Price rises in 2021

PRICE UPDATES. RETAIL RESTRUCTURING. ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION.

Whatever you want to call it, it all means the same thing: stuff costs more and it sucks and we all hate it no matter how euphemistically it’s phrased.

We opened up to our newsletter subscribers about how brutal it’s been trying to stay afloat these past few COVID-encumbered months, but it’s only fair to say it publicly too, for those of you who might be infrequent visitors wondering why our prices suddenly changed.

2021 AND FOUNTAIN PEN SUPPLIES

It’s been hard. Personally, for everyone of course, and professionally for most as well. Small businesses have been really hammered by ongoing lockdowns and uncertain supply lines, and support from the government (state and/or federal) has been… well… let’s change the subject a little.

Our suppliers have been hit really hard. One folded completely (they were generous enough to recommend a new supplier for us) and others have had to scale back production significantly. Some have had to raise their prices to balance the scarcity of sales with their loss of profit, and some have relaxed their quality control measures to keep prices down. We don’t judge anyone for having to make these difficult choices in these circumstances, but it does have the flow-on effect that ultimately, we also have to make these choices.

For some of the things we source from certain suppliers, the change in price has made it unsustainable for us to continue buying from them, and some of our longtime sources have had changes in quality that don’t align with the standard of products we want to bring to the fountain pen community. It’s been a challenge to make sure we’re still getting quality goods, at a price that we can bear, and some of the suppliers we tried didn’t make the cut.

One of the founding tenets of Fountain Pen Supplies is that our community is “under-served, not undeserving”, and we started this business to ensure that pen fanatics in Australia and New Zealand could get the products they need at a fair price. It was a conscious decision that we’d keep prices as low as possible, because the fountain pen community is our home, not our cash-cow.

These beliefs haven’t changed at all, however, the cost of doing business during a pandemic has skyrocketed to the point where we will have to raise some of our prices in order to continue operating. Price rises are never ideal nor welcomed, we understand, but we are having to do this so that we can continue to provide quality products specific to our shared hobby.

Thank you so, so much for your support over the past two and a half years. If you have any concerns or questions about this long and boring and terrible update or the points raised within it, please reach out: every single contact will get a response. Stay safe out there, and take care of yourselves 💕