Monday, January 29, 2007

After the Rain

Into every life some rain must fall. Never has that old adage held more true than it did last week.

As many of you probably know, my computer fried itself into oblivion last week when all I was trying to do was fiddle around with its innards to make it better, stronger, faster (I was attempting to make the world's first Bionic computer). That's gratitude for ya!

Luckily, I was able to access the internet to receive orders and respond to emails, but my order processing, inventory tracking and accounting software was all kaplooey (don't worry, it's backed up; I just couldn't access it).

Then the Pear Tree Pen Company had one of the busiest sales weeks in its history, with orders seemingly coming in every few minutes. It got so bad at one point I had to leave the office, because I couldn't take the hearing the little "beep" that signals a new order anymore! On any other week, that wouldn't be so bad, but not being able to process the orders as quickly as they were coming in was making me nuts!

Finally, the piece de resistance (sorry, I can't do accents) - my long-awaited order of Diamine arrived! I received about a hundred pounds of ink on Friday, and the second wave is on the truck scheduled to be delivered later today. So now I get to clear out that long back-log of orders from my ill-fated "Buy-One-Get-One Free Sale."

Let's just say that my weekend was a little busier than normal. I am pleased to say, however, that I did clear out about 80% of those back-orders, and the rest will be going out in the next few days, while at the same time, keeping other orders moving through the system - albeit at a reduced pace.

But the good news is that my new PC is slated to arrive tomorrow (thanks, Dell, for expediting my order!) and I should be up and running at full strength again by Wednesday or Thursday.

Just in time for my "one-year anniversary" sale! Stay tuned . . .

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Lamy Price Increase on the Horizon

We recently received word from FiloFax USA that a general price increase will become effective on January 25, 2007. This price hike affects Lamy fountain pens, rollerballs, ballpoints, (including the extremely popular Al-Star and Safari) as well as Lamy refills and fountain pen ink. Other brands FiloFax USA distributes will also be affected, such as Yard-o-Led, Lett's of London and Filofax.

If you've ever been interested in buying any of these quality pens or inks but have hesitated for some reason, you might want to get your order in now to lock in the lowest possible price.

We will ship out all Lamy products in stock on a first-come, first-served basis, and will take pre-orders as long as possible. But orders must be placed soon, so please act quickly if you'd like to take advantage of this before the higher prices take effect.

While we don't have any Yard-O-Led writing instruments in stock, we'll happily place a special order before the price increase takes effect.