A Blue Lamy 2000 Coming

[Calabria]

Yum

[Newjelan]

350 Euros. (Not sure why but my Euro symbol disappeared!)

 

https://www.lamy.com/en/lamy-2000-blue-bauhaus/

Oh my, it’s stunning, and although it’s expensive, I love the 2000 and this one is so beautiful.

[Lilla-My]

I was told that they’re all EF nibs because of the Asian market; I guess Lamy want to avoid what happened with the black amber one (sometimes hard to sell).

I think it’s quite strange to acknowledge the importance of the Asian market this way and at the same time not being able to produce a XF nib on any model.

[amk]

I can see why blue-black (very much in the L2K 'subdued' palette but different enough to make a special edition), but that limits the interest for me. I'd have had more difficulty refusing a bright blue, even at the high price, but the blue-black is too similar to the existing black Lamy for me to pay that much. I have a nearly complete set of L2k regular edition and unless that red one ever comes on the market, I think I will just keep things the way they are.

[Glenn-SC]

I will be very interested in seeing the actual color of the pen when it appears.
A blue-black pen will be of no interest to me, neither would a powder-blue one.

A reissue of the red color would interest me, but I would not be interested in a dark red (e.g. red-black) or a pink version.

 

If, and that is just a supposition, the color doesn't sell well, it would be interesting to see Lamy credit this to "Buyers won't buy a non-black 2000." or "We picked the wrong color for the non-black 2000."

[Kugelschreiber]

The Goulets have it listed now. $499 and you have to enter a lottery to perhaps purchase one.

[Honeybadgers]

It's five hundred (bleep) dollars and they're artificially limiting the quantity just to increase scarcity.

 

Screw you Lamy. That's just outright disrespectful, at least the stainless steel model had custom tooling costs. This one is just the same plastic, only blue.

 

Stupid moon logic we can always expect from Lamy. They'd sell a LOT of blue ones at the same MSRP as black and it'd make them a lot more money than nearly tripling the standard price and only giving each retailer 3.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[LuckyKate]

The Goulets have it listed now. $499 and you have to enter a lottery to perhaps purchase one.

This is the first pen I've really wanted in ages. But I gave up hope when I saw the lottery and the price.

[Glenn-SC]

Stupid moon logic ...

 

?

[Honeybadgers]

 

?

 

That's the exact response to what I mean

 

Lamy is run by a bunch of barking lunatics. It's such a shame, because their products could be incredible. But they just seem to be allergic to good marketing decisions.

 

"I KNOW LET'S MAKE A POKEMON THEMED LAMY SAFARI. LET'S PUT IT IN AN AWESOME CASE, INCLUDE A BUNCH OF COOL LITTLE CHARMS, A COOL STAND, AND A COOL PEN POUCH. AND THEN LET'S ONLY SELL IT IN EXTREMELY LIMITED QUANTITIES AND ONLY IN ASIA."

 

All the tooling that went into making that lamy special pikachu edition and they didn't see a dime from the western markets. It was a no-brainer smash hit, people are scalping them for 2-3 times MSRP here in the US. If they were only $70, and sold in the USA, I'd have bought two, kept one mint and used the other. I love the little pokeball safari stand that can rock around but stays upright. The pikachu charms are adorable. the pen pouch is really nice. I even would use a safari with a pikachu tail on it.

 

But I had to pay $100 and was only able to get ONE via gray market. So that one is never going to get used.

 

And god forbid lamy just make enough dark lilac or petrol ink to last an entire year, like pelikan does with its IOTY. Yes, scarcity can have its place, but for mass market consumer grade items like basic bottles of ink or a simple recolor of a pen with no other changes (like I said before, at least the stainless 2000 had to have some seriously custom tooling to produce and the market niche was reduced since it's a premium pen that costs more to make and only some people will be really interested in) you're just shooting yourself in the foot by not providing enough product to meet market demand and charging reasonable prices. I'd have bought a blue one at MSRP in a damn heartbeat, and I'm sure a lot of people here would too. Just offer that color at MSRP for an entire year and keep the supply up. You've got the scarcity (It's only gonna be here this year) and you can do a new color every 1-5 years, but you'll sell a ton and make a ton of money.

 

As it is, $400 for a blue plastic lamy 2000 is literally an insult to my intelligence, a corporation just trying to see what it can get away with.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Glenn-SC]

 

..., a corporation just trying to see what it can get away with.

 

Ah, I would say that this is true of every "for profit" company out there, with each strategizing how that occurs, maybe on an individual item, maybe on a series of items.

 

My guess is that the Blue 2000s will all sell pretty quickly.

[da vinci]

If I could get a Pokeman Safari for $100 I would probably buy it they seem to be advertised for sale at higher prices now?

 

I like the idea of a Blue 2K. I have pre-ordered.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Ah, I would say that this is true of every "for profit" company out there, with each strategizing how that occurs, maybe on an individual item, maybe on a series of items.

 

My guess is that the Blue 2000s will all sell pretty quickly.

 

Disagree with the first, agree with the second. Just because some people are willing to be taken advantage of, doesn't make it right.

 

Goulet has sunk at least $100-200 in loss keeping me happy as a customer. I've since repaid that several times over. Jetpens, on the other hand, banned me from ever returning a pilot product just because I returned a VP stub nib that was obviously suffering from SEVERE, irreparable baby's bottom.

 

Not every business is out to screw its customers as much as possible. but for those that are, it's just on us, the consumers, to tell them what is and isn't appropriate. And unfortunately, with things as global as they are these days, gigantic corporations just don't give a (bleep) about people because they have no perspective anymore.

Edited August 17, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Glenn-SC]

That is my point, Goulet and Jetpens both achieved their goals of making (or not losing) money, but with different strategies.

Goulet with an investment and Jetpens by limiting their exposure to loss.

Both strategies eventually worked, Goulet's more successfully because "you're repaid them several times over."

But if you hadn't "repaid" Goulet they would have had to reach the same conclusion as Jetpens.
Goulet would not go bankrupt just to keep an individual customer happy.

 

Should Lamy make 25% profit on lots of "Blue" 2000s by selling at the same price as "Black" 2000s or 300% profit on a few "Blue" 2000s by selling them at a much higher price?
I guess that depends on how many "Blue" 2000s they expect to sell and the perceived value for their LE that they see in the resale market.

 

We can all choose not to play if we don't like their plan.

[LuckyKate]

 

 

I like the idea of a Blue 2K. I have pre-ordered.

 

If you don't mind sharing, where were you able to pre-order? Thanks!

[Lilla-My]

The price is too high for sure, but when I imagine the amount of time they spent on choosing the right blue, I can guess it’s reflected in the price. The problem is they’re not enough units being made – I guess the price is being fixed primarily in relation to the production volume and the time spent for getting blue. And each version has to be profitable.

But why so few units? I presume it’s because they’re not confident enough, not only on this specific version, but on any new version, and even more so when it’s a limited edition.

Because the worst that can happen with a limited edition is when it doesn’t sell well; they apparently made this mistake just 3 years ago with the 50^th anniversary version.

 

I’m under the impression that most people prefer a light fountain pen, but here’s the funny thing: in 2016, they made 5,000 hefty fountain pens, and now, just 1,919 pieces, and yet they have the best weight.

Lamy is pretty conservative with its 2000 model, but is maybe even more reluctant to overproduce. Seeing big boxes collect dust at retailers is something Lamy wants to avoid.

 

I also guess they see the Western market as being more conservative with the Lamy 2000 than what it really is. That would explain why they made 1,919 units with EF nibs not to miss an opportunity on the Asian market.

 

Of course, we don’t have sell numbers for the 2000 model, but I’m pretty sure they underestimate the appeal of new colours for this model. They’re very cautious; unfortunately, easily selling 1,919 units won’t suffice for them to realize the potential. They perhaps think they got the sweet spot, but I think it’s a very pessimistic sweet spot.

That’ll also explain why it’s a limited edition and not a special edition (potentially unlimited production for one year), as a limited edition create an artificial urgency and gives less time to consider a purchase.

 

I’m rambling: I have probably absolutely no idea what’s going on.

[dapprman]

But why so few units? I presume it’s because they’re not confident enough, not only on this specific version, but on any new version, and even more so when it’s a limited edition.

The number of units is highly significant since the pen is to celebrate the Bauhaus design philosophy, which came in to being in 1919.

[Lilla-My]

The number of units is highly significant since the pen is to celebrate the Bauhaus design philosophy, which came in to being in 1919.

A price tag of 100 Euros would have been a lot more significant, haha.

Indeed, 1,919 is a symbolic number, but is it symbolic enough to dictate the scale?

The Lamy 2000 Black Amber had a lot more than 1,966 units – because year 1966 – , they had 5,000 units (50^th×100 units, I don’t know if it’s a coincidence).

I think they roughly wanted 2,000 units and then removed 81 units just to make a reference.

I don’t think Lamy refrained from making a couple thousand more units only to make this reference, it seems absurd.

On the other hand, it’s true that Pilot makes roughly 2,000 pieces (2017, 2018, 2019…) for their limited edition of Vanishing Point, but they do this every year; I suppose this number of units is close to the sweet spot.

A few thousand limited pieces from time to time is below what Lamy can achieve, IMHO; the price they’re selling them clearly shows that they’re after some money.

[Honeybadgers]

That is my point, Goulet and Jetpens both achieved their goals of making (or not losing) money, but with different strategies.

Goulet with an investment and Jetpens by limiting their exposure to loss.

Both strategies eventually worked, Goulet's more successfully because "you're repaid them several times over."

But if you hadn't "repaid" Goulet they would have had to reach the same conclusion as Jetpens.

Goulet would not go bankrupt just to keep an individual customer happy.

 

Should Lamy make 25% profit on lots of "Blue" 2000s by selling at the same price as "Black" 2000s or 300% profit on a few "Blue" 2000s by selling them at a much higher price?

I guess that depends on how many "Blue" 2000s they expect to sell and the perceived value for their LE that they see in the resale market.

 

We can all choose not to play if we don't like their plan.

 

You're not wrong, but I am just never, ever going to play the stupid capitalism game of "caveat emptor" because this is not the 1860's anymore.

 

If your business model isn't built around the intrinsic costs of good customer service (not everyone is like me and has a problem with their visconti that Coles won't fix - most of their little costs of good customer service are in the $10-40 range.) then your business doesn't deserve to exist.

 

Another example - Shark motorcycle helmets. Fantastic customer service. I had a problem with a helmet, they sent me a replacement part. It didn't work, they sent me the brand new model, and only asked that I send them a picture of the old helmet with the chinstrap cut out after I got the new one. No fuss, no difficulties, no "well, we haven't had many reports of this issue, so we're going to just never let you buy another shark helmet again unless you agree you can never return it, no matter the reason." I now only buy Shark helmets.

 

And another, Sapphire video cards. My graphics card died. It supposedly had a lifetime warranty. I called them up, turns out I didn't read the instructions and register it, so it only had the 5 year (still a long warranty on electronics) warranty and it had just expired a few months prior. Guy just flat out said "dude we are not going to leave you high and dry on this. Let's send you a new card." And they sent me a new model. I'm a customer for life.

 

So, like I said, just because Jetpens did a thing that is an option, it's also not technically against the rules to go hide all your money in offshore tax havens. But that still means I don't think you deserve to be in business. And it wasn't an immediate "sorry, we couldn't see the problem you're describing even though you included a full page of handwritten test with the faulty stub, circling the dozens of skips and hard starts and another page-long sample with a good pilot stub showing no issues, as well as pictures with a digital microscope showing the baby's bottom that was eating 3/4 of the way up the slit, so we're just going to not let you buy pilot again" they went out of their way to say nothing and just quietly flag my account so that, months later, when I try to just toss a $12 kakuno into my $90 order of miscellaneous other things I need, I get told THEN that I can never return a pilot product. All this over a VP Stub unit that was worth all of probably $35 in profit to them. It's not like I was demanding to return a namiki emperor (which, yeah, I'd totally understand their reticence after that.)

 

What Lamy is doing is what Nintendo always does. Artificially create scarcity to trick people into buying their product at an absurd price. Nintendo does this all the time, the SNES classic, their stupid Amiibo's, they make just about 25-50% fewer than the demand is there for, and that just makes people go crazy. It's underhanded and deceitful. Beanie babies did the same thing. If lamy wanted to make a super special edition that earned an eye-watering price tag, why not follow what Platinum did and make a lamy 2000 out of sterling silver and charge $3000 for it. This costs them nothing extra to make. Just some blue makrolon instead of black.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[da vinci]

 

If you don't mind sharing, where were you able to pre-order? Thanks!

Sure. A shop called Pen and Paper in the U.K.