Postable or Not?

[Padster]

I thought I'd start a thread on this because I'm curious and still a relative newbie compared to some of you - Sorry if it's an old topic.

So what are peoples thoughts, most of my family and friends prefer postable pens (I think I was told that's the right term) unless its a ballpoint, but this doesn't seem to be the norm. I'd suggest there are slightly more non-postable kits...so my question is why and what are other peoples thoughts and experience?

@Phil Dart - I'm guessing you may have some real world business reason and experience here, obviously not your trade secrets though

Regards

Padster

 

[flexi]

I sell lots of Levech and Omega as fountain pens and people like them postable.... If its a bigger Gent or Statesman pen then people tend not to like the extra heft of the cap on the back.... Its about balance, weight and what to do with the cap when you unscrew it!
This is only my findings based on customer feed back

 

[Bammer]

In practice posting the cap throws the pen out of balance, especially kit pens because of the weight. The postable option is a selling point but most won’t bother because of the balance.
The clip also acts as roll stop.

Ballpoints don’t have a cap and therefore aren’t postable.

I think most high end mass produced pens such as Mont Blanc, Visconti etc are not postable, if they are then the cap slips over the finial rather than threading on. I’ve always thought this method could lead to scratching the body finial.

My kitless pens can be posted this way but will it mark the finial or damage the finish on the wood ones, probably. It could also damage the threads maybe.

All down to personal choice ….. and balance

 

[Penpal]

No forever for postable for me.

 

[Phil Dart]

@Phil Dart - I'm guessing you may have some real world business reason and experience here, obviously not your trade secrets though

Not much to add to what's already been said really. In my experience though, many pen makers think that being postable is essential, and consequently they won't buy a kit if it isn't. However, their convictions are not always necessarily based on evidence, since many of them have never tried selling a non-postable pen in order to find out.

Balance is a consideration, as has been previously mentioned, and a posted cap can quite easily make a pen top heavy. In truth though, you'll probably never please everyone, no matter which way you go - there will always be someone who won't buy your pen because it isn't postable, and there will always be someone who won't buy your pen because it is postable.

If you want statistics, Beaufort Ink sells more non-postable kits than postable ones. There again, we produce more non-postable kits than postable ones, so all you have to do is work out why we produce more non-postable kits than postable ones.