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yiri
237
Jan 28, 2015
Seriously, this pen is being sold without a refill?
Funny corner to cut.
arithon
273
Jan 28, 2015
yiriEh. Which refill do you wanna put in it? It's probably not the same one I have in mine. And you probably have no use whatsoever for the refill I have, nor would I likely have any use for whichever one you want...
I don't know about you, but I'd rather not pay for a refill I won't use. I'm pretty sure most people feel the same way -- so which one should they ship with it? :)
yiri
237
Jan 28, 2015
arithonI suspect you're overestimating the fervour with which "most people" approach the topic of pen refills.
Personally I do not really care that much. When I buy a pen, I trust that the pen manufacturer (by virtue of being a pen manufacturer) knows a fair bit about pen components and will be able to select an appropriate refill for me. When I order new refills, I just order more of the ones which I am already using.
Similarly, it's certainly true that many car enthusiasts enjoy tweaking and modifying every little aspect of their car's performance, appearance and sound... hell, they probably change the smell. But when I purchase a new car from the dealership, the manufacturer has programmed the ECU for me and filled up the fuel tank. No doubt you're paying for them to do that (one way or another) and maybe that's an unnecessary expense in the case of those owners who will change the oil, replace the ECU, whatever.
But it's more important to ship a product fit for its purpose than it is to save a dollar or two on a pen refill.
After all - if money is real tight for you at the moment, you'd be better advised to go buy Bic Kilometricos than this.
MattDelRocco
10
Jan 28, 2015
yiriFYI, on the manufacturer's site, the pens don't ship with a refill. This isn't a corner massdrop cut, it's how the pen is sold. And its sold that way for the exact reason arithon said.
arithon
273
Jan 28, 2015
yiriInteresting. For me, the entire point of getting something like this is that I've already found a refill I like, and want a nice frame to hold it in. It's highly unlikely that I'll find a frame I like that also has the refill I like -- so it's just unnecessary waste for me. :)
Leppy
2
Jan 28, 2015
yiriI think you'll find that the "most people" you talk about aren't going to spend more than a couple of dollars on a pen. The people who are spending 40 dollars on a pen for every day use are the type of people who are particular about the refill.
I'd rather buy this pen and put in my own preferred refill than have to throw out the 0.5mm ballpoint refill and replace it with a 0.7mm rollerball.
yiri
237
Jan 29, 2015
LeppyFrankly, I doubt that the people you mention are as numerous as you think. It seems more likely to me that when you ask yourself "How many pen enthusiasts are there?" your mind performs a quick assessment of the prevalence of that hobby among your friends and associates. Needless to say, the fact that you yourself are a pen enthusiast makes that sample group hopelessly biased.
If the above seems hostile, let me clarify — everyone has their own unique life circumstances and history, so everyone is biased. Just like you, I may well be overestimating the proportion of people in similar circumstances to me.
I'm very intolerant of bullshit. Each day I have objectives to achieve. Any possession I have is intended to facilitate or optimise the processes that I engage in to achieve those objectives. Consequently I hate things that slow me down or cause friction. Example: I don't have any fountain pens because they probably will require learning and then regularly performing maintenance on them, and they might leak, requiring me to perform the tedious and expensive replacement of whatever they destroyed. Ideally, I only want one of every thing that I need; the best one. But I don't like conspicuous consumption one bit. So I like MassDrop because the community here often has a reasonably well informed opinion on which item represents the best "X" to buy. There's a bit of whining whenever luxury items come up (go see the Sieveking headphone stand comments) but still, this place saves me a lot of annoyance.
(No, it's not incongruent that I spend 5 minutes replying to you; explaining oneself orders one's thoughts. And no, I don't mind waiting for shipping - usually - because it's not actively interfering with my life.)
Maybe I'm the only person in that position. I'm not sure. But it doesn't seem likely that either of us is going to be able to come up with authoritative third-party sources to back up our opinions. At any rate, I think I'll give this drop a miss and go look over that titanium pen thing. Have a nice day :)