Giveaway: Pilot Iroshizuku Ink Sampler Sets

[Dmact]

I would love to be included. Especially for set #1 but happy to receive any of these generious sets. Thanks for such an awesome pif!

[Jebus]

What a coincidence PI03 contains four inks that are on my list to "explore". So I would love to be considered for that set.

 

Great PIF btw, thanks for offering.

[Misfit]

I’d like to enter for set Pl01. Thank you so much for this opportunity including worldwide. Very generous of you.

[Al-Nasser]

That is very generous of you, please include me as well.

 

Preference: 1-2-3 respectively.

[A Smug Dill]

I guess there is no such thing as truly random, other than my wife's sudden insistence this morning that, being her day off, she's going to "help" me with my tasks for the day (without knowing what I have on my list). That turned out to mean I had to write entrants' names on identically sized slips of paper, and dig up literally an old hat from the closet, so she could have the fun of drawing names out of a hat to decide who gets the ink sampler sets. Anyway...

Dmact, Misfit and Jebus, your names came up first. (I cleanly separated the slips of paper to fold each one, and then blindly tossed them around in the hat, but I do note that your names are all on the much shorter second page of posts in this thread.) A reserve list of names has also been drawn, just in case.

On account of Misfit and Jebus each expressed interest in a single set, I've decided:

• Set PI01 goes to Misfit
• Set PI02 goes to Dmact
• Set PI03 goes to Jebus

Please let me know your names and postal addresses by PM asap.

[melissa59]

I guess there is no such thing as truly random, other than my wife's sudden insistence this morning that, being her day off, she's going to "help" me with my tasks for the day (without knowing what I have on my list). That turned out to mean I had to write entrants' names on identically sized slips of paper, and dig up literally an old hat from the closet, so she could have the fun of drawing names out of a hat to decide who gets the ink sampler sets. Anyway...

 

Dmact, Misfit and Jebus, your names came up first.

First, I want to offer congratulations to Dmact, Misfit and Jebus!

 

Second, I want to say to A Smug Dill how cute it is that he wrote the names and put them in a real hat. And how even cuter it is that he had his wife draw the names.

There could have been worse things on your to-do list that you asked her to do instead.

[Jebus]

Ohw great! Thank you very much! PM sent. Looking forward to it...

 

Nice to read you two had such a joy drawing the names.

[Misfit]

Thank you so much.

[A Smug Dill]

Jebus and Misfit, your ink sampler sets — each including a 0.5ml plastic pipette, and a 1ml syringe with a short plastic blunt tip 'needle' attachment, in case you need them for transferring the ink into an empty cartridge or barrel of a pen — have been lodged at the post office today, to hopefully avoid any delays due the New Years Eve short working day and New Years Day public holiday next week.

 

(I have to lodge all international postal articles that require a CN22 Customs Declaration, including 'letters' than contain anything other than paper, in person. It's great that my local post office is open on Saturdays, albeit only for half the day, even at this time of the year when most non-retail business is quiet and operationally winding down.)

 

I hope your packages will arrive within a fortnight!

[Misfit]

Thank you very much for the update. Your generosity is obvious.

If you want, I’ll let you know when the package arrives.

 

I might save yu yake for Autumn. Long wait....

[A Smug Dill]

Thank you very much for the update. Your generosity is obvious.

If you want, I’ll let you know when the package arrives.

Yes, please, because I just had a little bit of a rude surprise at the post office this morning, when I went to lodge another North America-bound ink sampler set.

 

This time, I was served by a different staff member, and she said the (domestic) postage stamps I put on the package were insufficient because it didn't account for 10% tax (A$0.32) that needs to be added for international post. What? I explicitly asked the lady at the counter to check the stamps on the packages I lodged on Saturday morning, and she said it looked OK and accepted them for lodgement.

 

Get this: the Postmaster came out and explained that, if I used domestic postage stamps to send international letters, I'll have to pay 10% more to cover GST; and counter-intuitively, if I used (so-marked) international postage stamps (issued and sold by Australia Post, of course) to send domestic letters, I'll also have to pay 10% more to cover GST. So, for maximum flexibility, the "best" solution is simply not to buy stamps in advance, but queue up and lodge each article at a post office, and get postage charges assessed on the spot. How inefficient for everyone involved is that?

 

Anyway, I hope there is no issue with the package reaching you. If you don't receive the package in three weeks, let me know and I'll make up a new ink sampler set to send to you.

Edited December 30, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[tamiya]

And how even cuter it is that he had his wife draw the names.

There could have been worse things on your to-do list that you asked her to do instead.

Umm... He's a fresh honeymooner

[tamiya]

This time, I was served by a different staff member, and she said the domestic postage stamps I put on the package was insufficient because it didn't account for 10% tax (A$0.32) that needs to be added for international post. What?

Yup. Welcome to Ozzie bureaucracy.

 

If you buy stamps marked "International Post" they are exGST. Local postage gets hit with GST.

 

Hence their logic if you insist on using non-InternationalPost stamps for airmail you need to add 10% more.

 

I annoy them further by using combinations of both stamps... so only add 10% to the non-IP total. Which is only right as I want to use up interesting vintage stamps to send to family & friends in Asia (and often they get stolen by dodgy postal staff... but somehow the halfripped envelope still arrives ok.)

 

AP prints IP stamps for their first tier of each airmail region rate. But each time AP increases Airmail rates, they don't usually sell small denomination IP stamps to up the value to the new rate. Or if you send heavier letters, sometimes the second tier is 2X, sometimes it's not exactly... so how do they expect ppl to lick stamps for those prices... if they don't have an old stamp hoard to fish from.

[A Smug Dill]

AP prints IP stamps for their first tier of each airmail region rate. But each time AP increases Airmail rates, they don't usually sell small denomination IP stamps to up the value to the new rate. Or if you send heavier letters, sometimes the second tier is 2X, sometimes it's not exactly... so how do they expect ppl to lick stamps for those prices... if they don't have an old stamp hoard to fish from.

My wife and I found some "books" of old 45¢–70¢ stamps, and since we almost never send anything by domestic regular letter post these days (but legal documents get sent by registered mail and/or Express Post) — wedding invitations and thank-you cards in the past few months being the rare exception, but for those we bought and used special matrimony-themed stamps — I just thought this is a good opportunity to use the old stamps up.

 

Given I have to lodge each international-bound item over the counter during business hours anyway, necessitated by the requirement of a CN22 Customs Declaration form to accompany any non-paper contents, there is just no point in buying (International Post or other) stamps ahead of actual need or each instance of sending something.

 

No, I'm not going to do another Aussie-only giveaway just to use up the old stamps!

 

p.s. Australia Post will be putting up domestic letter post charges again come January 2020.

Edited December 30, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[tamiya]

Got AP stamps going back to 22c :'( most of which I remember personally buying

 

Australia Post will be putting up domestic letter post charges again come January 2020.

Yup, tell me about it $1.10/2.20.3.30/5.50 come this Thursday

 

However MOST ANNOYING bureaucracy they've managed to invent are those Localmail Priority stickers!! Extra 50c to get my letter there 2-3d faster, umm ok. "Oh no sir, you cannot just add 50c in stamps. You must only buy this special sticker..." WTH? "...and it's sold in booklet of 5 for $2.50" %#€@!!!

 

Still got 4 unused. Added to stamp hoard.

 

 

At least once your parcel gets accepted into the system, doesn't sound like anyone else is going to check total postage. Especially foreign addresses, the other side couldn't care one bit what you've paid - they're never going to bother chasing for insufficient postage.

[Dmact]

Sorry for being late to the party, work+life =NoFPN×Time.

Thanks again for the generosity, if its not too late, message sent, if you've already subbed an alternate then no problem.

And either way... congrats winners!

[Misfit]

I sent a PM on this. Package arrived today in great shape. Than you so very much.

[A Smug Dill]

@Misfit, thank you for letting me know! I hope you enjoy the ink samples.

[Misfit]

I know I will enjoy them @A Smug Dill. It might take time because I have let the number of pens filled get out of hand.

[Jebus]

Jebus and Misfit, your ink sampler sets — each including a 0.5ml plastic pipette, and a 1ml syringe with a short plastic blunt tip 'needle' attachment, in case you need them for transferring the ink into an empty cartridge or barrel of a pen — have been lodged at the post office today, to hopefully avoid any delays due the New Years Eve short working day and New Years Day public holiday next week.

 

(I have to lodge all international postal articles that require a CN22 Customs Declaration, including 'letters' than contain anything other than paper, in person. It's great that my local post office is open on Saturdays, albeit only for half the day, even at this time of the year when most non-retail business is quiet and operationally winding down.)

 

I hope your packages will arrive within a fortnight!

 

Today I have received the package in perfect condition. Thank you very much for your generousity and for all the effort!