It's been fun to learn about the growing list of Palomino fans. What a diverse and interesting group of people we are. Clearly we all have a common interest in pencils and in my view PRevo has done a wonderful thing bringing us together. But it's clear there are many more links than an interest in pencils and the outlet to wax philosophic about our chosen tools of choice, how we use them and what might be done to improve them.
Appreciation of a finely crafted product is clearly a common denominator. Whether it's a Palomino, a Moleskine sketchbook, a Ticonderoga, a Faber-Castell Grip 2001, or whatever. Though it's clearly deeper than a simple appreciation of quality. An emotional connection gained from use of these items and how we feel about ourselves when we're engaged in that activity.
Certainly there is the sense of community. But there are thousands of on line communities and I would assume that many who have joined the Pencil Revolution are active in other communities as well. As a group I've found beyond pencils we do have other common interests such as bird watching and photography, reading, drawing, etc.
For me creativity is the strongest and most common link. Whether it's writing a 50,000 word novel in a month in pencil, exploring and designing unique symbology, or simply keeping our own blogs about a broad and diverse group of subjects. In fact it's the link as a creative outlet that inspired me to get going with Timberlines and begin to offer Palomino pencils on eBay where perhaps I have helped a few others with the tools to. Since then I've even taken up notetaking, writing and drawing in a Moleskine myself when I haven't drawn in a number of years. And I'm not the only one.
Finally, a very special congratulations to Cyberlizard. I see you are a winner in 2005 National Novel Writing Month contest and we worship you for writing the whole thing in pencils and using Palomino pencils at that. For the sake of our eBay store we're kind of hoping you'll just keep on going month after month. Can't wait to learn more about your novel.
Pencil World Promotional Note: We've now added aquarelle pencils to our Palomino range and have great offer going on for Christmas pencil stocking stuffer bonus giveaways with a purchase of any of our Palomino pencils.
5 comments:
I want to try the Palomino HB pencils but have balked at the shipping and handling charges. Here's why I'm writing: This morning I met a member of my writing club and we were talking about the Moleskine craze which led me to mention the post on Moleskinerie about the Palomino pencil. He said he saw it as well and went to your ebay store but saw the shipping was $6.50 and he decided against it. I said, "Pat, I did the same damn thing - exactly." I decided I should write you as that was just too strange for two of us to want to try the pencil and both decide _against_ it based on the S/H charges. I really do feel the $6.50 is way too high, especially for Parcel Post. Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation in their flat rate envelope with padding, etc would only be $4.35! Could you consider a lower shipping cost for those of us who want to just _try_ the Palomino but don't want to pay more for the shipping than for the product? Thanks for your consideration.
Writeranger -
Thanks for raising this issue as we know other customers have experienced this issue as well. We've been considering how to handle this situation which results, because eBay's shipping charges feature comes up with inconsistent high figures like this for some orders when it should never be more than $3.75 to ship from 1 to 4 of the Palomino 6 packs via USPS Parcel Post.
Suprisingly, we get some customers who go ahead and pay via PayPal with the $6.50 charge. Generally, if it's already been paid for this way we will supplement the order with a bonus pack of Spangle decorated pencils or something of appropriate value to make up for the overcharge.
For now the best way to deal with this is to complete the eBay purchase, but don't make the payment via PayPal. Anytime a customer makes a purchase without completing payment then we send an e-mail invoice with proper shipping charges added and payment can then be completed via PayPal by clivking on the proper button. If you also send us a message using the eBay My Messages feature noting the high shipping & handling charge this is greatly appreciated as it calls attention to how often this is a problem.
We've reviewed the situation with eBay. They just point the finger at USPS since it's apparently calcualted with software provided by them. We are considering putting in a fixed shipping amount per pack for all shipping in the US. However, then when customers purchase multiple packs of a single or different sets of items in one invoice and payment they could get overcharged for shipping.
I appreciate our customers' patience with this issue and hope we can find some better solution down the road. I hope this recommended option helps and you and others will try ordering this way if eBay comes up with what you feel is an unreasonable charge.
Thank you for the quick response. Apparently, not only do you have great pencils, but great customer service as well!
We try our best.
I love getting a new box of Palominos. I've got little Palomino stubs lying around, but there's something about using a long, fresh pencil that's incomparable.
woodchuck, thank you for your worship! My hand is still sore from that insane endeavor, but it was sooo worth it. It's only been a week since NaNoWriMo ended and I am already looking forward to next year.
As far as hearing about my novel, I wouldn't want to lower your opinion of me by disclosing the horror that is my writing ;-)
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