad Pathetic Stationery (and related item) Junky award.  Waiting for the plumber, who still hasn't arrived [!] I stumbled upon Minky's Stationery Store on Aliexpress.  It is one of the stores participating in the current sale.  I bought the below for $108.82 plus $4,37 postage.  USD.  This included a $20 discount.

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/22/2023 at 7:22 PM, lascosas said:

I bought the below for $108.82 plus $4,37 postage.  USD.  This included a $20 discount.

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Ha, nice! I just spent a whole lot ordering on AliExpress not 12 hours ago as well, to trigger the stacking of US$18 (per US$90 spent on eligible items) and US$8 (one-off coupon from AliExpress that took US$80 actual spend to activate) with a single cart. Mostly pens and nibs, though, with the exception of two sets of alphanumeric metal stamps for debossing leather.

[Misfit]

I received two notebooks in the mail from Target, plus got my Field Notes subscription. 

[ParramattaPaul]

I have a stationary confession to make. While I have heaps of A4 and A5 notebooks to use while I'm doing research or need to otherwise note take, I have a habit of turning over whatever piece of paper that happens to be in reach and use that. The result is anything from the back of an envelope to downloaded material with neatly written notes paperclipped together or stuffed in books cluttering my desk until the project or what ever is completed. 

 

Does anyone else do this or am I uniquely 'mental'?

[Gloucesterman]

  On 8/24/2023 at 6:29 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

I have a stationary confession to make. While I have heaps of A4 and A5 notebooks to use while I'm doing research or need to otherwise note take, I have a habit of turning over whatever piece of paper that happens to be in reach and use that. The result is anything from the back of an envelope to downloaded material with neatly written notes paperclipped together or stuffed in books cluttering my desk until the project or what ever is completed. 

 

Does anyone else do this or am I uniquely 'mental'?

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Of course you are unique, just like everyone else! Oscar Wilde said something similar.

And yes, my actions and those of many others, I suspect, are the same.

[USG]

  On 8/24/2023 at 6:29 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

I have a stationary confession to make. While I have heaps of A4 and A5 notebooks to use while I'm doing research or need to otherwise note take, I have a habit of turning over whatever piece of paper that happens to be in reach and use that. The result is anything from the back of an envelope to downloaded material with neatly written notes paperclipped together or stuffed in books cluttering my desk until the project or what ever is completed. 

 

Does anyone else do this or am I uniquely 'mental'?

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Haha, count me in too.  👍✍🏻

[A Smug Dill]

These arrived yesterday, being the contents of nominally three separate Taobao orders all placed within 24 hours of each other. This has been a pretty bad month for me in so many ways, with the past week being especially stressful, and I just didn't have the energy or appetite yesterday to tackle the unboxing (which I did record on video), when I saw what bad shape the shipping boxes were in, after waiting nearly six weeks for these to arrive, during which the tracking info was mostly useless and sometimes a fortnight out of date.

 

That's almost everything, bar a few clear plastic book covers/sleeves:

 

Surprisingly, the contents are in much better condition than some of the Kinbor products I ordered and received (much sooner) from an AliExpress seller, who packaged the lot very very well on the outside and the boxes arrived in better shape than most parcels I receive, even from Amazon locally.

 

Many of these are going straight into the Christmas gift pile, so as to make that time of the year less of a headache.

 

Edited to add:

 

  On 7/13/2023 at 11:44 AM, Gloucesterman said:

My question transitioned to a simple wish that you were able to really enjoy whatever you purchased.

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  On 7/13/2023 at 6:20 PM, lascosas said:

A Smug Dill...

I followed you over to the Kinbor seller,

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  On 7/13/2023 at 10:49 PM, Penguincollector said:

I will take a look and see if AliExpress has it.

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I never want to deal with that AliExpress seller again. Not only was the effective aggregate price double what it would have cost me — including tax and non-nil “official” Taobao shipping charges (i.e. not up to the individual seller to discount or waive) — to order the same items on Taobao, but three out of five Kinbor planner+cover sets had defects. One was quite obviously (either a rejected and returned, or) a factory seconds item — but not offered to me as such or priced accordingly, instead sold as brand new — and two others, although brand new and unopened, had nicks, cracks, and disintegration (as in having physically flaked off) on the leatherette on the corner of the cover interior that could be clearly seen (and also photographed, thankfully) from outside the clear Kinbor plastic packinging around them without breaking the factory seal.

 

The seller put up a quite a bit of a fight against my requests to return the items for refund (even though I was upfront about being prepared to pay for shipping of the items back to AliExpress's Australian agent for return handling), and claimed to have inspected the goods before dispatching them, etc. and — (luckily?) because I was already quite wary by then, and captured all the unboxing on video, took damning photos of each product before and after taking them out of the clear packaging, and so on which took a lot of time and planning on my part — that only helped sink his/her defence in AliExpress's dispute resolution process. I ended up getting two defective items fully refunded, and a 30% refund on the third one, without sending them back at the seller's expense; so I guess that almost halved the magnitude cost-wise of my regrettable purchasing decision. But it took me hours of work and fighting back, stretched out over a week.

 

That customer experience is not something I wish on anyone else.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by A Smug Dill

[inkstainedruth]

  On 8/24/2023 at 6:29 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

I have a stationary confession to make. While I have heaps of A4 and A5 notebooks to use while I'm doing research or need to otherwise note take, I have a habit of turning over whatever piece of paper that happens to be in reach and use that. The result is anything from the back of an envelope to downloaded material with neatly written notes paperclipped together or stuffed in books cluttering my desk until the project or what ever is completed. 

 

Does anyone else do this or am I uniquely 'mental'?

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For stuff like to do and shopping lists, I use whatever is handy -- to the point where I save not only envelopes to write on the back of sometimes, but also random ads that come in the mail with the weekly grocery store flyers, if it looks like there's space to write (for some reason we've gotten a lot recently from some company that makes metal roofs, and the back of the sheets are (other than the company logo and some small print legalese, is perfectly fine for stuff like grocery lists (and then goes into the back to be taken to recycling when its purpose is done).

So, while you may be "mental"?  You are not "uniquely 'mental'...."  Other than the "uniquely 'mental'" of using fountain pens in the 21st Century, of course.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

Now, after more than one Amazon customer service agent decided to play hardball with me and wasting hours of my time in the past fortnight, surprisingly I ended up with two “free” — as in fully refunded — six-hole punches for JIS standard for loose leaf sheets. It would be a lot nicer if they just did the reasonable thing upfront, that ultimately the product return system's business rules decided to do, instead of wasting my time and causing me all that aggro.