I think the multiple tab feature for web browsers is amazing! I can keep multiple sites open without having multiple windows up. I keep my google reader up, refreshing my favorite blog sites. I have my blog open, always awaiting user comments. I recently started keeping Twitter up. It's my guilty pleasure and the people I follow can easily keep me entertained and web surfing with their endless pen pron and interesting links. Another site I keep open is Jetpens.
If any of you are similar to me, creating a Jetpens order is work of art not dissimilar to those displayed on some of our favorite blogs. Heck, I'm so proud of my work that I post pictures when the order comes in the mail. I parade my own pictures like a proud pen papa. I believe I have a right to with all the work I put into it! Are you aware of how many times I've emptied my cart, thinking "ok, this time, only gel pens!" or "yup, nothing but those nice inks I've heard so much about!". Eventually in the process a highlighter marker will pop up, then a rollerball pen, before you know it your WAY over budget. So then comes the heartbreaking trial of picking the starters. It's like firing your best friend from your home business. "I'm sorry little slicci but today's just not your day". There is truly some joy and apprehension when you finally hit that checkout button. A rush of relief that the project is finished but a tad bit of worry that maybe, just maybe you would have been happier with that slicci after all. I love it!
My question to you guys is, What is your Jetpens ritual? How do you craft your order to this or any other stationery site? How do you explain to your significant other that it's another month of top ramen because you just HAD to have that fountain pen? (Only slightly kidding =P)
1 month ago
This Blogspot is odd.. it won't let me do my normal manual entry of my user name/blog.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... I basically agonize for hours over my order. I add, subtract, tweak, change, multiply, divide, etc.. all in the name of getting as close to $25 for the free shipping, while also not ordering too many pens. After the 3 or 4th order, you realize that all that agonizing is a waste of time. ;)
Oh, that's spooky! I also always have my blog, Twitter and JetPens open in my browser; not sure whether to be relieved it's not just me, or worry that there may be no hope for either of us!
ReplyDeleteUsually I tend to open in new tabs anything JetPens have that I fancy...then I start pruning the 25+ tabs to get down to (what I think) is a reasonable size of order, though I always seem to find s few things I "could really have used" just after I hit the Order button.
And why, oh why, do JetPens always update their site with loads of cool new stuff the day after I order; I swear it happens every single time!
The "smuggling new pens past my significant other" routine is very well practiced art here at Pen-thusiast Towers, sometimes I get away with it, sometimes there is some *ahem* explaining to do...and I don't buy any new pens for a while.
That is a very very important part of the ritual that I forgot to mention. The free shipping of $25 or more! It is truly a stroke of genius as I simply discount any orders that are not going to get me at a minimum of $25 worth of pen swag. It's like having a free ticket to a show but having a 3 drink minimum.
ReplyDeleteYes - the $ 25 free shipping minimum sure impacts my orders.
ReplyDeleteI wish Jetpens had some kind of wishlist feature like Amazon so I could capture what I'd like to put into future orders and then quickly flip them to an order when a reasonable amount of time has passed before I place another order!
I always start by looking at what is new and what is on clearance. I never make an order under the 25$ so I can get free shipping and I order at least one time per month. Usually I will check all of my multi-pens to see if I need any refills of a certain color. Otherwise I just put in anything that strikes my fancy. If the total gets too high, I will keep new items I have never tried, but discard a different color of a pen I already have.
ReplyDelete