Editing The Pen Addict 481/transcript (section)

== Yoseka Pin Review ==


'''''Brad:'''   Our first time was the press release saying, hey, this is a thing that's coming. The second time was Yoseka Stationery saying, hey, we got them. We're going to do a test. We'll let you know how it goes. And now we can talk about that test. So Ashley at Yoseka Stationery wrote up a fully detailed article that you just need to go read. If you're interested in this at all, which I obviously am. Okay.

'''''Brad:'''   I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, right? Y'all know where I've stood on this. And I'm trying to make the case for these premium nibs at the premium price. So just a couple of notes from Ashley in the review. It's a very long, very thorough, very well done comparison of these products.

''''Myke:'''  I kind of couldn't believe, honestly, that there would be this much to say. You know? It was surprising to me.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. So the main takeaway, the quote's up in the beginning, and this is a quote from the article, and the rest will be my commentary around this. Clear difference between the standard and premium nibs with the premium nib feeling like a high-quality smooth nib, right? So that's like a subtle kind of thing saying there is a difference. And the difference is it's smoother, and you paid more for that, right? That's how I read it, right? It's like saying, yes, technically, it's better, right? It's better. So the differences between the standard nib and the premium nib is that the nib tipping is bigger on the premium nib. That's the selling point.

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

'''''Brad:'''   But as Ashley found through the review, that was only visually obvious on the bigger nibs. Which makes sense, right? Medium broad and double broad. Well, here, I will get to my point.

''''Myke:'''  Okay.

'''''Brad:'''   It's like, so the medium broad and double broads, you see the big tipping be even bigger than it was with the standard. So do you not, you don't see it as much on the extra fine and fine. And I'm wondering why that is a little bit. But I guess the answer is you have to keep those lines the same. Even Ashley's test, even though not visually seeing a difference in the premium nib, tipping-wise on an extra fine nib, the line writes wider on the premium nib extra fine size, despite being visually different. I mean, visually not different, if that makes sense. I kind of went around about there. So you can't see a difference in the extra fines, but the premium nib writes a wider, or writes, excuse me, I got this backwards, writes a finer line. Mm-hmm. They're more consistent, is basically what Ashley gets down to in having an accurate representation of the stamping on the nib. An extra fine writes like an extra fine with the premium nib, where an extra fine standard nib could have some more variance. Like in Ashley's test, she says the extra fine writes more like a medium with the standard nib, where the premium nib always writes like an extra fine. The much more consistent line weight with the premium, a stiffer nib with the premium, a wetter nib with the premium. So there's all these differences, right?

'''''Brad:'''   And I'm still trying to figure out why, right? Like to me, all this, to me, this, what this is like, hey, we tried harder to make on these nibs. We worked more on these nibs, and we're going to charge you for it. And I get it, but my stance is, why aren't you treating the stock nibs the same way?

'''''Brad:'''   And I'm delimiting that, because then they would have to raise the price of them, right? This is Kaweco admitting, ah, we could probably do a little bit better with these stock nibs.

'''''Brad:'''   And, but that would just raise the price, because it does take more time. It costs more to manage the nibs. Like that's a not insignificant amount of time to make a better nib for the stock nib. So it's almost like they're saying there's a, this is how I read it. And y'all please tell me if I'm wrong. To me, I've never thought this is anything, but hey, we're not doing a good enough job at our stock nib. And if you want to yell about that here, we can charge you more for an option to fix that. And that just doesn't sit well with me. Like, am I out of line here? Like, I feel like I could be. What's the price difference? About $30. It's like $12 to $15 standard and $44 for the premium. If they just, if they put out the premium nib, this is what I would have liked to have seen. And this is, this is a pipe dream by me. I know. And this is probably not fair. But if Kaweco is going to come out and say, we're going to give you a premium nib option where you can just buy the nib, make it a non-standard nib. Don't give me extra fine, fine, medium, broad, double broad. Give me a cursive italic. Give me a 0.9 stub. Give me a needle point. Make it more special. And you could charge even more. Then you're talking like a $60 nib unit. But then it's different. And then the improvement and the variety and the quality matches what you're telling me. Right now, I don't think it matches what they're telling me. Right? I don't think this premium nib tells me. It doesn't make me comfortable with their stock offerings.

''''Myke:'''  Right. Right. Okay.

'''''Brad:'''   This price point is what Estabrook is doing with the journal or nib. Right? And I forget the name of the second one that they released with JJ Lacks. Right? They're charging a premium for something different. They're not charging a premium for an improved stock option. And that's what I feel like this is.

''''Myke:'''  I think I'm not understanding you fully. Okay. I don't think I'm on the same page as you. That's not a surprise. You're saying you're charging more for a stock option, not something different?

'''''Brad:'''   Right. I don't think the reason why this nib exists. Okay. The premium nib, in my opinion, exists because their stock nibs consistently underperform people's expectations.

'''''Brad:'''   Okay? You with me there? This is just my opinion.

''''Myke:'''  Okay.

'''''Brad:'''   So, people buy a Kaweco and it's sometimes hit or miss whether their stock Kaweco nib is going to make them happy. Okay. So, how does Kaweco solve that?

''''Myke:'''  This isn't solving that.

'''''Brad:'''   They're positioning that it is.

''''Myke:'''  But that doesn't make any sense. That's my... Like, how much does a Kaweco sport cost? How much does a Kaweco sport cost? $25. Right. So, a Kaweco sport costs $25. People buy that pen for $25 and they're unhappy with the writing experience. No one's going to solve that by spending one and a half times more the money to buy a different nib.

'''''Brad:'''   We agree.

''''Myke:'''  This is... Okay, cool. I'm on... Now we're on the same page. I get you now. Okay. Because it's... I think where I was getting lost is like we've called... Like we're calling it premium and calling it stock. Like I was thinking... Yep. This is not a solve for that problem.

''''Myke:'''  I think... Honestly, I think what Kaweco should learn from this is they need to charge a little bit more for their pens and include this nib as the standard nib.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. That's not going to happen. No. The way they positioned it now, it's not going to happen. But yes, correct.

''''Myke:'''  It seems wild to me personally just with how I buy pens to spend one and a half times the price of a pen and it still be steel.

'''''Brad:'''   Mm-hmm.

''''Myke:'''  Right? Like that's... I mean... No disrespect to steel nibs. I much prefer gold nibs. Much, much prefer gold nibs. Yeah. Especially because I am a medium above. Right? I think... Right, right. If you're going medium above, in my opinion, you should always go gold first because the softness, I think, helps with the experience. Just my personal preferences.