Pelikan is in Trouble

[sargetalon]

For anyone interested, I posted a follow up to my initial article linked in the first post of this thread, 

 

https://wp.me/p4XMw3-3hE

[Uncial]

Lamy should not buy Pelikan. Every last new colour in a special edition would suddenly cost four times as much. No, just, no!

[Karmachanic]

  On 7/13/2021 at 12:09 PM, Uncial said:

Lamy should not buy Pelikan

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And then there's Richemont ....

[como]

I also don’t think Pelikan is a suitable acquisition target for Montblanc. Montblanc’s parent company, Swiss luxury goods conglomerate Richemont, has a portfolio of luxury watch, jewelry, clothing companies. Pelikan is not the right fit.

[Karmachanic]

  On 7/13/2021 at 1:20 PM, como said:

Pelikan is not the right fit.

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  With the right propaganda, it too could become edel.  Just a matter of perception management.

[como]

  On 7/13/2021 at 1:52 PM, Karmachanic said:

 

  With the right propaganda, it too could become edel.  Just a matter of perception management.

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Calling Pelikan resin “Edelharz” would be a devastating lose-lose strategy: It would lose both Montblanc and Pelikan client base instantly and simultaneously 😀!

[a m a r g o]

  On 7/12/2021 at 7:58 PM, sgphototn said:

I'm curious.  Can you describe the Pelikan relationship with Mexico? That would be interesting.

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They had a considerable size manufacturing and distributing plant for all their school and office supplies for the Latin American market. They eventually mimic another operational centre in Brazil and both were responsible for the market in their geographical vecinity. They have since long reduced their manufacturing capabilities but still conserve nowadays their distribution center.

 

I remember only using products from Mexican companies and Pelikan throughout my entire childhood, way long before we could see anything from Rotring, Staedtler, Faber-Castell, Pilot, Tombow, etc, on the shelfs of every stationary or department store. You could always found certain products from other brands, but they were things destined for specific activities or professions, for example technical drawing, and quite expensive. It wasn't until globalization began to be palpable every day that you could acquire almost anything from all the global brands...

[Karmachanic]

  On 7/13/2021 at 3:29 PM, como said:

Calling Pelikan resin “Edelharz” would be a devastating lose-lose strategy: It would lose both Montblanc and Pelikan client base instantly and simultaneously 😀!

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Calling Pelikan resin “Edelharz” and raising Pelikan to the status of edel are two different things.  I was suggesting the latter.  Furthermore, I suggested Richemont, not Montblanc.

[sgphototn]

  On 7/13/2021 at 4:36 PM, Karmachanic said:

Furthermore, I suggested Richemont, not Montblanc.

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Precious resin by any other name is still precious resin.😀

[sgphototn]

  On 7/13/2021 at 4:31 PM, a m a r g o said:

 

.

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  On 7/13/2021 at 4:31 PM, a m a r g o said:

 

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  On 7/13/2021 at 4:31 PM, a m a r g o said:

They had a considerable size manufacturing and distributing plant for all their school and office supplies for the Latin American market.

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Frankly, I always associated Mexico and Germany to the Zimmermann telegram. I do remember that Maximillian 1st brought Germans to Mexico and that Germany and Mexico today are big trading partners.

 

Thanks for the information.

[BayesianPrior]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:26 PM, sgphototn said:

Precious resin by any other name is still precious resin.😀

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With apologies to Gertrude Stein...

 

Edelharz Edelharz Edelharz ist ist.

[sgphototn]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:36 PM, BayesianPrior said:

With apologies to Gertrude Stein...

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With Gertrude long gone my apology would fall on dead ears.😀

[Karmachanic]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:26 PM, sgphototn said:

Precious resin by any other name is still precious resin.

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If you care to translate the word 'edel' you will find no reference to resin.

[sgphototn]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:48 PM, Karmachanic said:

If you care to translate the word 'edel' you will find no reference to resin.

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Sorry you missed the point.😀

[TgeekB]

OK, I’m lost now!

 

Its a shame to see Pelikan in this situation. I hope for their sake and ours the end result brings something positive. 

[a m a r g o]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:33 PM, sgphototn said:

 

 

Frankly, I always associated Mexico and Germany to the Zimmermann telegram. I do remember that Maximillian 1st brought Germans to Mexico and that Germany and Mexico today are big trading partners.

 

Thanks for the information.

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He was Austrian, directly related to the crumbs of the Habsburg empire. He was imposed by France as Mexico's emperor right after France, Spain and the United Kingdom invaded Mexico in the second half of the XIX century. Mexico was in crumbs as well after the war of independence, internal conflicts, and the subsequent loss of half its territory after the USA's invasion. The Mexican government declared a moratorium on its international debt and that was used as a pretext by the aforementioned countries to invade, but the only ones planning other things were the French. 

 

Maximilian was offered the crown by Napoleon III and Mexico's conservatives seeking to overthrow the Republic...

 

The poor innocent soul and his Mexican Empire lasted less than three years, thanks to the still incumbent republican government and the 'support' from the USA's government, that 'acted' upon their last view of what the American continent should look like in the 'Monroe Doctrine'. The USA recognized Benito Juárez' government as the only one legitimate and threatened the new Mexican Habsburg Empire with military intervention, supporting Juárez against the newly formed 'empire' that was left alone by the French quite early in the conflict.

 

It is said that Maximilian loved Mexico and after he was sentenced to death and then shot, it created quite a stir in Europe.

 

I visited once in Vienna the Schönbrunn Palace, where Maximilian's wife, Charlotte of Belgium, died at an extremely old age. The lady asking for statistical purposes the nationalities of visitors, produced a contagious smile when she heard ours, possibly thinking that finally more people from the once 'Mexican Habsburg Empire' were searching for a tiny part of their history. She was quite enthusiast while sharing a few stories of Maximilian's family.

 

We had such a nice time!

 

...

 

Yes, the relations with Germans were mostly throughout the XX century. Several people think that Mexico could only nationalized its energy resources thanks to the involvement of the USA in both World Wars, not only because of the 'distraction' it produced, but due the USA's interests in Mexico wouldn't needed to be guarded, avoiding any incentives and be targeted militarily by the Axis forces right on the southern border.

[sgphototn]

  On 7/14/2021 at 8:58 AM, a m a r g o said:

t is said that Maximilian loved Mexico and after he was sentenced to death and then shot, it created quite a stir in Europe.

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Add to that story that Maximillian's older brother was Emperor Franz Joseph I, who died in 1916 during WW1, having led his country(ies) into a long war that finally broke up the empire.

 

Thanks for your information and perspective.

[Parker51]

  On 7/13/2021 at 5:33 PM, sgphototn said:

 

 

Frankly, I always associated Mexico and Germany to the Zimmermann telegram. I do remember that Maximillian 1st brought Germans to Mexico and that Germany and Mexico today are big trading partners.

 

Thanks for the information.

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I suspect German exports to Mexico were also influenced by the Colonial systems of France and England. Those two countries established their systems in large part to secure both raw materials and markets, putting barriers up against imports from outside their systems. Mexico was an important market not influenced positively towards France and England historically and thus did not have legacy relationships as did  Francophone and Commonwealth nations and thus was not a target for merchants from those places while German merchants had a history of export to anyone, but especially to those they did not face restrictions I’m exporting to.

[JCC123]

This would explain why Pelikan has been dumping large quantities of the most recent blue grey special edition into the market the past year. The previous colors never sold in such large quantities and at such steep discounts.

[JCC123]

  On 7/7/2021 at 6:49 PM, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

Well, if you're right, then I hope Pelikan just shuts down completely.

The quality of Chinese pens is certainly not in the range that anyone should be willing to pay Pelikan prices for!

(and I say this as someone who has multiple wing sung 601s and loves them!)

 

Part of the reason that Pelikan can charge what they do is because people know and accept that European labour is very expensive. Chinese labour is cheap and everyone knows it, and people would be flat out stupid to pay Pelikan prices for a pen they KNOW was made for a fraction of the original cost and likely with a significant drop in quality/quality control.

 

It is likely better to let it die than to do that with it... (hello?... Parker?...)

The best outcome would be that Pelikan manages to sort out their finances and keep operating as they are.

The second best outcome is that maybe a rich German investor who has an appreciation for history and fountain pens will step in and buy it... Actually, this might even be preferable to them continuing to be owned by a "holding company"...

 

Or maybe Lamy will rescue them... stranger things have happened (nike and converse for example)

 

If they move to China, then the name is better off dead.

Better to have no new Pelikans than bad pens with the Pelikan name on them.

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Why would you say that a Chinese produced pen would be less? The Chinese have a reputation for producing quality products that are above their price points. Why? Because they have lower production costs. A comparably priced Pelikan can be produced for far less in China than in Germany. That means if you want to produce at the same cost as Germany, the quality will and can be much higher when produced in China. It's all relative. You know what kind of pen would a Wing Sung price point produce in Germany? A Bic.