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Fpn Coupon At Gouletpens.com Expiring


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Many of you here on FPN have been enjoying a discount at GouletPens.com over the last 3 years since we started our company. Originally, this coupon was something we put in place to give people a reason to talk about us, as we were a new company with little else to distinguish us. Rather than paying Google or Facebook for advertising, we passed around a discount code to FPN members to help spread the word about us.

 

The FPN discount is something that we put in place the day we began selling fountain pen ink and paper, back in November 2009. The forum was a great way for us to learn what products fountain pen lovers wanted, and it allowed us to begin establishing the customer-focused reputation that we have today. The discount was partly to thank FPN members for supporting us in the very earliest days of our company, and to incentivize people to talk about us since there was little to separate us from other online retailers at that time. As time went on, we started a number of initiatives. Here are a few highlights:

 

Established our blog Ink Nouveau (January 2010), including written/pictorial blog posts (661 to date) and videos (218 so far).

Started our live broadcast Write Time (April 2010)

Started selling ink samples (April 2010)

Developed the Swab Shop (July 2010)

Launched the Ink Drop program (September 2010)

Started shooting all our own product photography (January 2011)

Created the Nib Nook (November 2011)

Created the Fountain of Knowledge (February 2012)

Commenced the Fountain Pen 101 video blog series (April 2012)

Created the Goulet Gallery (July 2012)

Launched the Pen Plaza (July 2012)

 

These are all things that we've done to make it easier for anyone who has an interest in fountain pens to learn more about them. All of these tools (except Ink Drop) are free for anyone who wants to use them, and we literally have spent thousands of hours developing them and keeping them up to date as our product lines have expanded.

 

These tools require a tremendous amount of dedication, time, and resources from the Goulet team. We feel that continuing to do these things will be our best way to serve the writing community. Back when we were unknown, doing a discount code to get our name out there made sense, and that's what a lot of new retailers do to get their name known. But discounting is a slippery slope in the retailing world, and since we've been in business we've seen many of the major players in the fountain pen world fall victim to a discounting strategy, only to eventually close their doors. Our FPN code is even on retail discounting websites now, so literally anyone can use the coupon whether affiliated with the forum or not, and that's really getting away from our original intention for it. We find ourselves at a very pivotal time in our business. We want to be able to offer the best prices that we can, but not at the expense of continuing to offer the most innovative tools and service around.

 

We're finding that continuing the FPN discount is inhibiting our ability to develop and maintain some of the more unique and exciting things that we do. We feel that the FPN coupon has served its purpose of thanking the loyal members who helped us find our way in the early days of our company, and we want to focus more on providing services that add value rather than discount prices. Consequently, the FPN coupon is set to expire on September 30, 2012. We recognize that many of you use this coupon regularly, and you will miss it. For that, we are very sorry. We promise to you that we will continue to more than make up for it in other ways that improve your shopping experience with us, and enhance the writing community as a whole. Thank you so much for your continued support, you guys are the reason we do what we do!

Edited by GouletPens

Brian Goulet</br><a href='http://www.gouletpens.com' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>www.GouletPens.com</a></br><a href='http://twitter.com/GouletPens' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>GouletPens on Twitter</a></br><a href='http://blog.gouletpens.com' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>Goulet Pens blog</a>

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Hi,

 

Many thanks for offering the coupon in the first place, and for keeping it on-the-go for such a long time!

 

:thumbup: :clap1: :thumbup:

I feel your contributions to the enjoyment of FP use are far far greater than a discount at the checkout.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited by Sandy1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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[/font]

Hi,

 

Many thanks for offering the coupon in the first place, and for keeping it on-the-go for such a long time!

 

:thumbup: :clap1: :thumbup:

I feel your contributions to the enjoyment of FP use are far far greater than a discount at the checkout.

 

Bye,

S1

 

:thumbup:

I completely agree.

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Of course this just means that we have a great excuse to order lots of stuff before the 30th. B)

 

But in all seriousness, thanks for offering the discount while you could, and know that this will in no way diminish my love of fps or your company's excellent service and wonderful handwritten notes.

 

Go Goulets!

Sheen junkie, flex nib enthusiast, and all-around lover of fountain pens...

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Thank you Brian and Rachel for even having the FPN discount as long as you had. Your customer service is second to none. The service provided with the sample inks is simply genius!

 

In the famous words of the governator "I'll be back!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing"-Socrates

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Totally understandable, Brian, and thank you for keeping the FPN discount going as long as it did. :thumbup:

 

This morning I watched the video intro to the Pen Plaza and was marveling at this hours you must have spent on the Pen Plaza alone. Details such as lining up the grip sections instead of the back ends of the barrels...genius. I'm happy to support the time spent on these tools that make the shopping experience easier, pleasant, and educational.

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While I'm sad that the discount code will be going away, I'd rather lose it than for you guys to have your business go under... (especially now that you've gotten us all so addicted to amazing choices... exemplary customer service... Drew's totally awesome cartoons.... :notworthy1: )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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:notworthy1:

 

All Hail to the Goulet's.

 

I have to agree with all that has been said thus far. The lack of a discount will never deter me from seeking to shop your store before all others for the products I use, want, or need. I remember one time when you weren't stocking a product I needed and I had to appologize to you for going to another website to acquire it. It hurt me deeply to spend my money somewhere else. But in true form you understood and forgave me.

 

I will always look to you first for a product. If you can get it for me, I will special order it from you. I want you and your team to be of service to us and generations to come!

 

As you would say, Brian . . . "Write on!"

Edited by FPFan

Fair winds and following seas.

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I have wondered how much a discount like that was costing the company.

 

Let's just say that paying 5% more isn't going to keep me from shopping at your store.

My Blog: Inkdependence!

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Honestly, I spent more money at Goulet Pens because of the promos. The combination of a 5% discount plus free shipping was irresistible. It was so easy to add a little more to the cart to get to that $100 mark. The 5% made it a little more enticing to get some things I may not have. Now that free shipping is gone, and the discount is going away, it will be a little easier to "just say no" to my favorite addiction.

 

That being said, I completely understand ending the promos. I would hate for you all to go out of business because of a couple of discounts.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

*Just want to clarify... I am a VERY satisfied customer and I WILL CONTINUE to shop at Goulet Pens. I offered my comments not as a complaint or criticism, but as honest feedback on how the discounts affected my shopping. Hope no one interprets my comments as an attack on the Goulets or their business practices.

Edited by The Scribbler
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As many have already expressed, thanks for offering the discount for us here at FPN. However, while nice, it is not what makes me continue as a customer of Goulet pens. What makes Goulet pens the only place I'll buy paper, inks, and some pens is the wonderful customer service, as well as all the hard work put into the informative videos, ink, paper, and pen reviews. As a beginner to this hobby, I have learned so much from Brian's videos and reveiws! The money and time that I've saved just from watching those videos are more than any discount could equal. That's why I'll continue to be a customer, discount or no discount.

 

So thanks again Goulet family for being such a great place to shop and for maintaining such a great website.

 

THANK YOU!

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Agree with all of the above in every shape and fashion. Hopefully some shipping cost relief might come forth, that would be nice. All the best.

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I agree with the above responses. I'm new to fountain pens, a new FPN user, and I never even knew about the coupon or had a chance to buy anything from your store yet, but the tools you mentioned were INVALUABLE to me in getting started and, to be honest — I feel indebted to you guys. When I decide on my next pen or ink, if you have it in stock I'll definitely get it from you, coupon or not. Keep doing what you do.

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Wow, thank you so much everyone! As you might imagine, Rachel and I have been turning our stomach in knots for a long time regarding our decision to do this. Fountain pens aren't a commodity though, there's a great deal of education that's required to get the most out of them. If this hobby is to grow, then we need to continue our focus on education and social media involvement. Montegrappaman1 put is so succinctly, I wish I'd written this myself:

 

As a beginner to this hobby, I have learned so much from Brian's videos and reveiws! The money and time that I've saved just from watching those videos are more than any discount could equal. That's why I'll continue to be a customer, discount or no discount.

 

That's exactly what it's all about. Value can be viewed in two ways...lowering price, or adding benefit. Discounting price is SO much easier to do (in the short term), that's why so many companies (in all industries) resort to that method first. We know that the time we're spending on our tools, reviews, and service adds so much more benefit to the fountain pen community than any discount we could ever offer, so that's going to be our focus moving forward. Thank you all so much for reinforcing that for us. :thumbup:

Brian Goulet</br><a href='http://www.gouletpens.com' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>www.GouletPens.com</a></br><a href='http://twitter.com/GouletPens' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>GouletPens on Twitter</a></br><a href='http://blog.gouletpens.com' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>Goulet Pens blog</a>

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Oh I see your game here! You offer the FPN coupon like a carrot on a stick.. get us hooked on the good stuff and once we have experienced that wonderful customer service from Goulet, you take it away from us! You know we're addicted and gotta have it with or without the coupon. Dammit!

 

Just joking, you know we will be coming back. Thank you for offering it in the first place :)

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