Editing The Pen Addict 190/transcript (section)

== Pilot UK ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' They talk about that happening. The problem, in a nutshell, in my perspective, is that we're in a global marketplace now. Right? Ian wants to support his UK vendors.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But Ian has the internet. And he can make a couple of clicks, find a product he can't get in the UK for cheaper than a similar model in the UK, and click a button and it's his. But Ian's frustration lies in, well, why can't my regional stores that I like to support, why can't I spend that money with them?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Why do I have to spend so much money on shipping? Right. Right? Because I can still buy them. It doesn't matter where I'm buying them from. Just let me buy them locally. And then you end up with all the money that you end up with, Pilot, for doing that. Right. I get it. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's a challenge for Pilot UK that they don't have a great answer for. It's a challenge for Ian because, you know, he doesn't get a great answer to, I don't want to say it's an unsolvable problem. But I just go back to, from Pilot's perspective, Pilot UK's perspective specifically, it's got to be difficult for them as a business to satiate all of our needs. But that's the world we live in now. I can get anything I want online, you know, as long as I know where to go. And with someone like Pilot, you know, I can get some model that they don't sell in the U.S. by making one click over to a store in Japan and making that purchase. I don't know who that hurts or who that benefits. It's a weird kind of thing right now. But reading what Ian's, you know, talking about, it pains him not to just be able to buy that in the U.K. because he wants to support his regional retailers, which I am totally supportive of. But, you know, I've bought plenty of pins from Japan that I could get for cheaper. Over there, I would rather purchase them from someone here who, you know, I would rather support, you know, someone local, if you will. If at all possible, that would be my first choice. So when you start asking questions about these things, why can't I have this pin? And here it is right here. Your parent company sells it. Let me purchase it. And their answer is no. It's kind of hard to, you know, realize all the machinations that have to go on in the background for that to actually happen. But, I mean, from a consumer's perspective, the choice is easy. If they really want that pin, they can get it. They don't. It doesn't matter what Pilot UK says. I can go get the pin. I'd just rather do it a different way. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Gotta hand it to Pilot, though. They wrote that massive email response. Yeah. It was a huge response. More than they needed to do, in all honesty. Yeah. They could just put, this is how it is. Suck it. Right. Like, you know. But they didn't.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They, let me see if I can find it real quick. I generally like the email. I thought it was a little bit dismissive in areas. Yep. But to put this whole thing out there, they answered appropriately.

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

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, people that listen to this show and read this from that perspective are going to see a couple of issues with it. I thought he was dismissive of the small scale where the fanatics lie, which is us, as opposed to the big scale that Pilot is dealing with on a day-to-day basis with massive retailers and massive purchases. You know, that kind of thing. So, it's a balance. I don't envy the position that they're in. So, it's an interesting read. I don't have an answer. And no one does. Pilot doesn't have an answer. Ian doesn't have an answer. I don't have an answer. But it's good to have the conversation because of how the market is these days, I think. You know, it's a global market. Why, you know, having large corporations such as Pilot have so many disparate offices across the world that carry different things when it's easy for someone in one place to buy something from another place. But Pilot can't sell it in that place because of whatever. However, it's confusing to the consumer a little bit. So, I don't know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Couldn't agree more.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep, yep, yep. All right. Let's wrap this up on another issue that you've kind of been having recently. And I've been feeling this a little bit. So, why don't you talk about it?