Editing The Pen Addict 137/transcript (section)

== Email Reading ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I'm going to read this because it was very important to me. So everyone grab a drink, sit back, listen to me, read this email for about a minute, and then we'll chat about it. So this is from Justin. He says, Listening to another podcast on 5x5, one of the hosts mentioned this great show he'd been listening to called The Pen Addict. As a lifelong pen enthusiast, I was intrigued, so I downloaded a random episode. Over the next seven months of demoralizing unemployment, listening to your podcast was one of the few things that made me happy. I went back to episode one and listened to every single one. I'd never been unemployed before. I'm 36, and it was embarrassing for me. The hours I spent listening to the show made walking to and from the local job center bearable. In the few hours I spent not applying for jobs each week, I dusted off my old Lamy Safari and played with that. I asked my family to buy me inks and a converter for my birthday, as I couldn't afford to buy them myself, and ended up with a few bottles of diamond. I had so much fun with just that, and I felt like I was part of a community. I was afraid that when I did get a job, I wouldn't have time to listen anymore, but as it turns out, I'm now a sales rep, and I spend hours every day driving to appointments. Now that I'm back on my feet, I've just bought an orange Twisby Diamond 580 AL, and I can't tell you how much I love this pen. It's not something I would have known about without your show, so thanks again. I really wanted to do something to more support to you and to say thanks, so I just made my first NotCo order, and I'm awaiting its arrival any day now. I've wanted to look out in the fodder stack since you launched those months ago, but I just couldn't afford them, and I'm so glad to finally have them on the way. I also tell anyone that will listen to use your sponsors and hand out your codes when I can. A friend just set up a Squarespace site using your ink code. I'll keep listening, and I'll keep supporting as best as I can for as long as you guys keep the show going. So I guess that I just wanted to let you know that your crazy show with two guys talking about pens and paper made a big difference to me. For an hour or so every week, I left my troubles at the door, put on some headphones, and listened to you natter on about all the stuff that I was into. The kind of stuff that nobody else in my life is really interested in. I didn't feel like a weirdo for liking fountain pens and for caring about what paper I used because there were other people out there that cared too. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the show and all the hours of fun you've provided. I wish you both every success in the future. Kind regards, Justin. P.S. I promise I did write this out with pen and paper first. How good is that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's amazing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The first time I read it, I literally got a little teary. I'm not going to lie. You know I'm an emotional guy. And I just stared at that, and I was like, wow. That's for someone to pour it all out there to us like that was really amazing. And we appreciate you as a listener, Justin. And I'm glad you're on your feet. And I'm glad we can give you and everyone else that little respite for an hour a week because it's a respite for us too. You know, we all have all kinds of crazy things going on in our life. So I know Myke and I are glad to be able to get on here and have a little fun for a little while. And I'm glad, you know, guys like Justin really enjoy the show. And that means a lot to us to see things like that. So I really appreciate it, Justin. Thank you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm going to get choked up again, Myke. All right. So we're going to go right from the very best part of this show to the very worst part of the show. So that's podcasting 101, right? Get all the good stuff and the bad stuff out right out the gate. You're a pro at this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' 137 episodes in, you got it nailed down.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, we're going to do exactly what we're not supposed to do. But this is a quickie. And everyone just wanted an update on the Estabrook situation, as Myke calls it. You know, last week we were talking about how one of our listeners got kicked off their Facebook page and blocked. And, you know, all we wanted to do was find out where the pins were being made. So now that they're finally in retailers, retailers have to be responsible for asking those questions, right? So I figured it was very easy to email one of the retailers, which I did. It's Farney's pins. And they confirm that the pins are made in China. Now, we all assume that if you listen to this show. And I just want to be very clear for new listeners of the show. That's okay. Pins made in China are perfectly fine. It's the way Estabrook is going about hiding that fact and charging an exorbitant price for this pin is the problem. It's nothing to have to do with where they're made. It's how Estabrook's handling themselves in hiding that information and making a point to, I guess, cover that up, for lack of a better term. So I just wanted to point that out that I did get confirmation from one of the vendors that's carrying the pin. So that changed anything for you, Myke? You pretty much knew that, right? I mean, that's just what it's going to be.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I mean, it was obvious. But, like, okay, so tell me then. What's the issue with it being made in China? Like, you're not mentioning it like it's a positive in any way?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure. It's twofold. One is what I mentioned last week. Every word out of Estabrook's mouth on the internet is Estabrook pens, comma, America's original fountain pen, comma. Okay? So they're slamming that down everyone's throat. And it's a misdirect, right? It's not.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're trying to misdirect you from the facts. By using America in every sentence. The second part is the price.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's extraordinarily expensive. For probably what it's really... I don't see anything special about that pen. That should cost more. This should be like a $20 to $30 pen. I'm guessing. I'm sure Estabrook would disagree with me and give me all kinds of points to where this is why it costs this much and this is why it costs that much. But these are... The acrylics that they're using already exist. They're not new for them. The nibs. Everything is just like stock Chinese fountain pen like we've all seen before. And stock Chinese fountain pens range from like $10 to $25. And they're charging $70. So, the math doesn't add up to me. So, those are the two primary issues.