Editing The Pen Addict 63/transcript (section)

== Office Environments ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' I guess we've never talked about this specifically, but I'm thinking you work in a larger office environment than I do. I work in an office environment, but it's smaller. I'm wagering that you work around more people with more of these type of office supplies and things like that. What did you want to say about that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I think my first issue with this, I mean, I haven't read the whole article, but his opening point of this is that somebody has come to borrow his stapler, therefore meaning that person still needs a stapler. And he's saying that he has a tape dispenser, etc. But that's maybe because he's worked here at this place for longer, or has at least been working for longer, so he's aware of the types of things that he may need. Like, I have a stapler. I use my stapler once every few months. Right. But just because I know that I need it. Does that make sense? Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, no, because I'm the same way. Agreed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I also have Sellotape, as we call it. Brand, it's the brand name. I have it in my desk, but I can't remember the last time that I used it, because I've used it in the past. I just find that the premise of the fact that somebody came to borrow his stapler, which would have made him think, this person hasn't got a stapler, doesn't necessarily suggest to me that young people don't need staplers, because what he's proving is a young person does need a stapler. Right. And I just, well, yes, there is a change in industry these days, which does mean that things like, I don't know, highlighters and paper are maybe used less in some industries, but in my industry, they're used every day, because I work in an industry which is very paper heavy. I just think there are shifts that change these things, but I find that his premise for which he's written this article seems to be a little bit flawed to me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I feel that, I don't think it's young people either. Like, is he saying that every single person of his age in his office, and maybe you can speak to this as well, Brad, is adequately, to our standards, stationary supplied?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I would think the younger people are actually more adequately supplied than probably the older people who don't care, who are so ingrained and just used to grabbing the big ballpoint out of the office supply cabinet, and, you know, the Ampad, Legalpad, or Stenopad, and not giving any consideration about the tools that they use, where the younger people, I would think, in my opinion, would care about that stuff more, even though they're not going to be the ones buying the bulk quantity. And that's actually my hang-up about the article, is the Staples business model of the bulk purchase. I do think that's going away.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I think it's the change in all of these sorts of business models, with the issue being, is it's moving to online. Like, if you look at Blockbuster, we have HMV in the UK, which is a massive music retailer that's gone bust, like, twice. The video game industry. What it is, is it's taking retail, and the retail is being, like, cannibalized and eaten alive by the online sales channels, because it's cheaper. So, this isn't saying that, oh, the pen industry is doomed. Right. It's more that the old guard is going away.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. And that's what I think. And, you know, I mean, they're probably not willing to do it, but, you know, I think there's changes that could be made in these types of retailers that I would love to see. You know, I, of course, would love to see more niche sections in these retailers instead of just the mass. You know, I always complain about, you go in, you know, you go into Staples today, and you go into Staples six months from now, and it's the exact same picture. I mean, you take a photograph, and it's the same products on there all the time. There's never anything new. You know, it's the same four packs, eight packs, 12 packs of pens. And, you know, that, you know, people aren't, if you're not an office supply manager, which is what this article is saying, you know, that seems to be the biggest customer that's buying in bulk. Well, if you're not that person, you don't want to buy all this, these quantities. You want to test out some smaller stuff or one or two pens at a time instead of six or eight. And, you know, I think people would spend more, you know, if they had a little bit of different setup. And one of the ideas I had was, you know, it hit me when I was opening a package from Jetpens one day, and I don't even remember the name of the marker, the marker I bought. But it's not the only one. I get a lot of the pens I get that are Japanese come packaged individually, but like in a single package, like with a hanger spot that would go on to like a pegboard in a store. So why can't there be a section in Staples that's just loaded up with individual pens, you know, on a pegboard that are individually packaged for people to test out and for, you know, to buy individually? I would argue that I would buy more in pens if I could buy six individual varied pens than a pack of six pens. You know, they can charge me more for that individual pen. Instead of charging me, you know, $10 for six, a six pack of pens, they could charge me, you know, $14 for six individual pens. And I'd be more, I would be more than happy to pay that because I would get more variety. But it seems like in the US, I put, I posted this out on Twitter and got some good responses. I said, would this, would individual pen packaging like this work on US retailer store shelves? And we'll have a link in the show notes to the picture that I shared and asked the question about. It's basically just, you know, a single pen in a single hanging package, but it was a zebra pen. Do you think, Myke, that would work in a retail situation, a big box retailer situation like a Staples or just some huge store?