Another great Q and A Brian. For those who sometimes shop pens and ink on Amazon, I can understand. I had to admit I tried this myself. BUT, I only tried this twice: once with some inks and had 2 out of 3 bottles broken; and once with a pen that was delayed in shipping for months and when it arrived the nib was terribly sprung and required hours of adjustment just to get it to write. Of course with Goulet's magnificent shipping and packaging, this has NEVER EVER HAPPENED WITH GOULET! And if you have never ordered from Goulet, you have to experience the great experience of unwrapping all of the perfectly wound and adjusted plastic wrapping when it arrives. Bottom line: it is always worth it to buy from Goulet with the assurance that you will get what you ordered, intact and properly adjusted. And and the unlikely event you have a problem with an order, just contact Goulet and I know they will make it right.
I made my first order with you guys. I ended up calling you guys for a question and got someone that you could hear the smile in thier voice really good experience thanks guys.
Thank you for all you do. I've learned so much from you. And, thank goodness for the internet and instant gratification; I was able to pause your video and find Barney's Video Resume in seconds. It was deeply satisfying.
As a fountain pen newbie, actually got my first order from Goulet Pens yesterday, I would like to see more packages. Either specifically starter sets, some interesting pen and ink sets, or just a random grab bag type package at different price levels. Could be a good way to clear out slow moving inventory. ;-) After inking up my TWSBI Eco this morning, I can already tell I am going to be spending a lot of time and money on the website.
bigwillt375 welcome, and thanks for supporting my team! That’s a pretty cool idea...funny enough, our “surprise me” ink sample is our most popular ink sample color...so expanding that beyond into other supplies? It gets a little complicated bc of the different price points and product types, but I’ll give it some thought -Brian
I bought my first pen, a Pilot Varsity, at the local Hobby Lobby to decide if I really wanted to invest in fountain pens. My wife will tell you I am a "pen snob". I try pens everywhere I go, banks, seminars, doctors' offices, anywhere I might find a good one. I have spent hours in Office Depot trying to find the perfect pen. I have been using the Eco all weekend. I have been doing hand written notes for a school assignment instead of cutting and pasting from the internet. Just so I can write with it more. Occasionally, I will switch to the Charlie that came with my Noodler's Heart of Darkness but so far I am loving the Eco.
I understand that free shipping across the board (or even for a large percentage of orders) is a tough ask; after all, shipping costs are real. I just wish that we had *some* way as customers to get a better rate on shipping. For example, free shipping on all orders over $X. Or maybe a loyalty program where "bronze" customers pay existing rates; "silver" customers get $Y flat rate shipping; and "gold" customers get free shipping (where levels are based on past 12-month spend). As a fan of your videos and all the great content you and your company create, I WANT to give you more of my money by placing orders with TGPC instead of your competitors. But just as the shipping costs are real for you, they are also a real barrier for me, particularly when a lower out-the-door price is available only a few clicks away... In any event, keep up the good work, and I'll keep rooting for your success.
Michael Beecher I appreciate your candor. Of all the free shipping options around, the loyalty program route is most appealing to me. It’s complicated to arrange but if done right, could be a win win -Brian
QOTW: You add so much value to my fountain pen experience by the YT videos, blog posts, IG posts etc - you are my first source for information and knowledge as well as inspiration and wish lists, learning what new products are coming, so many things. I also really enjoy learning from you about the business side of things and leadership development/personal growth. From that standpoint, I really can’t think of how else to add value. From the retail/shopping perspective, however, as shallow as this may be, free shipping is starting to play a role for me. A few of your competitors offer this, after a certain price point, and when that means I can get an extra Rhodia dotpad or two thrown in for the cost of shipping, I might choose to go to another source. Maybe I’m justifying this, but I do think it’s also healthy and beneficial for the fountain pen community when my business is spread around and I don’t just use one company over the others. You all carry a different variety of items, so that may determine my source, even if some of the items I purchase are available at all retailers. When I can get it from anywhere though, free shipping sometimes tips the scales. Times are tough, you know, and it adds up. (I know it does for you too though!)
Melanie Boetel well I really appreciate your honesty! Thanks for all your support, even if you spread it around and it’s not always meaning you shop with my store. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Don’t get me wrong, most of my pen and related purchases have come wrapped in your signature blue and I’ve enjoyed many a tootsie pop while inking a pen!
I think one thing you can do to add value, and this is just a suggestion, but maybe have Brian hand-deliver the pen to the customer, on an immaculate white pillow, after trekking from Virginia on foot, uh also the caveat that it's with no shoes on* (*flip flops count as shoes), and then after he inks it up, he'll hang out all day saying pangrams for you to practice writing. Oh oh, also tell him to pick up a box of Gushers on the way. I mean, otherwise it's almost not WORTH it to get my next Metropolitan from y'all...jus' an idea. thanks love the q&a keep up the great work 👍
You do so much already! It would be cool if there was some sort of index or search engine that would look for answers to a specific question either in the tutorials and/or Q&A videos.
190!! I started off with fountain pens with pens my grandpa had when I was really little, he got them in the war and shared them with me. I love kawekos becaue they remind me of him. :) Last year i got really sick in the hospital and couldn’t do art or write anymore up until just this last month. You guys are so encouraging, thanks! :)
QOTW: This is probably a hard one but I'd very much like to see better shipping rates for international customers! I understand this is probably not very easy to achieve but I have seen some of your competitors have pretty much half the price on shipping to Europe compared to your cheapest options. I very much would love to get my hands on a bottle of Liberty's Elysium alongside other items (nib sizes and whatnot) that are not as available here in Europe but when a single 3oz bottle of ink would cost me around $35-40 (not including import duties and customs fees) that's essentially the largest factor holding me back.
To answer your question of the week: I would truly LOVE it if you carried a pen similar to the Serendipity hybrid pen that is made by James Finness. It is so beautiful but practical in the sense that you could test out an ink sample, but instead of just writing a word or two, you could write several pages without re-dipping, there by getting a true sense of an ink sample.....plus I just get freaked out at the thought of glass pen, although they are beautiful, I just know I would probably break it. If the Serendipity pen is impossible to get a contract with, could one of your pen designers, design one for us?? 🙏
yeah, same here. I wanted to order Ahab, few inks and some paper recently, but when i got to choosing delivery options I had to retreat. XD It was doubling the price, literally. So sad
QOTW: I'd really enjoy seeing more behind the scenes videos. How does the stand-up meeting space look? What does the gathering and packing process look like? Think about how Mr. Rogers would do field trips to factories or how "How It's Made" is done.
Yeah, definitely want to do a tour of the new building early in 2018. Lots to show there! We have thought about an 'life of a Goulet order' video to see the fulfillment process. Good feedback! - Colin
I don't mind paying your shipping. I generally shop around for free or cheap shipping but for GPC I think of it differently. You provide value so I don't mind. Amazon does not provide me any education or fun (other than the fun of shopping). I just wait until I have a decent amount to purchase (say $50) and then buy at GPC. I also think the "question" about your corporate lingo was meant differently than you took it. I appreciate your positive attitude about it. I actually really appreciate how dedicated you are to your company's values. It's quite inspirational. As for things I'd like to see....A little more robust search of Goulet videos (I swear you talked about the Power of Habit once but I can't find it) and I'd love to see you mend that relationship with Sailor and have those for sale. I saw some other comments about offering custom nibs. It would be great to get an architect grind from you. Also, I like when Drew is on once in a while. I LOL when you two are together. Keep up the great work!
I think it would helpful if Goulet Pens would have a calendar on the web site that had dates posted of when new pens were expected to be launched (of course with the understanding these dates were tentative), contest deadlines, new videos to be posted, etc. it would be great at the beginning of the month to be able to pull it up and have everything listed in one place to keep track of so it wouldn’t be forgotten. That way I could remember to save my “monthly pen funds” 😀 for something I see launching later that month or keep up on whatever updates Goulet Pens add to the calendar. Just a thought... not sure how feasible it would be for your company. Thanks for the great videos!
Amy Brazelton huh...that’s actually a really cool idea. We have this internally for our team...one thing I can say about it is it changes. CONSTANTLY. So if we did something like this, it’d never be set in stone. Would it still be helpful to have it even if the dates were only approximate and they changed 80% of the time? -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company It would be totally understandable that the calendar would always be updating with changes to it. We could just keep checking back as often as we want to see what was scheduled. It would be so awesome to have it in a central location on a calendar.
I second her idea. As well as adding it's a pain to check the website over and over and over again to see if something has come yet or not. Calendars are Great!
That's an amazing idea. Maybe do it in Google Calendar so we can all subscribe to it and have the entries show up in our calendars/agendas automatically.
Repeat after me: there is no such thing as free shipping. The shipping costs are either (1) built into the cost of the items and spread across the price of everything; (2) built into the cost of less expensive items to reduce the cost of more expensive items; or (3) due to economies of scale on the seller's end, the cost of shipping can be partially absorbed and/or (1) and (2). Probably more possibilities, but these are the ones that come up most often. Expertise is worth the cost. Amazon ain't producing information you can use about the products they carry.
QOTW: It would be awesome if you could package the educational videos/slices you do relating to specific topics, (like FP101, Maintenance procedures, ink resources, tutorials, etc) as a single downloadable file or package for offline viewing. I have found the videos to be extremely valuable as I started with fountain pens. I appreciate how much you do to increase knowledge and awareness in the community and find that value to be what has drawn me into fountain pens more than anything else.
Hmmm, that's an interesting thought. I know there's some work arounds with downloading from YT directly, but we could look to put the FP101 series as a downloadable option on our site. I'll look into it! - Colin
People, lay off about the free shipping.... get over it! If you had to get into your car and drive somewhere to a brick and mortar store that would cost you gas money and your time. Would you expect free gas? No. So stop expecting free shipping. The shipping isn't even that bad. This is why we are losing so many little companies bc you expect them to offer the same deals as a billion dollar corporation (ie. Amazon) and its just not possible. Come on people, give Brian a break, he already does every other thing perfectly, fast shipping, great customer service, tons of free and easy to understand content videos, i mean really.... what more do you want? Oh yea, thats right, FREE SHIPPING😒😬
@1:01:00 ""...you could be literally sitting on your couch in your underwear in Australia..." * pauses TH-cam * * awkward silence * * covers laptop camera with black tape * * waves at tape for next 5 minutes *
QoTW: 1. Have an in-house nib-meister and offer pen tuning/grinding out the door as part of the buying experience. I don't know how feasible this would be but having the ability to have a pen 'tuned' and perfect out of the box would be huge. Currently no company (retailer) does this that I'm aware of, some pen companies do so, but you have to want a pen from that specific company first :)
xThemadpoet yeah, I definitely have an interest in this. Nibmeisters are...hard to come by. Truth be told, I love doing this work and would be interested to do it myself...ironically, my current duties at GPC demand so much time it’s rare I can do it more than as a hobby in my free time. What a catch 22 ;) -Brian
I would determine that by shopping around. I don't have much of an idea what nib meisters charge - I've only researched for one issue. But it looks like $35 to $50 for smoothing or flow adjustment to very simple repair (like a slightly bent tine) might be the going rate. More complex fixes go up from there. Anywho, I'm not one to say, "I'm only going to pay $x.", rather, I would look at the price, look around at what others charge, and say, "That looks like the going rate." and then, given the choice between paying you guys, who I've come to trust, or paying someone new with whom I have no experience, I'd go with you guys (I'd probably even pay a little higher since I'm rather risk averse).
QOTW: I think you and your team are doing excellent work for the community! My suggestion for adding value would be a tiered shipping cost system. Maybe this is something that's already in place, and I haven't seen it yet, but here goes. I know that it costs less for USPS to ship lighter items and smaller boxes than it does for heavier/larger items. For example: it would cost less to ship a pack of sample vials than two bottles of ink. I'm not saying free shipping. I know that the cost of free shipping is hidden in there among all the items. Just my two cents. And keep up the tootsie pops! I remember there was one order I placed that didn't have one, and it made me a little sad. I always look forward to that personal touch.
Goulet already helped make my FP experience better. The videos are great, If I get someone interested in FPs, I just send them your videos. The contests/giveaways gets anyone hyped about possibly acquiring a new pen and following brian on social media is like having an online friend who enables your habits LOL
*QOTW* I understand that as a company you don't choose to vendor at FP shows, but perhaps as many videos do target new comers to the hobby, they could be talked about in videos and blog posts in a general fashion more often. Background: I asked a friend for a recommendation on what I could use to write a nice inscription for a mutual friend in a custom sketch book I was giving as a gift. He suggested FPs, which he'd been using as a high schooler for years, but which I knew absolutely nothing about. A quick TH-cam search turned up Brian's videos, 4 or 5 days later after watching the first 80 Q&As and all the FP101 videos I made my first purchase (and haven't looked back....or stopped....since). I honestly didn't even know shows existed, until by chance Goulet didn't carry a product I really wanted and I had to go to another vendor. There I saw something about the Chicago Pen Show. I decided to go, and I'm sooo glad I did. If at all possible I think all people reasonably new to the hobby should try to go if there's a show close to them. Even if only once, it's such an experience to learn from so many people and hold so many pens. Brian is so good at captivating an audience of new pen users that perhaps addressing shows in a general manner would help raise awareness of them. BTW....Thank you Brian for providing so much clear information in an easy to understand format, in a totally NOT boring manner!!!
Free shipping on orders over $50 (or something similar) would make it so much easier for me to justify "smaller" purchases of ink, nibs, notebooks, Goulet accessories , etc. right now I am tend to find myself waiting, sometimes for severally weeks, to make those purchases until I get around to buying a pen. I normally purchase pens in the $150+ range, so shipping is not a factor in buying pens from Goulet, but I do find myself hesitating to make smaller purchases.
Interesting. I recently compared the price of an order of ink, notebooks, and a pen from Goulet to the same items from a competitor that offered free shipping. The competitor had a slight undercut on the price of the same pen, but each of the smaller items was more expensive at the competitor's. Even with free shipping, the competitor did not beat Goulet's price. And this is how and why free-shipping is able to be acheived. You pay for it in other ways. Additionally, Goulet shipped my item faster (same day), Goulet's shipping option was also superior to the competitor's. I also bought something from the competitor, and even though the competitor is only less than a state over, Goulet's items came faster from a longer distance. With a hand written note, and super secure packaging. So yea.
TheBurrito171 yeah, this is often how it goes. There really is no such thing as free shipping. I’m glad my team is rocking and rolling, sounds like you’re experiencing exactly what we intended! -Brian
Dominick Bergeron and to be 100% honest, this is the toughest thing to achieve. While you are most inclined to need free shipping on smaller orders, this is when I can least afford to do it. Smaller orders don’t often cost much if any less to ship, they take just as much overhead, and I don’t make as much margin to absorb additional costs like shipping subsidies. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Brian, thank you so much for your reply. This is why I buy from Goulet. You have been a spectacular resource and you are single handedly the reason I collect fountain pens. I have made all of my purchases from Goulet not only because you guys consistently have some of the best prices in the industry but because you guys have done more to support the community than any other retailer I have come across. Thank you for everything you do and I will always buy from you guys because of what you do for us. More than I want free shipping I want the Goulet Pen Company to continue providing us with the value that you have. You have been very discerning in the way you run your business and I trust that you guys do everything in your power to bring us the best experience you can. Keep it up and write on!
I like the idea of facilitating local meetups - kind of like the Pelikan Hubs they have now - Goulet Groupies? :) I also like the nib meister idea someone already posted. I disagree with the whole "free" shipping craze, but I like the idea of cheaper shipping for cheap, smaller items. If I recall, you use the smallest postal one-rate box, and this may be the only economical option for you guys, but if it were possible to put little things like converters, Lamy spare nibs, or boxes of ink cartridges, into an even smaller container and thereby pay less for shipping, that would be nice (like many, I just pile these things up until I place a big order, or sometimes toss them into my cart on Amazon, if they have them). Don't know if that's even possible or if the labor costs would offset any savings, just mentioning. By no means do I want you to eat the cost of the shipping or incur higher overhead to accomplish this. And I feel bad for the international customers - shipping out of the US is ridiculously expensive compared to shipping into it (from many places). Not that I think there's anything you or we can do about that, just expressing sympathy. And thanks for the education and search / filtering tools on your website - they're the best out there!
This is just to second the comments of many others: free shipping (maybe conditionally on orders over $X or with membership) would definitely sway me. As it stands, the difference between ordering from Goulet vs. other online retailers (who often also offer below-MSRP) can be as much as $20 for a bottle of ink. I get that this cuts into the profit margin for Goulet. There's not a question of blame or fault or whatever, but I'm simply not going to donate $20 to a for-profit business just because I like them, which is what paying more would effectively be when I have a cheaper substitute available. I'd estimate that I've spent several hundreds of dollars buying from other retailers over the past couple of years on items where Goulet might have otherwise been a preferred source. Whether the increasing volume to offset decreasing margins works out for Goulet's accounting is something only they can determine... I still do buy from Goulet from time to time. Maybe once or twice a year. But sticking to MSRP and not offering free shipping has definitely sent me to other retailers on most occasions...
Daniel Pi wow, $20 on a single bottle of ink? The only scenario I can see where that’s even possible is obviously premium bottles of ink where there are overseas dealers selling directly from their home country. I know Iroshizuku was one where we were getting severely undercut from dealers in Japan selling on Amazon in the US, but since Pilot lowered their price in the US and we have Iroshizuku for $20 that has cut that price gap down quite a bit. The thing I can say about prices where there’s that much of a difference, the overseas dealers are often operating as such low margins that if I were to match I would lose money and eventually not be able to continue to operate. So in the macro view, it really does matter where you buy bc you vote with your dollars. When it’s that big of a price gap, I understand how tempting that is though. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Yeah, Iroshizuku is the extreme case. I get that you can't compete with Amazon on price, given their razor thin margins and economies of scale. And I'm not averse to paying a bit more to support businesses I like. But let's be clear: at that point you're essentially asking for a donation. That's not unreasonable given that you do a lot of stuff that makes you worth supporting, and I do order from you guys once or twice a year. I'm happy to pay a bit more, because you do the videos and make stuff available that otherwise wouldn't be, which I value. But you're asking us what you could do to win more business and why. So yeah, throw me a bit of free shipping on orders over $100 (or whatever), and I'd bite more often. I don't know how the math works out for you, though. I don't think you should offer free shipping unless the increase in volume would be sufficient to offset the decrease in margin. You're a business: only do what increases profit in the long run. To the extent you're asking us to get a sense of the shape of the demand curve, yeah, the shipping is a factor. On a lot of items, I'm willing to pay a couple bucks more on price. But tack on $5-$10 more on shipping, and it pushes me past my tipping point. I get what you're saying about supporting a business that provides value over and above the good exchanged. And I think most people get that. But it matters how much. Look, there are just thresholds: I'm willing to donate $20 to NPR to get a tote bag when I could get an equivalent from Amazon for $5. But I wouldn't pay $21... You get the point...
I think a level of purchase gets free shipping $50 = free shipping for example could be $75 whatever it is that fits for you guys. Would be very nice. This could also benefit you guys because as a customer I'd see "well if I spend this extra 5-10 dollars I get free shipping" I'd likely drop another item into the cart that I was on the fence about. I know shipping people work extremely extremely hard and provide a very important service but any chance I get to not pay for it will leave me feeling like I got better value because all my money went to the items I'm going to keep. Regardless thanks to every one at team Goulet!
Like those sections behind the right shoulder. A little too big for even me. ;-) Last year I gave a lamy gift set to a friend who expressed interest in the pen she saw me using. She was delighted to receive that gift.
I would really like to see a return to the question pop-up at the start of each one. This allows me to visually find and move on to the next question if a particular one does not interest me. When there are no visual markers, it's harder to navigate. Otherwise thanks for the great Q&As and congrats in advance on #200!
There are time-stamps with the questions in the description, but we're definitely going to have those pop-ups here soon now that we have a videographer on board! - Colin
QOTW: I know this would be a HUGE undertaking, but in addition to the ink swabs for color, it would be amazing to see how the ink behaves on multiple types of paper, standardized with one nib size, like a Lamy fine. We already know how inks behaves on the paper in the swatches, but seeing how ink behaves on a few different common types of paper would be amazing. I'd love to see feathering/bleedthrough comparisons on Rhodia/Clairefontaine, the most common weight of office copy paper, and a cheap brand of loose-leaf notebook paper.
While not us, I would like to shoutout Mountain of Ink's reviews (www.mountainofink.com/ ). Each review has a pretty thorough breakdown of each ink across different paper. It's not all encompassing to the inks we offer, but definitely a good resource. That said, this is definitely something we're trying to think through to standardize. Certainly an undertaking, but could be great information to have before buying. - Colin
QOTW: It would be great if you showed where the 'center of gravity(the point where the pen perfectly balances)' is on each pen(with a dot or arrow on the picture of the pen). Along with the nib nook and pen plaza, it would be a great educational tool to find out the balance of each pen.
Brian....That last question about business jargon was brilliant really liked your explanation - a lot. Considering your start, wooden pens, Rachel in the spare room packing papers, to where you are now! with just making the move to a new premises and 40odd colleagues working for you, it strikes me that you don't have the 'Boss' mentality so readily seen in the UK ( I'm going to get flak for that) The level of communication is where a company of 2 or 40odd succeeds or grinds slowly to a halt through resentment and animosity. The many kinds of meeting where things get 'thrashed' out (buzzword?) it does sound like a big family where the interest in the individual benefits the whole team,,, What more can I say? It was just bloody awesome to hear how you lot go about it. Qotw... Hmmmm let's see 😈... how about Brian dressed in a crimson and black basque holding a wand with a star on top made out of Lamy pens with Hmmmm Drew, yes I think that's the 'boy' throwing shredded up pieces of Rhodia no 19 block over your head shouting softly 'Visconti pens suck- - - buy a Noodlers Ahab'. 😨 maybe not! media.giphy.com/media/QgixZj4y3TwnS/giphy.gif How about a mega give away for the 200 Q&A... Best wishes to all pen people. LeZc @@
QoTW: since you have a great range of standard #6 nibs, it would be great if you could add modifications to the range such as Cursive Italic , Italic variations too ... Maybe Architect too. I believe that your customers cover a wide range from new to experienced and I've noticed that many do try and use regularly These variants. It may mean some inventory carrying costs ... Sort of get them in a sufficient quantity once or twice a year ... But I guess that apart from higher priced pens ... Nibs would be imho the next level to go as a line extension of the Goulet branded products.
QOTW: I would love for you (Brian) to re-introduce pen reviews with writing samples (a la The Pen Habit/ SBREBrown) like you used to do years ago. Also ink reviews (by either you and/or Rachel) would be great too! Pen reviewers are vast but you have a deep knowledge/background of every product you sell and can bring something fresh and (to quote you) 'intentional' to the table.
no separate listings for different nib types of the same penmodel, but a drop-down menu in one listing! this would make searching on the site so much les confusing.
Yeah, I hear you. Definitely would make things cleaner, but as of now, it's not logistically feasible. Each nib size is a different product code which is built into our accounting & fulfillment. Could be something we tackle in the future though! - Colin
Not quite a playlist, but we do have a slices Library with business questions on there at the bottom: blog.gouletpens.com/goulet-qa/goulet-q-slices - Colin
Education based: I would love to see a video geared toward the artistry side of pen/ink usage. How can ink be used to (simple) sketch with color? What triad of colors could be used to compliment one another in a pleasing quick draw? That sort of thing. I am new to fps/inks and Goulet but I am so happy I've found the company and I am learning by leaps and bounds with Q&A vids. Thanks so much for giving so much...:-)
Good idea! Definitely something we want to cycle in more for our content. Just figuring out how to leverage our more artistic employees in a easy to understand format. Something to think on for sure! - Colin
Hi Brian - for QOTW I would love to see you offer something along the lines of Nib Tuning for the pens you sell, smoothing, ink flow adjustment and the like. To take it one step further possibly even offer custom grinds like cursive italic, or stub if not available from the pen manufacturer. Now I can, and do, send some of my pens off to have work done on them, but to have it 100% perfect to my taste right out of the gate would be wonderful.
Funny part about lingo. When you start talking about in a family setting the only thing i can think is the way my family uses the word "thing" as it can be a transition, emphatic phrase, verb, basically anything. It can get confusing initially and then it becomes normal
QOTW: I know you guys gets a lot of shipping related requests but one thing that would really add value to me would be reasonably priced flat rate shipping internationally (Canada specifically) since I understand that free shipping probably isn’t feasible. I remember when GPC had a 10% off ink and paper promo when y’all moved office spaces, and I would have bought a lot of ink bottles if the shipping hadn’t been that expensive.
QOTW and Random thoughts: I agree that Corporate buzz-words can, and probably are more often than not, be done poorly. People have shared vocabulary with friends and another with families etc so it is natural to have a similar phenomenon happen where you spend the majority of your time. Beyond that, It is not enough to simply have a shared vocabulary, a company must believe and live whatever they "buzzing", which sounds like something GPC does well. QOTW I've seen several people post about prime and shipping. Is there value in GPC offering an annual shipping price, similar to prime, or have people select the pricing they would like to pay? For example 2 week shipping is less than priority Tours of the GPC could be fun- perhaps once a quarter to meet other enthusiasts and test out product. Like a mini pen show but hosted by GPC. I love the length of the Q&A - particularly the business sections especially with the addition of the time tags in the description and the snippets that come after.
As far as your question, it would be awesome to get some videos on creative paper projects (make an old school letter) and some ink colors/paper color contrasts.
Your website is far better than any other online retail website I've ever used for answering any potential questions I could have about a product or the process of buying. However, it would be cool if the related products at the bottom could show the package sets. i.e. if I'm browsing say the Lamy 2000, it generally just shows that you can get this in the other nib sizes. But if it could show that hey you can get this in the Boardroom Boss package set, which happens to also contain an ink that i'm interested in too, that would be pretty helpful. I just find I land up having to check all the package sets to make sure I'm not doubling up on things. In terms of me purchasing more, i would be more encouraged to make additional purchases if you had free shipping, for say above $50 or $100. I often land up missing on like the seasonal items just because I struggle to justify the shipping (as it is international fees) when my cart isn't say over $200ish.
QOTW: 1. You mentioned that some of your team members had to learn some words that are used regularly when talking about fountain pens. What words are there? I know ghosting, railroad, feathering, and I understand what you mean by flushing and piston fillers, but I'm sure there are tons of other words that I don't know. 2. I'm not sure if this is a against any agreements or rules(?), but sometimes there are pens that pop up from companies that aren't the well known brands- can you talk about those? Or mention those pens so we know what else is out there? (Inks too!) Thank you for the videos and all of the information you provide! I've learned a lot from you.
Xeqcme 1. Haha, yeah, there is a ton of pen knowledge especially when you get deep into it. You’d be amazed how detailed our questions are from the community, like specific techniques used on Namiki Maki-e pens, “tooth” in reference to paper smoothness, or internal components of pens like a piston seal or nib housing threads. 2. Oh, I can talk about whatever I want, my lack of talking about smaller, lesser known brands is purely a matter of practicality. I only have so many hours in a day, and so much time to research, buy, and experience certain pens. My priority is always the ones I’m selling because that’s undoubtedly what I’m going to be asked about the most, and customers expect me to know about my own products. I try to speak about other pens when I know about them, but often I know little more than what I’ve read or I’m having to make assumptions based on their stats. -Brian
As my collection grows, I think more and more that paying the 5 dollars of shipping from you is an investment: if something goes wrong (and it did) with a Sailor I got on eBay from Japan, I'm on my own. On the other side, I know that if something goes wrong with a pen I got from you, you'll go the extra mile to solve the problem. To me, it's becoming a sort of insurance on my pen, you don't get it until you go through it.
It's hard to believe you've done 190 Q&As. That's 3 years, 8 months, 2 weeks (if my quick math is right). I don't know what is better, that you've made 190 or that I've seen 150 of them. *I think I'm going Goulet blind*.
David J I’ve missed a few weeks here and there over the years. But yeah, it’s been a lot. I’m happy to do it, and honored that you (and others) grant me so much of your attention! -Brian
Well, thank you. I would like someone who watches all these videos to count how many times Brian says, "That said..." lol I will say, though, that, even though the vast majority of these pens hold no interest to me personally, mostly because of cost, I have learned so much about different pens, how they are made, and how to care for them. Thanks.
It would be great if you could do some pen reviews. I know there are a few people already doing them but I think adding your companies voice to them would be great.
QOTW: Well for starters a cheaper shipping on smaller items. And I have question too....would you be restocking the Jinhao 159? (Like the yellow color)
Shout out i just got the three pilots you sent me! :) My husband got me a green, an orange and a purple and I feel so lucky. I seriously just got them. ;) I’m on the couch in Toronto. :) i had a question about if you have sample bottles of the herbin inks for example. Iet me know?Have a great weekend.
QOTW: I'd really like to have Goulet #5 nibs. I have the #6 set and it's so great to be able to experience the complete range of nib sizes; I find it a pity that the same doesn't exist for my #5-sized pens.
For me part of the issue is that there some pens I want, even within brands you carry, that you don't get. For example the Kaweco Special AL I ordered from somewhere else but I would have loved to order it from you. I would love if there was some sort of voting mechanism or even the option to sort of "kickstart" Goulet getting a pen. I would happily preorder a pen that you would only fulfill if there were X amount of orders. Also I'd love more Goulet Edition pens like stores in other countries, I know this is more of a manufacturer thing because they want a large commitment but I just want like a Kaweco with the Goulet pens name on it or something simple. (Again I know that probably isn't doable, but one can dream)
Tess Botkin that’s a pretty cool idea actually! Yeah sometimes doing an exclusive has really really high minimums, especially the lower the price of the pen. It’s always something to look into though -Brian
Hey, guys, I was wondering if you could help me make a decision between two pens for my first gold nib pen. The two pens I was choosing between; The sailor Pro gear slim demonstrator or the pilot custom heritage 92. If you have any other good sugestions I'm looking to hear other good options, I am looking for a smooth demonstrator. Best wishes, Nathan.
I have limited experience with the Pro Gear slim, to be completely honest. Rachel has a broad one that was surprisingly scratchy out of the box. The build quality of the pen is really nice, and that nib was likely a fluke, that was just my experience with it. It’s a popular pen though, so no doubt it’s worth serious consideration. It’s a cartridge converter pen so ink capacity wouldn’t be as high as the Custom 92. I absolutely love the way the 92 Nib writes, so for me it gets higher rank than what I’ve experienced with the Pro Gear. But the 92 costs more and doesn’t have as many color choices. So it’s really a personal preference-Brian
TheRoyalPotatoKing -nothing - nothing - nothing the great debate! Metropolitan vs Safari ;) it’s often fairly split, but usually I lean towards Metro -Brian
There's not a whole lot besides Noodlers'. The Konrad & Nib Creaper are also options within that brand. Karas Kustoms makes titanium nibs that have flex to it (thought I wouldn't say they're flex pens). - Colin
The buzzword section was interesting. I've been in IT support all my working life since 1986 and engineers tend to tell it like it is, shunning poor business communication as a way to make noise without saying anything. However over the years I've become more of a team leader / line manager and have to slip into that mode sometimes, making me cringe. What makes it a different creature over the last 9 years is that I've been on the phones & in tickets with our customers. We are business to business. This means I deal a lot with CEOs, business leaders, the whole spectrum. Many are not IT-savvy so I've had to mould my approach better to suit that audience. I now talk more about key stakeholders, key revenue generators and so on. If their servers are down then what do I need to do to help the caller prioritise? The loudest voice isn't necessarily the highest priority but sometimes a caller needs help in coming to that realisation. OK, I can't do anything about problem X right now, but I might be able to do something with problem Y. Would that help you to keep control of the issue? More about partnership and less about customer versus supplier. I've found an approach to these problems that works well most of the time, but it all boils down to trying to speak their language without just being a droid or an echo chamber. It's harder than people think.
Clairefontaine is definitely a good way to go. They have spiral bound, hole-punched notebooks that'd work great: www.gouletpens.com/clairefontaine-classic-lined-wirebound-notebook/p/C68145 - Colin
Sometimes, Brian, when a pen stops flowing well (but still has plenty of ink), I give the nib a lick. Are there some inks that have one or more ingredients that even in small amounts could harm me? (In five or six hours or writing, it might happen once or twice.)
Michael Winn inks aren’t made to be consumable, so I can’t really condone this practice with any degree of confidence. Some inks are more natural than others, but none of them post any msds or nutritional information, so imho it’s best not avoid investing any ink -Brian
Mark Rich i like the long q and a. We could easily spend our pen money locally but seriously, goulet is very family to me, like hanging out on a bbs in the 80’s. Maybe i’m too nostalgic. We. have Wonderpens and Leywines here in Toronto, but Brian even looks like one of our best friends. maybe there is no solution.
Mark Rich have you seen my early ones? I was much shorter there. Seems I’ve gotten more verbose as time goes on. Maybe I’ll try s special “rapid fire” episode ;) -Brian
I'm not sure about breaking in on flex nibs. Any permanent deformation of the metal is likely to make the metal harder rather than softer. It's a quirk of metal called work hardening. QOTW: My needs are well met for the moment. Thanks for doing all you do.
I think it would be nice to see Canadian pricing on the web site. every time i buy i always have to figure out the conversion. then when i get the bill is alot higher.
QOTW: I would definitely want nib customization! Other people mentioned this before as well. There aren't many people who do work on nibs well. But personally I'd pay fair amounts to get my spencerian nib or added flex from John Mottishaw, or my cursive italics from Mike Masuyama, or an architect grind from such and such. And I don't mind waiting a little more for my pen to arrive. I love the shopping experience I get from the Goulet Co, but I find that this is missing. I find the pens I get with customisation, have value that justify the shipment and custom fees AND surpasses anything I can find locally at the moment (I'm from Turkey btw). Don't get me wrong though I love all my pens! But the customized ones tend to be more interresting due to their uniqueness
muallaemine this would be a dream for me. Part of the challenge is nibmeisters like the ones you mentioned are already incredibly backlogged, so trying to set up arrangements with them kind of falls flat. It’s on my radar though for sure! -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company You have a point there, but there is a good reason why we go nuts over the pens these guys handle😊.. I can see and appreciate the crazy logistics and arrangements you're facing on this issue. And maybe businesswise it might not be too rewarding, I wouldn't know. (Actually count this as a question for q&a at some point 😁) But I think you can figure it out. You seem like a company that grows steadily towards specific goals that you set for yourself.. so would this be a realistic goal for you to set for the future? And what would be the challenges you foresee on this issue, besides nib meisters being overloaded? And isn't there a way to pre-order ready made nibs from them (like Franklin-Christoph)? Maybe you can choose certain specific pens that have alternative separate customized nibs before hand, to make the selling process easier and relatively faster.. I would love to hear your thoughts on these issues. Thanks for all your efforts and the great work you put in your business that we've come to expect from Goulet. It's great to be able to reference a company to someone who asks, knowing they will have a good experience no matter what happens
QOTD: I would love to purchase from you more often. Shipping to Australia is quite expensive. It just means I save up my orders or group order with friends. It does mean that the more impulse purchases are from more local stores. I know you cant make shipping too cheap. Perhaps free shipping for orders over 80usd? incentive to add a few more things to a cart :D
Simon Green the shipping costs are real, and even $80 would not even be close to enough to cover free international shipping. It’d honestly have to me something in the $250+ range to even consider it. I just don’t have the margin to absorb international shipping unless it’s a really expensive order -Brian
I know that you've talked about the struggle with carrying Sailor, and its pretty disappointing that they are stingy about who they let carry their product. I have wanted a Sailor 1911 and have been tempted to buy elsewhere. However, i want to provide business with the company which got me into pens. Do you believe that you'll ever carry their products?
Christopher Fennell that’s really up to them. I’m doing what I can to provide an olive branch to them, and the time just hasn’t come yet. I have no indication that it will happen soon but I’m optimistic it may happen someday. It means so much that you want to support my company that much, thank you -Brian
You really can't go wrong either way. Pilot Falcon has the soft nib allowing for line variation. The Custom 74 can fit the Con-70 allowing for more ink capacity. And the E95s is the most stylish of the 3 & portable. Really depends on what you're looking for. I would lean towards the Custom 74 in terms of all-around ability. - Colin
I hope I'm not too late but if anyone is still watching and sees this comment, My fountain pen is pushing out too much ink, but its not leaking onto the paper. The problem is that alot of the ink stays on the feed and I'm worried it will dry before I can use it. Is thi s normal or should the ink be released in a thinner stream?
Consider going to fountainpennetwork.com or another forum like on reddit where a lot of people can see it, ask for more detail, and hopefully help you. In my experience, your problem may be from a nib/feed that's not firmly seated down into the section (need to be pushed in deeper); or there's a crack somewhere letting extra air in; or it's a pen with an ebonite feed which needs to be set (Brian has a video about setting Noodler's feeds). Good luck with your pen. (Of course, if it never drips ink, it may be nothing to worry about at all - unless you leave it uncapped, I doubt the ink drying out will be an issue - though that's just a guess and we don't have enough enough to say for sure.)
Brian, we never see your actual writing, short of the nib examples. What do you do with your pens? I want to see several people's writing samples interpret by a professional. Are there any particular sealing waxes and highlights you prefer? If so why? If you don't want to answer my questions feel free to send me some M&M's and my mouth will stay busy.
Scott Sneddon point taken! Personally I don’t think my handwriting is very noteworthy (haha pun) but I can definitely do more to show/talk about how I feel about pens as I use them. That’s on the docket for when we get a videographer in here -Brian
QOTW: I'm just bummed out that I can't buy from you from London without spending MUCH more money. Have you ever considered opening another office in Europe?
Baran Aygun it’s not at all practical for me to consider. The overhead alone would increase my prices to where you wouldn’t save anything over what I currently charge for shipping, no doubt -Brian
Man... I’d love to write your commercial insurance policies! That would be awesome! GL, Property/BPP, Cyber, Commercial Auto... ah man! That would be awesome!
Umm .... Yeahh... If you could just go ahead ... Yeah... As a corporate employee since ever ... Buzzwords are umm yeah ... Are an anathema... Yeah ... Quite useless as they tend to indicate a lack of belief, understanding and commitment... I think people appreciate an honest discussion .. Short or long to get behind an idea or focus on an area ... Buzz words have become hollow facades to not explain and yet expect people to arrive at the same understanding and comprehension .... But great that you took this on ... Ummm ... Yeah ...
The Goulet Pen Company I'm a seriously jaded employee .. it's been a merry go round of buzz words ..but I think we're on the same page here .. so I'll stop jumping the shark and swim with the dolphins 😉😈
William Kelly theoretically, though this is totally outside our wheelhouse. Other than having the pens and enjoying talking about them. Event planning, especially in different locales, would be a challenge for us. Brian
Hello Brian, I'm not suggesting you do the work. Perhaps guidelines, tips, templates, sponsorship info, and possibly a remote webcast for Q/A would be possible.
Super selfish but I wish there were more bundles with kind of pen maintenance items (like pen flush, micromesh, etc.). I always plan to get these things but I end up spending money on things like converters and inks which will more directly affect my writing experience, even though I know that I really should get stuff for maintaining my pens and that that's part of the experience. Also, we really need a Goulet Pens Canada. Just throwing that out there. ;)
Interesting feedback. We've thought about adding some cleaning essentials to some start pens (Metro/Safari), but it hasn't been implemented. I would say for anyone getting into FPs, our Cleaning & Tuning set (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-pen-cleaning-tuning-package-set/p/Package-GP-All ) is a must before diving too deep into more pens. - Colin
"...on your lounge in your underwear, in Australia..." I thought I turned off my webcam, sorry there. Feedback to improve my Goulet experience, off the top of my head, free Namiki Yukari Maki-e with every order over $20 ;) Seriously though it would be useful to be able to pre-order and especially pay for pre-orders. I understand logistically it may not be possible but I am someone who still shops online like its with cash, that is I have never had nor ever will have a Credit card. Buying with debt sounds like the dumbest thing to ever do. I believe its better to work hard and save and buy when you have the money in hand essentially. So I have a debit card so I can purchase through the normal credit card ecommerce systems but only if I have the money at the moment. I'm not rich enough to have a rolling buffer of thousands in the debit card and I have bills being automatically paid from this account. So if the ecommerce system doesn't take my money when I order when I know the cash is there it may not be there at the end of the week or month or whenever the retailer batch processes. This becomes problematic for both of us. It also means when Goulet unexpectedly gets a limited edition in earlier than expected I may not be able to purchase and so miss out, where I may have been fine paying in full two days earlier if a preorder option was available. Juggling my budget is no problem if I know for certain where my cash is going and feeling safe knowing it goes immediately when I buy something, not on friday when the retailer batch processes. maybe it could be something that becomes available on the site to VIP customers (customers who've spent a minimum of $X for example with you), maybe you already have that and I'm just another peasant. For example the twsbi mini gold came and when very fast, it would have been nice if you had a mechanism to ensure interested customers didnt miss out just because they live on the other side of the world and were asleep the instant you launched, being able to pay in full with pre-order, or some way to reserve one fairly to allow customers who "dont have the cash today but will next thursday payday" to get a chance of buying a special item. Obviously any reservations would have to be limited to a quantity of one to avoid someone monopolising the market (think ticket scalpers). I don't know if you have customers buying specials in 10+ quantities or not that could spoil the chance for others to own the pens and your goal is obviously to have turnover and get pens out the door. Its a bit of a balancing act to meet your business needs (sales) and the needs of the long term enthusiasts (return customers). Hope you'll give it some thought. If you've read this far, thanks, I do enjoy Brian's vids.
That's good feedback for sure! I'm not sure what the logistical hold up has been with pre-orders in the past, but could be something we think through. - Colin
Hey, I hate to say it, but the fact that you don't have free shipping has diverted my purchases to amazon on more than one occasion. The most recent being the gun metal color fabric Castel loom.
Amazon can only offer a decently consumer-friendly version of free shipping because they're so big. You can't really expect a smaller business to be able to make the same accomodation that could have realistically only have been reached by hiring tons of experts to come up with an insanely complicated formula that relies on having a ton of fallback. In most cases, free shipping isn't really free, and you will spend more money trying to get to free shipping, or just spend more money on items in general when you aren't even getting free shipping on your order--to pay for other people's free shipping, as the business has to mark up prices all around to compensate for free shipping. I think people really fixate on the free shipping, but it isn't a realistic expectation of most businesses, and that fixation will often punish the consumer in the end because you spend more money trying to get it or compensating for it. It can be borderline scammy.
I understand. It's just that the question was what "could" Goulet do. But realistically, theres only a few companies out there in the world that could deliver an Amazon style free shipping.
(NOTE: I know you're just saying how you feel, and that's good. I'm also just saying how I feel. It just happens to disagree with how you feel. No animosity or disrespect intended.) How is it fair? It means those who placed an order which naturally would have cost a lot to ship got subsidized by those who just needed a quick replacement converter that should have cost less than $4.99 to ship. Nothing fair about that. Alternately, everyone got to pay slightly higher prices to level-out any gap in the shipping fee paid by the customer vs the actual shipping costs paid by the seller. I prefer to pay for what I get than for what other people get; I prefer transparency rather than artificial prices (or, e.g., taxes rolled into the price of the item so I don't know how much tax I'm paying); and I prefer to support businesses like the Goulets' whenever I can, cuz they're good people, even if that means a slightly higher price.
TheBurrito171 I wouldn't expect Amazon style shipping necessarily. But, how about free shipping on orders over $100 or for buying a Visconti. It was Brian Goulet himself that mentioned the free shipping in his video that's the only reason I even brought it up.
I have to tell anyone wanting their first fountain pen, please if you just get a varsity pilot prefilled (actually a really good pen) or a platinum preppy from his\a site, please don't get cheap sets from bargain places....I wasted a good 20-30$ over the years when I was younger thinking I was getting a good deal and the pens never worked properly or never worked period. Just an idea since gift giving season is coming up for yourself or others.
Thanks for taking my question about black nibs! The review video I mentioned is about the Pilot VP Metallic Valley Green:) th-cam.com/video/WgP6yKWrWCo/w-d-xo.html
FWIW, I have a black EF nib for my Lamy Al-Star and a black Vanishing Point F. I don't have non-black versions of the same things (not that this would make a good sample set anyway) and I don't have SBRE Brown's experience, but both write fabulously and have not needed any smoothing.
Thank you for asking this question and to Brian for answering. My husband gave me a Pilot VP for Christmas last year with the black Fine nib and it is really scratchy. I will be watching Brown's video but based on Brian's answer, putting the Goulet nib tuning package in my cart was the way to go.
I am so glad that I don't have that stand up meeting bullshit at my work. Being a software developer it is an enormous pain in the donkey (I mean ass) when you have to waste your precious time to explain stuff to people that will never truly understand what are you talking about or to give estimates about things that can not be explored until they are done instead of doing actual work and earning money for those people.
Yan Doroshenko lol...like any business tactic it surely needs to be vetted for practicality based on your daily realities. For our team, it was born out of necessity and helps our communication a lot. -Brian
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Another great Q and A Brian. For those who sometimes shop pens and ink on Amazon, I can understand. I had to admit I tried this myself. BUT, I only tried this twice: once with some inks and had 2 out of 3 bottles broken; and once with a pen that was delayed in shipping for months and when it arrived the nib was terribly sprung and required hours of adjustment just to get it to write. Of course with Goulet's magnificent shipping and packaging, this has NEVER EVER HAPPENED WITH GOULET! And if you have never ordered from Goulet, you have to experience the great experience of unwrapping all of the perfectly wound and adjusted plastic wrapping when it arrives. Bottom line: it is always worth it to buy from Goulet with the assurance that you will get what you ordered, intact and properly adjusted. And and the unlikely event you have a problem with an order, just contact Goulet and I know they will make it right.
James Brown thank you, that means so much :) -Brian
I made my first order with you guys. I ended up calling you guys for a question and got someone that you could hear the smile in thier voice really good experience thanks guys.
Thank you for all you do. I've learned so much from you. And, thank goodness for the internet and instant gratification; I was able to pause your video and find Barney's Video Resume in seconds. It was deeply satisfying.
As a fountain pen newbie, actually got my first order from Goulet Pens yesterday, I would like to see more packages. Either specifically starter sets, some interesting pen and ink sets, or just a random grab bag type package at different price levels. Could be a good way to clear out slow moving inventory. ;-)
After inking up my TWSBI Eco this morning, I can already tell I am going to be spending a lot of time and money on the website.
bigwillt375 I love my TWSBI Eco. It was a bit of an impulse buy but it’s quickly become a favorite pen. Good choice for a first or early pen!
bigwillt375 welcome, and thanks for supporting my team! That’s a pretty cool idea...funny enough, our “surprise me” ink sample is our most popular ink sample color...so expanding that beyond into other supplies? It gets a little complicated bc of the different price points and product types, but I’ll give it some thought -Brian
I bought my first pen, a Pilot Varsity, at the local Hobby Lobby to decide if I really wanted to invest in fountain pens. My wife will tell you I am a "pen snob". I try pens everywhere I go, banks, seminars, doctors' offices, anywhere I might find a good one. I have spent hours in Office Depot trying to find the perfect pen.
I have been using the Eco all weekend. I have been doing hand written notes for a school assignment instead of cutting and pasting from the internet. Just so I can write with it more. Occasionally, I will switch to the Charlie that came with my Noodler's Heart of Darkness but so far I am loving the Eco.
I understand that free shipping across the board (or even for a large percentage of orders) is a tough ask; after all, shipping costs are real.
I just wish that we had *some* way as customers to get a better rate on shipping. For example, free shipping on all orders over $X. Or maybe a loyalty program where "bronze" customers pay existing rates; "silver" customers get $Y flat rate shipping; and "gold" customers get free shipping (where levels are based on past 12-month spend).
As a fan of your videos and all the great content you and your company create, I WANT to give you more of my money by placing orders with TGPC instead of your competitors. But just as the shipping costs are real for you, they are also a real barrier for me, particularly when a lower out-the-door price is available only a few clicks away...
In any event, keep up the good work, and I'll keep rooting for your success.
Michael Beecher I appreciate your candor. Of all the free shipping options around, the loyalty program route is most appealing to me. It’s complicated to arrange but if done right, could be a win win -Brian
QOTW: You add so much value to my fountain pen experience by the YT videos, blog posts, IG posts etc - you are my first source for information and knowledge as well as inspiration and wish lists, learning what new products are coming, so many things. I also really enjoy learning from you about the business side of things and leadership development/personal growth. From that standpoint, I really can’t think of how else to add value. From the retail/shopping perspective, however, as shallow as this may be, free shipping is starting to play a role for me. A few of your competitors offer this, after a certain price point, and when that means I can get an extra Rhodia dotpad or two thrown in for the cost of shipping, I might choose to go to another source. Maybe I’m justifying this, but I do think it’s also healthy and beneficial for the fountain pen community when my business is spread around and I don’t just use one company over the others. You all carry a different variety of items, so that may determine my source, even if some of the items I purchase are available at all retailers. When I can get it from anywhere though, free shipping sometimes tips the scales. Times are tough, you know, and it adds up. (I know it does for you too though!)
Melanie Boetel well I really appreciate your honesty! Thanks for all your support, even if you spread it around and it’s not always meaning you shop with my store. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Don’t get me wrong, most of my pen and related purchases have come wrapped in your signature blue and I’ve enjoyed many a tootsie pop while inking a pen!
I think one thing you can do to add value, and this is just a suggestion, but maybe have Brian hand-deliver the pen to the customer, on an immaculate white pillow, after trekking from Virginia on foot, uh also the caveat that it's with no shoes on* (*flip flops count as shoes), and then after he inks it up, he'll hang out all day saying pangrams for you to practice writing. Oh oh, also tell him to pick up a box of Gushers on the way. I mean, otherwise it's almost not WORTH it to get my next Metropolitan from y'all...jus' an idea.
thanks love the q&a keep up the great work 👍
Steven Gordon hahahaha!! The gushers, that’s the ringer there! -Brian
You do so much already! It would be cool if there was some sort of index or search engine that would look for answers to a specific question either in the tutorials and/or Q&A videos.
Keith Wixtrom that would be great!!! I’ll think on that one ;) -Brian
190!! I started off with fountain pens with pens my grandpa had when I was really little, he got them in the war and shared them with me. I love kawekos becaue they remind me of him. :) Last year i got really sick in the hospital and couldn’t do art or write anymore up until just this last month. You guys are so encouraging, thanks! :)
stimpson ket thanks for sharing your story. You’re very welcome, I’m glad to be able to help :) -Brian
QOTW: This is probably a hard one but I'd very much like to see better shipping rates for international customers! I understand this is probably not very easy to achieve but I have seen some of your competitors have pretty much half the price on shipping to Europe compared to your cheapest options.
I very much would love to get my hands on a bottle of Liberty's Elysium alongside other items (nib sizes and whatnot) that are not as available here in Europe but when a single 3oz bottle of ink would cost me around $35-40 (not including import duties and customs fees) that's essentially the largest factor holding me back.
To answer your question of the week: I would truly LOVE it if you carried a pen similar to the Serendipity hybrid pen that is made by James Finness. It is so beautiful but practical in the sense that you could test out an ink sample, but instead of just writing a word or two, you could write several pages without re-dipping, there by getting a true sense of an ink sample.....plus I just get freaked out at the thought of glass pen, although they are beautiful, I just know I would probably break it. If the Serendipity pen is impossible to get a contract with, could one of your pen designers, design one for us?? 🙏
yeah, same here. I wanted to order Ahab, few inks and some paper recently, but when i got to choosing delivery options I had to retreat. XD It was doubling the price, literally. So sad
QOTW: I'd really enjoy seeing more behind the scenes videos. How does the stand-up meeting space look? What does the gathering and packing process look like? Think about how Mr. Rogers would do field trips to factories or how "How It's Made" is done.
Yeah, definitely want to do a tour of the new building early in 2018. Lots to show there! We have thought about an 'life of a Goulet order' video to see the fulfillment process. Good feedback! - Colin
I don't mind paying your shipping. I generally shop around for free or cheap shipping but for GPC I think of it differently. You provide value so I don't mind. Amazon does not provide me any education or fun (other than the fun of shopping). I just wait until I have a decent amount to purchase (say $50) and then buy at GPC. I also think the "question" about your corporate lingo was meant differently than you took it. I appreciate your positive attitude about it. I actually really appreciate how dedicated you are to your company's values. It's quite inspirational.
As for things I'd like to see....A little more robust search of Goulet videos (I swear you talked about the Power of Habit once but I can't find it) and I'd love to see you mend that relationship with Sailor and have those for sale. I saw some other comments about offering custom nibs. It would be great to get an architect grind from you. Also, I like when Drew is on once in a while. I LOL when you two are together. Keep up the great work!
I think it would helpful if Goulet Pens would have a calendar on the web site that had dates posted of when new pens were expected to be launched (of course with the understanding these dates were tentative), contest deadlines, new videos to be posted, etc. it would be great at the beginning of the month to be able to pull it up and have everything listed in one place to keep track of so it wouldn’t be forgotten. That way I could remember to save my “monthly pen funds” 😀 for something I see launching later that month or keep up on whatever updates Goulet Pens add to the calendar. Just a thought... not sure how feasible it would be for your company. Thanks for the great videos!
Amy Brazelton huh...that’s actually a really cool idea. We have this internally for our team...one thing I can say about it is it changes. CONSTANTLY. So if we did something like this, it’d never be set in stone. Would it still be helpful to have it even if the dates were only approximate and they changed 80% of the time? -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company It would be totally understandable that the calendar would always be updating with changes to it. We could just keep checking back as often as we want to see what was scheduled. It would be so awesome to have it in a central location on a calendar.
I second her idea. As well as adding it's a pain to check the website over and over and over again to see if something has come yet or not. Calendars are Great!
That's an amazing idea. Maybe do it in Google Calendar so we can all subscribe to it and have the entries show up in our calendars/agendas automatically.
Repeat after me: there is no such thing as free shipping. The shipping costs are either (1) built into the cost of the items and spread across the price of everything; (2) built into the cost of less expensive items to reduce the cost of more expensive items; or (3) due to economies of scale on the seller's end, the cost of shipping can be partially absorbed and/or (1) and (2). Probably more possibilities, but these are the ones that come up most often. Expertise is worth the cost. Amazon ain't producing information you can use about the products they carry.
notconvincedgranny well said -Brian
QOTW: It would be awesome if you could package the educational videos/slices you do relating to specific topics, (like FP101, Maintenance procedures, ink resources, tutorials, etc) as a single downloadable file or package for offline viewing. I have found the videos to be extremely valuable as I started with fountain pens. I appreciate how much you do to increase knowledge and awareness in the community and find that value to be what has drawn me into fountain pens more than anything else.
Hmmm, that's an interesting thought. I know there's some work arounds with downloading from YT directly, but we could look to put the FP101 series as a downloadable option on our site. I'll look into it! - Colin
I would FP101 in a downloadable format! That would be a great option to give along with a pen to a new user.
People, lay off about the free shipping.... get over it! If you had to get into your car and drive somewhere to a brick and mortar store that would cost you gas money and your time. Would you expect free gas? No. So stop expecting free shipping. The shipping isn't even that bad. This is why we are losing so many little companies bc you expect them to offer the same deals as a billion dollar corporation (ie. Amazon) and its just not possible. Come on people, give Brian a break, he already does every other thing perfectly, fast shipping, great customer service, tons of free and easy to understand content videos, i mean really.... what more do you want? Oh yea, thats right, FREE SHIPPING😒😬
@1:01:00 ""...you could be literally sitting on your couch in your underwear in Australia..."
* pauses TH-cam *
* awkward silence *
* covers laptop camera with black tape *
* waves at tape for next 5 minutes *
Hahahahaha!!!!!!
QoTW: 1. Have an in-house nib-meister and offer pen tuning/grinding out the door as part of the buying experience. I don't know how feasible this would be but having the ability to have a pen 'tuned' and perfect out of the box would be huge. Currently no company (retailer) does this that I'm aware of, some pen companies do so, but you have to want a pen from that specific company first :)
I could get on board with this real fast! Happy to pay a reasonable fee for a quick tune up or customization.
xThemadpoet nibs.com sells pens with tuning. So does the nibsmith.com
Liz McGuire what would be a fair price for you? -Brian
xThemadpoet yeah, I definitely have an interest in this. Nibmeisters are...hard to come by. Truth be told, I love doing this work and would be interested to do it myself...ironically, my current duties at GPC demand so much time it’s rare I can do it more than as a hobby in my free time. What a catch 22 ;) -Brian
I would determine that by shopping around. I don't have much of an idea what nib meisters charge - I've only researched for one issue. But it looks like $35 to $50 for smoothing or flow adjustment to very simple repair (like a slightly bent tine) might be the going rate. More complex fixes go up from there. Anywho, I'm not one to say, "I'm only going to pay $x.", rather, I would look at the price, look around at what others charge, and say, "That looks like the going rate." and then, given the choice between paying you guys, who I've come to trust, or paying someone new with whom I have no experience, I'd go with you guys (I'd probably even pay a little higher since I'm rather risk averse).
It was interesting to watch this video, it makes me more knowledgeable of things that relate to fountain pens. Thank you Brian, you are brilliant!
QOTW: I think you and your team are doing excellent work for the community! My suggestion for adding value would be a tiered shipping cost system. Maybe this is something that's already in place, and I haven't seen it yet, but here goes. I know that it costs less for USPS to ship lighter items and smaller boxes than it does for heavier/larger items. For example: it would cost less to ship a pack of sample vials than two bottles of ink. I'm not saying free shipping. I know that the cost of free shipping is hidden in there among all the items. Just my two cents. And keep up the tootsie pops! I remember there was one order I placed that didn't have one, and it made me a little sad. I always look forward to that personal touch.
Goulet already helped make my FP experience better. The videos are great, If I get someone interested in FPs, I just send them your videos. The contests/giveaways gets anyone hyped about possibly acquiring a new pen and following brian on social media is like having an online friend who enables your habits LOL
Blue Plague thank you! -Brian
*QOTW* I understand that as a company you don't choose to vendor at FP shows, but perhaps as many videos do target new comers to the hobby, they could be talked about in videos and blog posts in a general fashion more often.
Background: I asked a friend for a recommendation on what I could use to write a nice inscription for a mutual friend in a custom sketch book I was giving as a gift. He suggested FPs, which he'd been using as a high schooler for years, but which I knew absolutely nothing about. A quick TH-cam search turned up Brian's videos, 4 or 5 days later after watching the first 80 Q&As and all the FP101 videos I made my first purchase (and haven't looked back....or stopped....since). I honestly didn't even know shows existed, until by chance Goulet didn't carry a product I really wanted and I had to go to another vendor. There I saw something about the Chicago Pen Show. I decided to go, and I'm sooo glad I did. If at all possible I think all people reasonably new to the hobby should try to go if there's a show close to them. Even if only once, it's such an experience to learn from so many people and hold so many pens. Brian is so good at captivating an audience of new pen users that perhaps addressing shows in a general manner would help raise awareness of them.
BTW....Thank you Brian for providing so much clear information in an easy to understand format, in a totally NOT boring manner!!!
Free shipping on orders over $50 (or something similar) would make it so much easier for me to justify "smaller" purchases of ink, nibs, notebooks, Goulet accessories , etc. right now I am tend to find myself waiting, sometimes for severally weeks, to make those purchases until I get around to buying a pen. I normally purchase pens in the $150+ range, so shipping is not a factor in buying pens from Goulet, but I do find myself hesitating to make smaller purchases.
Interesting. I recently compared the price of an order of ink, notebooks, and a pen from Goulet to the same items from a competitor that offered free shipping. The competitor had a slight undercut on the price of the same pen, but each of the smaller items was more expensive at the competitor's. Even with free shipping, the competitor did not beat Goulet's price. And this is how and why free-shipping is able to be acheived. You pay for it in other ways.
Additionally, Goulet shipped my item faster (same day), Goulet's shipping option was also superior to the competitor's. I also bought something from the competitor, and even though the competitor is only less than a state over, Goulet's items came faster from a longer distance. With a hand written note, and super secure packaging. So yea.
TheBurrito171 yeah, this is often how it goes. There really is no such thing as free shipping. I’m glad my team is rocking and rolling, sounds like you’re experiencing exactly what we intended! -Brian
Dominick Bergeron and to be 100% honest, this is the toughest thing to achieve. While you are most inclined to need free shipping on smaller orders, this is when I can least afford to do it. Smaller orders don’t often cost much if any less to ship, they take just as much overhead, and I don’t make as much margin to absorb additional costs like shipping subsidies. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Brian, thank you so much for your reply. This is why I buy from Goulet. You have been a spectacular resource and you are single handedly the reason I collect fountain pens. I have made all of my purchases from Goulet not only because you guys consistently have some of the best prices in the industry but because you guys have done more to support the community than any other retailer I have come across. Thank you for everything you do and I will always buy from you guys because of what you do for us. More than I want free shipping I want the Goulet Pen Company to continue providing us with the value that you have. You have been very discerning in the way you run your business and I trust that you guys do everything in your power to bring us the best experience you can. Keep it up and write on!
I think flexpert should be an addition to fountain pen language.
Charles Patrick haha, glad you like that -Brian
I like the idea of facilitating local meetups - kind of like the Pelikan Hubs they have now - Goulet Groupies? :) I also like the nib meister idea someone already posted.
I disagree with the whole "free" shipping craze, but I like the idea of cheaper shipping for cheap, smaller items. If I recall, you use the smallest postal one-rate box, and this may be the only economical option for you guys, but if it were possible to put little things like converters, Lamy spare nibs, or boxes of ink cartridges, into an even smaller container and thereby pay less for shipping, that would be nice (like many, I just pile these things up until I place a big order, or sometimes toss them into my cart on Amazon, if they have them). Don't know if that's even possible or if the labor costs would offset any savings, just mentioning. By no means do I want you to eat the cost of the shipping or incur higher overhead to accomplish this.
And I feel bad for the international customers - shipping out of the US is ridiculously expensive compared to shipping into it (from many places). Not that I think there's anything you or we can do about that, just expressing sympathy.
And thanks for the education and search / filtering tools on your website - they're the best out there!
This is just to second the comments of many others: free shipping (maybe conditionally on orders over $X or with membership) would definitely sway me. As it stands, the difference between ordering from Goulet vs. other online retailers (who often also offer below-MSRP) can be as much as $20 for a bottle of ink. I get that this cuts into the profit margin for Goulet. There's not a question of blame or fault or whatever, but I'm simply not going to donate $20 to a for-profit business just because I like them, which is what paying more would effectively be when I have a cheaper substitute available. I'd estimate that I've spent several hundreds of dollars buying from other retailers over the past couple of years on items where Goulet might have otherwise been a preferred source. Whether the increasing volume to offset decreasing margins works out for Goulet's accounting is something only they can determine... I still do buy from Goulet from time to time. Maybe once or twice a year. But sticking to MSRP and not offering free shipping has definitely sent me to other retailers on most occasions...
Daniel Pi wow, $20 on a single bottle of ink? The only scenario I can see where that’s even possible is obviously premium bottles of ink where there are overseas dealers selling directly from their home country. I know Iroshizuku was one where we were getting severely undercut from dealers in Japan selling on Amazon in the US, but since Pilot lowered their price in the US and we have Iroshizuku for $20 that has cut that price gap down quite a bit. The thing I can say about prices where there’s that much of a difference, the overseas dealers are often operating as such low margins that if I were to match I would lose money and eventually not be able to continue to operate. So in the macro view, it really does matter where you buy bc you vote with your dollars. When it’s that big of a price gap, I understand how tempting that is though. -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company Yeah, Iroshizuku is the extreme case. I get that you can't compete with Amazon on price, given their razor thin margins and economies of scale. And I'm not averse to paying a bit more to support businesses I like. But let's be clear: at that point you're essentially asking for a donation. That's not unreasonable given that you do a lot of stuff that makes you worth supporting, and I do order from you guys once or twice a year. I'm happy to pay a bit more, because you do the videos and make stuff available that otherwise wouldn't be, which I value. But you're asking us what you could do to win more business and why. So yeah, throw me a bit of free shipping on orders over $100 (or whatever), and I'd bite more often. I don't know how the math works out for you, though. I don't think you should offer free shipping unless the increase in volume would be sufficient to offset the decrease in margin. You're a business: only do what increases profit in the long run. To the extent you're asking us to get a sense of the shape of the demand curve, yeah, the shipping is a factor. On a lot of items, I'm willing to pay a couple bucks more on price. But tack on $5-$10 more on shipping, and it pushes me past my tipping point.
I get what you're saying about supporting a business that provides value over and above the good exchanged. And I think most people get that. But it matters how much. Look, there are just thresholds: I'm willing to donate $20 to NPR to get a tote bag when I could get an equivalent from Amazon for $5. But I wouldn't pay $21... You get the point...
I think a level of purchase gets free shipping $50 = free shipping for example could be $75 whatever it is that fits for you guys. Would be very nice.
This could also benefit you guys because as a customer I'd see "well if I spend this extra 5-10 dollars I get free shipping" I'd likely drop another item into the cart that I was on the fence about.
I know shipping people work extremely extremely hard and provide a very important service but any chance I get to not pay for it will leave me feeling like I got better value because all my money went to the items I'm going to keep.
Regardless thanks to every one at team Goulet!
Like those sections behind the right shoulder. A little too big for even me. ;-) Last year I gave a lamy gift set to a friend who expressed interest in the pen she saw me using. She was delighted to receive that gift.
I would really like to see a return to the question pop-up at the start of each one. This allows me to visually find and move on to the next question if a particular one does not interest me. When there are no visual markers, it's harder to navigate. Otherwise thanks for the great Q&As and congrats in advance on #200!
There are time-stamps with the questions in the description, but we're definitely going to have those pop-ups here soon now that we have a videographer on board! - Colin
QOTW: I know this would be a HUGE undertaking, but in addition to the ink swabs for color, it would be amazing to see how the ink behaves on multiple types of paper, standardized with one nib size, like a Lamy fine. We already know how inks behaves on the paper in the swatches, but seeing how ink behaves on a few different common types of paper would be amazing. I'd love to see feathering/bleedthrough comparisons on Rhodia/Clairefontaine, the most common weight of office copy paper, and a cheap brand of loose-leaf notebook paper.
While not us, I would like to shoutout Mountain of Ink's reviews (www.mountainofink.com/ ). Each review has a pretty thorough breakdown of each ink across different paper. It's not all encompassing to the inks we offer, but definitely a good resource. That said, this is definitely something we're trying to think through to standardize. Certainly an undertaking, but could be great information to have before buying. - Colin
QOTW: It would be great if you showed where the 'center of gravity(the point where the pen perfectly balances)' is on each pen(with a dot or arrow on the picture of the pen). Along with the nib nook and pen plaza, it would be a great educational tool to find out the balance of each pen.
강현준 that’s a great idea...I will give that some more thought -Brian
Give me TWO lollipops! That would definitely improve my experience! I would also like to see you make an XXF Goulet nib.
Brian....That last question about business jargon was brilliant really liked your explanation - a lot.
Considering your start, wooden pens, Rachel in the spare room packing papers, to where you are now! with just making the move to a new premises and 40odd colleagues working for you, it strikes me that you don't have the 'Boss' mentality so readily seen in the UK ( I'm going to get flak for that) The level of communication is where a company of 2 or 40odd succeeds or grinds slowly to a halt through resentment and animosity. The many kinds of meeting where things get 'thrashed' out (buzzword?) it does sound like a big family where the interest in the individual benefits the whole team,,, What more can I say? It was just bloody awesome to hear how you lot go about it.
Qotw... Hmmmm let's see 😈... how about Brian dressed in a crimson and black basque holding a wand with a star on top made out of Lamy pens with Hmmmm Drew, yes I think that's the 'boy' throwing shredded up pieces of Rhodia no 19 block over your head shouting softly 'Visconti pens suck- - - buy a Noodlers Ahab'. 😨 maybe not!
media.giphy.com/media/QgixZj4y3TwnS/giphy.gif
How about a mega give away for the 200 Q&A...
Best wishes to all pen people.
LeZc
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QoTW: since you have a great range of standard #6 nibs, it would be great if you could add modifications to the range such as Cursive Italic , Italic variations too ... Maybe Architect too. I believe that your customers cover a wide range from new to experienced and I've noticed that many do try and use regularly These variants. It may mean some inventory carrying costs ... Sort of get them in a sufficient quantity once or twice a year ... But I guess that apart from higher priced pens ... Nibs would be imho the next level to go as a line extension of the Goulet branded products.
Shub99 this would be a challenge but I feel ya -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company well ... It would be brilliant but I guess the business case comes first as you've mentioned
QOTW: I would love for you (Brian) to re-introduce pen reviews with writing samples (a la The Pen Habit/ SBREBrown) like you used to do years ago. Also ink reviews (by either you and/or Rachel) would be great too! Pen reviewers are vast but you have a deep knowledge/background of every product you sell and can bring something fresh and (to quote you) 'intentional' to the table.
no separate listings for different nib types of the same penmodel, but a drop-down menu in one listing! this would make searching on the site so much les confusing.
Yeah, I hear you. Definitely would make things cleaner, but as of now, it's not logistically feasible. Each nib size is a different product code which is built into our accounting & fulfillment. Could be something we tackle in the future though! - Colin
Do you have a playlist for your business videos/questions? I think that would be nice.
Not quite a playlist, but we do have a slices Library with business questions on there at the bottom: blog.gouletpens.com/goulet-qa/goulet-q-slices - Colin
Education based: I would love to see a video geared toward the artistry side of pen/ink usage. How can ink be used to (simple) sketch with color? What triad of colors could be used to compliment one another in a pleasing quick draw? That sort of thing. I am new to fps/inks and Goulet but I am so happy I've found the company and I am learning by leaps and bounds with Q&A vids. Thanks so much for giving so much...:-)
Good idea! Definitely something we want to cycle in more for our content. Just figuring out how to leverage our more artistic employees in a easy to understand format. Something to think on for sure! - Colin
"Steven's my boi" Love it
Hi Brian - for QOTW I would love to see you offer something along the lines of Nib Tuning for the pens you sell, smoothing, ink flow adjustment and the like. To take it one step further possibly even offer custom grinds like cursive italic, or stub if not available from the pen manufacturer. Now I can, and do, send some of my pens off to have work done on them, but to have it 100% perfect to my taste right out of the gate would be wonderful.
Funny part about lingo. When you start talking about in a family setting the only thing i can think is the way my family uses the word "thing" as it can be a transition, emphatic phrase, verb, basically anything. It can get confusing initially and then it becomes normal
QOTW: I know you guys gets a lot of shipping related requests but one thing that would really add value to me would be reasonably priced flat rate shipping internationally (Canada specifically) since I understand that free shipping probably isn’t feasible. I remember when GPC had a 10% off ink and paper promo when y’all moved office spaces, and I would have bought a lot of ink bottles if the shipping hadn’t been that expensive.
I swear to god this is the first time I watch Goulet Q&A 190.
Yan Doroshenko thank you, and welcome!!! -Brian
QOTW and Random thoughts:
I agree that Corporate buzz-words can, and probably are more often than not, be done poorly. People have shared vocabulary with friends and another with families etc so it is natural to have a similar phenomenon happen where you spend the majority of your time. Beyond that, It is not enough to simply have a shared vocabulary, a company must believe and live whatever they "buzzing", which sounds like something GPC does well.
QOTW
I've seen several people post about prime and shipping. Is there value in GPC offering an annual shipping price, similar to prime, or have people select the pricing they would like to pay? For example 2 week shipping is less than priority
Tours of the GPC could be fun- perhaps once a quarter to meet other enthusiasts and test out product. Like a mini pen show but hosted by GPC.
I love the length of the Q&A - particularly the business sections especially with the addition of the time tags in the description and the snippets that come after.
How heavy is the iron pen? I love it but weight can be a problem for me. The hubby has a ystudio i am jealous of. :)
stimpson ket it’s 54g overall, 33g in the body. Pretty heavy! -Brian
thanks!
As far as your question, it would be awesome to get some videos on creative paper projects (make an old school letter) and some ink colors/paper color contrasts.
Your website is far better than any other online retail website I've ever used for answering any potential questions I could have about a product or the process of buying. However, it would be cool if the related products at the bottom could show the package sets. i.e. if I'm browsing say the Lamy 2000, it generally just shows that you can get this in the other nib sizes. But if it could show that hey you can get this in the Boardroom Boss package set, which happens to also contain an ink that i'm interested in too, that would be pretty helpful. I just find I land up having to check all the package sets to make sure I'm not doubling up on things.
In terms of me purchasing more, i would be more encouraged to make additional purchases if you had free shipping, for say above $50 or $100. I often land up missing on like the seasonal items just because I struggle to justify the shipping (as it is international fees) when my cart isn't say over $200ish.
stephS286 that’s a wonderful idea! Thank you :) the shipping I will give more consideration, it’s clearly a hot topic in the comment here -Brian
QOTW: 1. You mentioned that some of your team members had to learn some words that are used regularly when talking about fountain pens. What words are there? I know ghosting, railroad, feathering, and I understand what you mean by flushing and piston fillers, but I'm sure there are tons of other words that I don't know.
2. I'm not sure if this is a against any agreements or rules(?), but sometimes there are pens that pop up from companies that aren't the well known brands- can you talk about those? Or mention those pens so we know what else is out there? (Inks too!)
Thank you for the videos and all of the information you provide! I've learned a lot from you.
Xeqcme 1. Haha, yeah, there is a ton of pen knowledge especially when you get deep into it. You’d be amazed how detailed our questions are from the community, like specific techniques used on Namiki Maki-e pens, “tooth” in reference to paper smoothness, or internal components of pens like a piston seal or nib housing threads.
2. Oh, I can talk about whatever I want, my lack of talking about smaller, lesser known brands is purely a matter of practicality. I only have so many hours in a day, and so much time to research, buy, and experience certain pens. My priority is always the ones I’m selling because that’s undoubtedly what I’m going to be asked about the most, and customers expect me to know about my own products. I try to speak about other pens when I know about them, but often I know little more than what I’ve read or I’m having to make assumptions based on their stats. -Brian
As my collection grows, I think more and more that paying the 5 dollars of shipping from you is an investment: if something goes wrong (and it did) with a Sailor I got on eBay from Japan, I'm on my own. On the other side, I know that if something goes wrong with a pen I got from you, you'll go the extra mile to solve the problem. To me, it's becoming a sort of insurance on my pen, you don't get it until you go through it.
It's hard to believe you've done 190 Q&As. That's 3 years, 8 months, 2 weeks (if my quick math is right). I don't know what is better, that you've made 190 or that I've seen 150 of them. *I think I'm going Goulet blind*.
David J I’ve missed a few weeks here and there over the years. But yeah, it’s been a lot. I’m happy to do it, and honored that you (and others) grant me so much of your attention! -Brian
David J pens are the best workout i could figure out for my hands.
Well, thank you.
I would like someone who watches all these videos to count how many times Brian says, "That said..." lol
I will say, though, that, even though the vast majority of these pens hold no interest to me personally, mostly because of cost, I have learned so much about different pens, how they are made, and how to care for them. Thanks.
I actually enjoy the business speak in addition to the pen talk ; )
It would be great if you could do some pen reviews. I know there are a few people already doing them but I think adding your companies voice to them would be great.
As we get the new videographer in, we do hope to have more reviews/overviews of pens. So hopefully that's something we do more in the future. - Colin
The Goulet Pen Company
Thank you.
Hi , I would like to know if you got any black friday sales? ...like....pleaseeeeeee
Make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter ... :) -Margaret
QOTW: Well for starters a cheaper shipping on smaller items. And I have question too....would you be restocking the Jinhao 159? (Like the yellow color)
I believe the Yellow 159 was discontinued from our distributor unfortunately! Really like the look of the orange as an alternative though. - Colin
The Goulet Pen Company already have the orange.....will order the black and white tho. Thanks :)
Yay more Goulet!
Shout out i just got the three pilots you sent me! :) My husband got me a green, an orange and a purple and I feel so lucky. I seriously just got them. ;) I’m on the couch in Toronto. :) i had a question about if you have sample bottles of the herbin inks for example. Iet me know?Have a great weekend.
P.s. thank you to samilia, they are well packed. The colours all remind me of when i was kid in 1965. ;)
The white Pelikan....:) In love!
QOTW: I'd really like to have Goulet #5 nibs. I have the #6 set and it's so great to be able to experience the complete range of nib sizes; I find it a pity that the same doesn't exist for my #5-sized pens.
rainbull001 noted. This is fairly feasible. -Brian
I think I missed the deal, but is there a chance there's gonna be a free Iroshizuku ink with the purchase of either VP or Pilot Falcon?
Nya Hue maaaaaaybe ;) -Brian
I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again - you guys have an amazing rapport with the community. Keep up the good work!
For me part of the issue is that there some pens I want, even within brands you carry, that you don't get. For example the Kaweco Special AL I ordered from somewhere else but I would have loved to order it from you. I would love if there was some sort of voting mechanism or even the option to sort of "kickstart" Goulet getting a pen. I would happily preorder a pen that you would only fulfill if there were X amount of orders. Also I'd love more Goulet Edition pens like stores in other countries, I know this is more of a manufacturer thing because they want a large commitment but I just want like a Kaweco with the Goulet pens name on it or something simple. (Again I know that probably isn't doable, but one can dream)
Tess Botkin that’s a pretty cool idea actually! Yeah sometimes doing an exclusive has really really high minimums, especially the lower the price of the pen. It’s always something to look into though -Brian
Hey, guys, I was wondering if you could help me make a decision between two pens for my first gold nib pen. The two pens I was choosing between; The sailor Pro gear slim demonstrator or the pilot custom heritage 92. If you have any other good sugestions I'm looking to hear other good options, I am looking for a smooth demonstrator. Best wishes, Nathan.
I have limited experience with the Pro Gear slim, to be completely honest. Rachel has a broad one that was surprisingly scratchy out of the box. The build quality of the pen is really nice, and that nib was likely a fluke, that was just my experience with it. It’s a popular pen though, so no doubt it’s worth serious consideration. It’s a cartridge converter pen so ink capacity wouldn’t be as high as the Custom 92. I absolutely love the way the 92 Nib writes, so for me it gets higher rank than what I’ve experienced with the Pro Gear. But the 92 costs more and doesn’t have as many color choices. So it’s really a personal preference-Brian
Looking a little slimmer. Keep up the hard work.
Francisco Del Real thanks! Feeling a little slimmer :) I’ve lost about 18lbs in the last two months. All diet. -Brian
I have a question if getting a pilot metropolitan or an al star lamy pen kaboom or safari is better for an entry level pen that is not too expensive?
TheRoyalPotatoKing -nothing - nothing - nothing the great debate! Metropolitan vs Safari ;) it’s often fairly split, but usually I lean towards Metro -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company the metro I just got made up my mind. So smooth!
What are the options available in flex nib pens other then pilot falcon . Or price range below pilot falcon apart Ahab.
There's not a whole lot besides Noodlers'. The Konrad & Nib Creaper are also options within that brand. Karas Kustoms makes titanium nibs that have flex to it (thought I wouldn't say they're flex pens). - Colin
The buzzword section was interesting. I've been in IT support all my working life since 1986 and engineers tend to tell it like it is, shunning poor business communication as a way to make noise without saying anything. However over the years I've become more of a team leader / line manager and have to slip into that mode sometimes, making me cringe. What makes it a different creature over the last 9 years is that I've been on the phones & in tickets with our customers. We are business to business. This means I deal a lot with CEOs, business leaders, the whole spectrum. Many are not IT-savvy so I've had to mould my approach better to suit that audience. I now talk more about key stakeholders, key revenue generators and so on. If their servers are down then what do I need to do to help the caller prioritise? The loudest voice isn't necessarily the highest priority but sometimes a caller needs help in coming to that realisation. OK, I can't do anything about problem X right now, but I might be able to do something with problem Y. Would that help you to keep control of the issue? More about partnership and less about customer versus supplier. I've found an approach to these problems that works well most of the time, but it all boils down to trying to speak their language without just being a droid or an echo chamber. It's harder than people think.
Hey there Brian! Do you have any recommendations for Fountain Pen Friendly Paper usable in school? (8.5" * 11")
Clairefontaine is definitely a good way to go. They have spiral bound, hole-punched notebooks that'd work great: www.gouletpens.com/clairefontaine-classic-lined-wirebound-notebook/p/C68145 - Colin
Thanks!
Sometimes, Brian, when a pen stops flowing well (but still has plenty of ink), I give the nib a lick. Are there some inks that have one or more ingredients that even in small amounts could harm me? (In five or six hours or writing, it might happen once or twice.)
Michael Winn inks aren’t made to be consumable, so I can’t really condone this practice with any degree of confidence. Some inks are more natural than others, but none of them post any msds or nutritional information, so imho it’s best not avoid investing any ink -Brian
Michael Winn Tootsie pop = lick, nib = no lick
Would love to have a free shipping opportunity (would also love briefer Q & A answers).
Mark Rich i like the long q and a. We could easily spend our pen money locally but seriously, goulet is very family to me, like hanging out on a bbs in the 80’s. Maybe i’m too nostalgic. We. have Wonderpens and Leywines here in Toronto, but Brian even looks like one of our best friends. maybe there is no solution.
Mark Rich have you seen my early ones? I was much shorter there. Seems I’ve gotten more verbose as time goes on. Maybe I’ll try s special “rapid fire” episode ;) -Brian
I'm not sure about breaking in on flex nibs. Any permanent deformation of the metal is likely to make the metal harder rather than softer. It's a quirk of metal called work hardening.
QOTW: My needs are well met for the moment. Thanks for doing all you do.
I wish this was cut into parts there's a lot that I'm not interested in and then a little that I was but it was difficult to find them.
In the description, there are time-stamps for each questions if you want to bounce around to those you're interested in. - Colin
I think it would be nice to see Canadian pricing on the web site. every time i buy i always have to figure out the conversion. then when i get the bill is alot higher.
johncarlosbe that is so true...current limitations on our site but we’re looking into our options -Brian
QOTW: I would definitely want nib customization! Other people mentioned this before as well. There aren't many people who do work on nibs well. But personally I'd pay fair amounts to get my spencerian nib or added flex from John Mottishaw, or my cursive italics from Mike Masuyama, or an architect grind from such and such. And I don't mind waiting a little more for my pen to arrive. I love the shopping experience I get from the Goulet Co, but I find that this is missing. I find the pens I get with customisation, have value that justify the shipment and custom fees AND surpasses anything I can find locally at the moment (I'm from Turkey btw). Don't get me wrong though I love all my pens! But the customized ones tend to be more interresting due to their uniqueness
muallaemine this would be a dream for me. Part of the challenge is nibmeisters like the ones you mentioned are already incredibly backlogged, so trying to set up arrangements with them kind of falls flat. It’s on my radar though for sure! -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company You have a point there, but there is a good reason why we go nuts over the pens these guys handle😊.. I can see and appreciate the crazy logistics and arrangements you're facing on this issue. And maybe businesswise it might not be too rewarding, I wouldn't know. (Actually count this as a question for q&a at some point 😁) But I think you can figure it out. You seem like a company that grows steadily towards specific goals that you set for yourself.. so would this be a realistic goal for you to set for the future? And what would be the challenges you foresee on this issue, besides nib meisters being overloaded? And isn't there a way to pre-order ready made nibs from them (like Franklin-Christoph)? Maybe you can choose certain specific pens that have alternative separate customized nibs before hand, to make the selling process easier and relatively faster.. I would love to hear your thoughts on these issues. Thanks for all your efforts and the great work you put in your business that we've come to expect from Goulet. It's great to be able to reference a company to someone who asks, knowing they will have a good experience no matter what happens
QOTD: I would love to purchase from you more often. Shipping to Australia is quite expensive. It just means I save up my orders or group order with friends. It does mean that the more impulse purchases are from more local stores. I know you cant make shipping too cheap. Perhaps free shipping for orders over 80usd? incentive to add a few more things to a cart :D
Simon Green the shipping costs are real, and even $80 would not even be close to enough to cover free international shipping. It’d honestly have to me something in the $250+ range to even consider it. I just don’t have the margin to absorb international shipping unless it’s a really expensive order -Brian
I know that you've talked about the struggle with carrying Sailor, and its pretty disappointing that they are stingy about who they let carry their product. I have wanted a Sailor 1911 and have been tempted to buy elsewhere. However, i want to provide business with the company which got me into pens. Do you believe that you'll ever carry their products?
Christopher Fennell that’s really up to them. I’m doing what I can to provide an olive branch to them, and the time just hasn’t come yet. I have no indication that it will happen soon but I’m optimistic it may happen someday. It means so much that you want to support my company that much, thank you -Brian
Pilot falcon, pilot custom 74 or pilot e95s?
I can’t decide
You really can't go wrong either way. Pilot Falcon has the soft nib allowing for line variation. The Custom 74 can fit the Con-70 allowing for more ink capacity. And the E95s is the most stylish of the 3 & portable. Really depends on what you're looking for. I would lean towards the Custom 74 in terms of all-around ability. - Colin
QOTW Tab on website for pen show when and where they are happening.
I hope I'm not too late but if anyone is still watching and sees this comment, My fountain pen is pushing out too much ink, but its not leaking onto the paper. The problem is that alot of the ink stays on the feed and I'm worried it will dry before I can use it. Is thi s normal or should the ink be released in a thinner stream?
Consider going to fountainpennetwork.com or another forum like on reddit where a lot of people can see it, ask for more detail, and hopefully help you. In my experience, your problem may be from a nib/feed that's not firmly seated down into the section (need to be pushed in deeper); or there's a crack somewhere letting extra air in; or it's a pen with an ebonite feed which needs to be set (Brian has a video about setting Noodler's feeds). Good luck with your pen. (Of course, if it never drips ink, it may be nothing to worry about at all - unless you leave it uncapped, I doubt the ink drying out will be an issue - though that's just a guess and we don't have enough enough to say for sure.)
This is my first time watching this... today... Does that count?
Quade235 haha, I’ll take it! ;) -Brian
Brian, we never see your actual writing, short of the nib examples. What do you do with your pens? I want to see several people's writing samples interpret by a professional. Are there any particular sealing waxes and highlights you prefer? If so why? If you don't want to answer my questions feel free to send me some M&M's and my mouth will stay busy.
Scott Sneddon point taken! Personally I don’t think my handwriting is very noteworthy (haha pun) but I can definitely do more to show/talk about how I feel about pens as I use them. That’s on the docket for when we get a videographer in here -Brian
QOTW: I'm just bummed out that I can't buy from you from London without spending MUCH more money. Have you ever considered opening another office in Europe?
Baran Aygun it’s not at all practical for me to consider. The overhead alone would increase my prices to where you wouldn’t save anything over what I currently charge for shipping, no doubt -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company I can imagine that. Thank you for adding some context to my thoughts.
Man... I’d love to write your commercial insurance policies! That would be awesome!
GL, Property/BPP, Cyber, Commercial Auto... ah man! That would be awesome!
Umm .... Yeahh... If you could just go ahead ... Yeah... As a corporate employee since ever ... Buzzwords are umm yeah ... Are an anathema... Yeah ... Quite useless as they tend to indicate a lack of belief, understanding and commitment... I think people appreciate an honest discussion .. Short or long to get behind an idea or focus on an area ... Buzz words have become hollow facades to not explain and yet expect people to arrive at the same understanding and comprehension .... But great that you took this on ... Ummm ... Yeah ...
Shub99 haha -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company I'm a seriously jaded employee .. it's been a merry go round of buzz words ..but I think we're on the same page here .. so I'll stop jumping the shark and swim with the dolphins 😉😈
No one gave me Tootsie pops except goulet-----just sayin’
brian carpenter haha, well that just settles it right there.... -Brian
Could Goulet Pens help with local communities hosting a pen show?
William Kelly theoretically, though this is totally outside our wheelhouse. Other than having the pens and enjoying talking about them. Event planning, especially in different locales, would be a challenge for us. Brian
Hello Brian, I'm not suggesting you do the work. Perhaps guidelines, tips, templates, sponsorship info, and possibly a remote webcast for Q/A would be possible.
Super selfish but I wish there were more bundles with kind of pen maintenance items (like pen flush, micromesh, etc.). I always plan to get these things but I end up spending money on things like converters and inks which will more directly affect my writing experience, even though I know that I really should get stuff for maintaining my pens and that that's part of the experience. Also, we really need a Goulet Pens Canada. Just throwing that out there. ;)
Interesting feedback. We've thought about adding some cleaning essentials to some start pens (Metro/Safari), but it hasn't been implemented. I would say for anyone getting into FPs, our Cleaning & Tuning set (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-pen-cleaning-tuning-package-set/p/Package-GP-All ) is a must before diving too deep into more pens. - Colin
Tocco ferro means "touch iron"
"...on your lounge in your underwear, in Australia..." I thought I turned off my webcam, sorry there.
Feedback to improve my Goulet experience, off the top of my head, free Namiki Yukari Maki-e with every order over $20 ;)
Seriously though it would be useful to be able to pre-order and especially pay for pre-orders. I understand logistically it may not be possible but I am someone who still shops online like its with cash, that is I have never had nor ever will have a Credit card. Buying with debt sounds like the dumbest thing to ever do. I believe its better to work hard and save and buy when you have the money in hand essentially. So I have a debit card so I can purchase through the normal credit card ecommerce systems but only if I have the money at the moment. I'm not rich enough to have a rolling buffer of thousands in the debit card and I have bills being automatically paid from this account. So if the ecommerce system doesn't take my money when I order when I know the cash is there it may not be there at the end of the week or month or whenever the retailer batch processes. This becomes problematic for both of us. It also means when Goulet unexpectedly gets a limited edition in earlier than expected I may not be able to purchase and so miss out, where I may have been fine paying in full two days earlier if a preorder option was available. Juggling my budget is no problem if I know for certain where my cash is going and feeling safe knowing it goes immediately when I buy something, not on friday when the retailer batch processes. maybe it could be something that becomes available on the site to VIP customers (customers who've spent a minimum of $X for example with you), maybe you already have that and I'm just another peasant. For example the twsbi mini gold came and when very fast, it would have been nice if you had a mechanism to ensure interested customers didnt miss out just because they live on the other side of the world and were asleep the instant you launched, being able to pay in full with pre-order, or some way to reserve one fairly to allow customers who "dont have the cash today but will next thursday payday" to get a chance of buying a special item. Obviously any reservations would have to be limited to a quantity of one to avoid someone monopolising the market (think ticket scalpers). I don't know if you have customers buying specials in 10+ quantities or not that could spoil the chance for others to own the pens and your goal is obviously to have turnover and get pens out the door. Its a bit of a balancing act to meet your business needs (sales) and the needs of the long term enthusiasts (return customers). Hope you'll give it some thought. If you've read this far, thanks, I do enjoy Brian's vids.
That's good feedback for sure! I'm not sure what the logistical hold up has been with pre-orders in the past, but could be something we think through. - Colin
Pent up Pen Habit
Smooth writing on fine vellum
Pen put to the test
#Haiku
miike
Hey, I hate to say it, but the fact that you don't have free shipping has diverted my purchases to amazon on more than one occasion. The most recent being the gun metal color fabric Castel loom.
Amazon can only offer a decently consumer-friendly version of free shipping because they're so big. You can't really expect a smaller business to be able to make the same accomodation that could have realistically only have been reached by hiring tons of experts to come up with an insanely complicated formula that relies on having a ton of fallback. In most cases, free shipping isn't really free, and you will spend more money trying to get to free shipping, or just spend more money on items in general when you aren't even getting free shipping on your order--to pay for other people's free shipping, as the business has to mark up prices all around to compensate for free shipping.
I think people really fixate on the free shipping, but it isn't a realistic expectation of most businesses, and that fixation will often punish the consumer in the end because you spend more money trying to get it or compensating for it. It can be borderline scammy.
I was just giving honest feedback which he asked for in the video.
I understand. It's just that the question was what "could" Goulet do. But realistically, theres only a few companies out there in the world that could deliver an Amazon style free shipping.
(NOTE: I know you're just saying how you feel, and that's good. I'm also just saying how I feel. It just happens to disagree with how you feel. No animosity or disrespect intended.) How is it fair? It means those who placed an order which naturally would have cost a lot to ship got subsidized by those who just needed a quick replacement converter that should have cost less than $4.99 to ship. Nothing fair about that. Alternately, everyone got to pay slightly higher prices to level-out any gap in the shipping fee paid by the customer vs the actual shipping costs paid by the seller. I prefer to pay for what I get than for what other people get; I prefer transparency rather than artificial prices (or, e.g., taxes rolled into the price of the item so I don't know how much tax I'm paying); and I prefer to support businesses like the Goulets' whenever I can, cuz they're good people, even if that means a slightly higher price.
TheBurrito171 I wouldn't expect Amazon style shipping necessarily. But, how about free shipping on orders over $100 or for buying a Visconti. It was Brian Goulet himself that mentioned the free shipping in his video that's the only reason I even brought it up.
QOTW: Sailor products and Akkerman ink.
I have to tell anyone wanting their first fountain pen, please if you just get a varsity pilot prefilled (actually a really good pen) or a platinum preppy from his\a site, please don't get cheap sets from bargain places....I wasted a good 20-30$ over the years when I was younger thinking I was getting a good deal and the pens never worked properly or never worked period. Just an idea since gift giving season is coming up for yourself or others.
Lacey!
First like and first comment! Yaa!
Woo hoo! Congrats :) -Margaret
Thanks for taking my question about black nibs! The review video I mentioned is about the Pilot VP Metallic Valley Green:) th-cam.com/video/WgP6yKWrWCo/w-d-xo.html
FWIW, I have a black EF nib for my Lamy Al-Star and a black Vanishing Point F. I don't have non-black versions of the same things (not that this would make a good sample set anyway) and I don't have SBRE Brown's experience, but both write fabulously and have not needed any smoothing.
Thanks for your advice! That seems to make it clear that black coated vp nibs are as awesome as the other ones.
Thank you for asking this question and to Brian for answering. My husband gave me a Pilot VP for Christmas last year with the black Fine nib and it is really scratchy. I will be watching Brown's video but based on Brian's answer, putting the Goulet nib tuning package in my cart was the way to go.
Let me choose my preferred shipping method. I hate paying for a carrier I hate.
Doreen Dee we have USPS and FedEx right now, is there another carrier you prefer that we don’t currently have? -Brian
Ven-tee-do-AY
Doreen Dee thanks for correcting me, Italian is...not my expertise -Brian
The Goulet Pen Company I don't mean to be pedantic, but as an Italian I can't help myself. :)
I am so glad that I don't have that stand up meeting bullshit at my work. Being a software developer it is an enormous pain in the donkey (I mean ass) when you have to waste your precious time to explain stuff to people that will never truly understand what are you talking about or to give estimates about things that can not be explored until they are done instead of doing actual work and earning money for those people.
Yan Doroshenko lol...like any business tactic it surely needs to be vetted for practicality based on your daily realities. For our team, it was born out of necessity and helps our communication a lot. -Brian