Editing The Pen Addict 280/transcript (section)

== Moleskine Content ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just put it in this morning. So, they go through. It's kind of a travel and lifestyle thing, okay? So, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but they also have some pertinent articles about drawing, you know, some how-to on drawing. They have an article on the daily grind of a distracted freelance writer. So, they're obviously integrating the materials that they sell.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And then, they also have, like, the art and design and travel stuff. Like, I'm into all this type of stuff. So, it's cool to see Moleskine do this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It doesn't make me want to go out and buy a Moleskine, but it makes me want to consume their content. I don't know. Like, we've talked in the past about their apps that they've designed. They do a great job. Like, they're doing a really good job with digital right now. And I think that only serves to boost up the analog parts of the brand. Now, that's where all the arguments lie for me, right? And a lot of people. But I'm impressed. I know they went through an ownership change in the past year or two, I think. And I'm interested, Myke. I'm not interested in buying a notebook yet, but I'm interested in following what they're doing. And I think it's going interesting places. They're certainly putting forth the effort. Like, I remember, I think it was, I don't know, a month or two ago, they even had a, like, a six-month job posting thing that they were looking for. Not quite an internship, but kind of like a, almost like an investment. Like a, I'm blanking on the word. But basically, like, they wanted to get some app developers in to help merge some of their analog and digital tools. An incubator. So, they were going to offer up, like, six groups or three groups a six-month period of time and pay for them to come and work and see what they could create. They're doing some interesting stuff. Like a skunkwugs type dealio.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly. Exactly. So, I don't know, you know. Interesting. I guess is where I'm at with it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, now, if they can, man, if they turn the corner on their paper, it could be a thing. I could see this being a thing. It's already, obviously, the hugest thing in the world on the stationary front, right? How much bigger do they need to begin?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. There is no need, right? There is no need. They don't need you. I mean, this is the thing. They might change something. You never know. But, like, they don't need it because they need to break into this market. They have the whole market sewn up, right? Like, they're good, you know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Stationary is definitely not their focus. And they're a stationary company, right? I think that's a fair statement. So, they... I'm impressed. I don't know what else to say. Another thing I'm impressed with, Myke... So, this is another article that we... Since we haven't talked in a couple weeks, a lot of things kind of happened in the background. And one is this article from Joshua at the Pelican's Perch about Pelicans shifting price strategy for the U.S. market.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' In the past, whenever I've reviewed a Pelican pen, I've always had to have that caveat. Yeah. It's expensive, right? Yeah. But, relative to X, Y, and Z pens, it's expensive. It's worth the price. When you get it, you find a perfect writing instrument. But, it's expensive.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' On top of that, in the U.S. market, you could go overseas to the... Let's call it the worldwide market outside of the U.S. And get a better price than you could from your local retailer or your regional online retailer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, it was always confusing when I talk about Pelican pens about recommending them. I always recommend them. But I always say, hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a caveat every time. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Out of the... I guess I own maybe like five, four or five gold nib, like really good Pelican pens. Only one of them did I ever pay full price on. And that was my very first one, which I got at a pen show. And I got a little bit off of like what the normal, not full MSRP, but like the street price. You know, the MSRP minus 20%, which everyone would sell at kind of thing. Like that's the only time I ever paid full price for a Pelican because they're so widely available. The secondary market for them is huge, even for like the brand new ones. Like I have an M800. I've bought two M800s, which is not the biggest one. The 1000 is. But I've bought two limited edition or rare ones, not main product line ones, for like $400 each. Which their MSRP is probably like eight, something like that. And these were new or slightly used. And it just never made sense in the US market to buy a Pelican at full price. Well, I think they've come to realize it like Aurora did a couple years ago. Where they have a price in... Their price in Europe was well received, but in the US market it wasn't. And they lowered their US market price and, you know, they started doing very well. And I don't know if Pelicans gained anything from that. Or what the exact reasoning of their plans are. And we'll get into that in just a minute. But it's good to see that I think they're seeing the global marketplace as one entity, if you will.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. As it should be in today's world.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. Right. And I know, like, there's all kinds of things to consider as far as, like, pricing consistency around the world. But, and it's very hard to get that exact. Yep. Because there's all kinds of different things you have to deal with.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Currency fluctuations and all that kind of stuff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But at least in the ballpark. Yeah. To where you can say, here's why. You know? Where before, if the pin was $600 on the European market and $800 in the US market and you couldn't go, here's why. You know, you're going to lose that sale in the US market most likely. So, this is good to see, I think. And Dr. Deans at Pen Economics followed up with his own post from an economic standpoint. And he has several very good points. And this is my favorite one. And this is one I say all the time, which is the, they know better than we do aspect. Right? So, he says it in this manner. He says, my preference is always to start my analysis with the assumption that people have all the relevant information and that they make rational, sensible decisions. If a decision doesn't make sense, this assumption forces me to think hard about what the decision maker knows, but I don't. That assumption helps me to see things I otherwise miss and it prevents me from passing off easy answers as though they're true. So, yeah. Like, they know more than we do. Right? Right? We can sit here and come up with all the reasons why. And, yeah, we might hit on those reasons, but we really don't know for sure unless we work for the company. Yeah. But, I appreciate the fact that they see a change and are acting on it. So, that's my main takeaway from this is not necessarily the price, but, hey, get with the times. My customers can shop anywhere in the world that they choose to. Let's just make them buy. We don't care where they necessarily buy it from. Let's just make them buy a Pelican. Right? And I think that's the decision they made. And, of course, it benefits us as a consumer in the end. And hopefully, it benefits them by greater sales. Right? They don't need the additional margin to make those sales, make that money up. You know, more sales will, you know, hopefully boost up everything. So, I like where this is headed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, for sure. Like, it's good to see, like, sensible business like this. Right? Like, this is a good thing to see. You want to see that they're understanding the market that they're working in. They understand the world that they're in today. Right? Like, you can find out the price in other places. You can order from other countries. Right? And, you know, it makes sense to maybe try and level that out a bit, especially when it did so well for Aurora. Right? They got a lot of good press, probably quite a lot of sales from it. I think this makes a lot of sense. Pelicans are great pens. And it's just so great. And I've always wanted more, but I've always found the price to be funny. Because, you know, I tend to buy pens of this price at pen shows, typically. And the price has always turned me off a little bit, considering how close they are to a tier which is much higher. You know, like, once you start getting into the expensive Pelicans, well, there are many, many more handmade, custom, beautiful things made out of Urushi that I can get my hands on here. Right? When we're starting to get into this price range. So, I'm really happy to see them make this shift to try and bring things in line a little bit more. And they did it in the right way as well. Right? They brought the US down rather than bringing the rest of the world up.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. And I love Pelicans Limited Editions. They've been knocking it out of the park, all up and down the lineup. But my shopping and buying process with Pelican goes like this. Wow. That pen is beautiful. I would like to own it. I will wait until I see it at a pen show at a cheaper price.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.