What Has Happened To The Parker Range?

[Harlequin]

And I think that very nicely sums up what is wrong with Parker these days. They'd rather push a fine line marker and try to sell it as something new and different, or even as the successor to the FP, than invest and develop some very nice new FPs.

[FLZapped]

 

 

I disagree about the IM, I have the IM premium and love it. The nib works well, and the design is awesome...

 

I do agree with the Urban though, I hate Urbans

 

 

Sure, as long as all you want is a medium nib.....

 

Yes, that is true, it is really hard to find a fine nib...

 

According to their web page, it isn't offered for that pen.

[Inkysloth]

 

No, you most definitely should not try it, the quicker it dies the better. Maybe if it dies a quick, unceremonious death, they'll learn something, though I doubt it. It's mind boggling to wonder what possessed Parker to think disguising a fine line marker as a "fountain pen", with FP afficianados being a major part of the target audience, would be a good- or even passable- idea!

 

Plus I checked out their price - what the hell?! If they were affordable, you know, like £10 at most, then I would consider it. But they've priced them up as though they were high quality items, not just fancy schmancy felt tips. Ridiculous! Pffft.

[BoBoJones]

Parker is evolving with technology and sprucing up their image. Some of the modern pens look more attractive than my old stuff, and I liked a sonnet I tried.

 

That said, that new felt tip gizmo is funny. Not every introduction is a hit. Time will tell if fountain pens are passe, I guess. I wonder why the Germans didn't introduce something like this.

[PolarMoonman]

I too am curious to see what Parker's next move will be. But I'm not optimistic, I got a barely used Parker 21 for $1 at a flea market and it far outperforms my $30 Parker, I think they need to get back to basics, a long time ago models like the 51 were incredible and are valued and cherished by many collectors now. I think if they relaunched an old line it would be very successful.

Edited May 6, 2013 by ParkersandPilots

[pajaro]

A Parker 21 cost about $5 back in the day. Equal to at least $60 today, so your $30 Parker is less expensive, in spite of your getting a bargain on a used pen.

 

I refused to consider modern Parkers until recently, but have looked at a number of them lately. The design and engineering are modernized for new looks and current practice. So, why the gloomy outlook? I don't see it. If they fail, they fail, but Parker will probably adaptas well as the rest of the greedy lot. There's too much in it for them for them to fail. Parker will go on, probably with different ideas of pens, and maybe leaving the fountain pen in an ever smaller niche.

[PolarMoonman]

Oh okay gotcha I hadn't thought about it that way....

That is true about the Sonnet, but they still have the Duofold and the Premiere....

Edited May 6, 2013 by ParkersandPilots

[pajaro]

Yes, there are those pens, and all the vintage pens out there for people to try out.

 

I think that if you try the vintage pens, and then progressively newer pens, and keep an open mind from a pen user's perspective, you will see that there is continuous improvement. The pens become easier to use. If we all had the mindset and imagination of the pen designers maybe we would see where they might go.

[Harlequin]

A Parker 21 cost about $5 back in the day. Equal to at least $60 today, so your $30 Parker is less expensive, in spite of your getting a bargain on a used pen.

 

I refused to consider modern Parkers until recently, but have looked at a number of them lately. The design and engineering are modernized for new looks and current practice. So, why the gloomy outlook? I don't see it. If they fail, they fail, but Parker will probably adaptas well as the rest of the greedy lot. There's too much in it for them for them to fail. Parker will go on, probably with different ideas of pens, and maybe leaving the fountain pen in an ever smaller niche.

 

I disagree with that part pajaro (I put it in bold). The reason is simple- Newell-Rubbermaid doesn't care about fountain pens", per se. They have other brands in their writing and stationary lines which make them LOTS more money. If Parker died, I don't think the stock price would take too much of a hit, if it did at all. At this point, I think it would probably not even be regarded with too much disappointment even from the FP community at large.

[pajaro]

You might disagree, but there are Doufolds, Premiers, Sonnets, rollerballs, ballpoints, and an expensive soft tip pen masquerading as a fountain pen, all of which are an income stream. Greedy businesspeople are not going to let an income stream go away if they can prevent that. So, there is too much in it for them to abandon that revenue source. You think NR's other marques are going to get customers who now patronize Parker? Maybe it will be Pelikan, MB and others.

[Harlequin]

No, I don't think that those customers would go to other NR brands. I also agree that a corporation wouldn't abandon a revenue source. But that''s not really what we're talking about. As I've read it, this thread is more about how Parker has stagnated at the least or completely lost it at the worst in the past, say, 20 years or so. That is important, b/c the supposition is then that if things continue in this manner, eventually Parker would not draw anything close to that kind of revenue due to these issues- or perhaps draw enough revenue to justify the expense of keeping it alive. It's at that point that I SERIOUSLY doubt NR would even bat an eye at just killing the brand- especially b/c it simply does not represent one of their very profitable brands (or even "sort of" profitable brands). Heck, it's near the bottom of just their "writing utensil" portfolio of brands (compared to the likes of Paper Mate, Sharpie, Prismacolor, or even Waterman)! It sure as heck doesn't generate the dollar amounts that brands like Calphalon, Rubbermaid (both consumer and commercial), Graco, and Goody do.

 

That's what I think would happen anyway.

[View from the Loft]

What I also find sad is that Parker seem to have given up on any nibs other than medium or fine. We don't all want medium or fine round nibs. Sem of us want o, need, edged nibs - and in my case, the broader the better.

 

Thank heavens I can still find some vintage Parkers around that are to my taste.

[georges zaslavsky]

the parker range went down the crapper

[ballboy]

If the Wikipedia entry on Sheaffer is to be believed, Newell Rubbermaid bought it earlier this year; a replacement for Parker in their portfolio?

[pajaro]

I don't think Sheaffer or Parker make mass market products. Fountain pens and so on are luxury goods today. Nobody needs them, because there are other technologies to write with. Even writing is hardly a necessity with all the electronics. So, yes, NR can dump all its niche products. I don't care if all the manufacturers suddenly get their head out of wherever it is and drop all pen production. All the stuff I like is in the resale market anyway. Looking over the recent product Parker products, they are not that bad. I have found my Sonnets are just as nice as my 51s, and they are prettier. Well, a bit more tarted up anyway.

[Jerome Tarshis]

I don't think Parker is going down the drain as a business. I don't think Newell Rubbermaid has any lack of commitment to the brand. Those opinions are based on reading the company's annual reports of recent years, and some other news of what's happening with the Parker brand.

 

Up to now the postings to this thread have been from people who don't belong to Parker's present and future customer base, as it is in reality. Parker seems to be going great guns in China. But we aren't hearing from Chinese people who are excited over the expensive Parker pen they recently bought, one that isn't sold in the United States or England or western Europe. We aren't hearing from well-to-do people who live in Moscow or Petersburg or Kiev, are we?

 

The part I agree with is that Parker isn't putting great emphasis on mid-priced models known to people who grew up in the West. Well, no. For that matter, when I was a kid, the company was selling 51s after selling Duofolds and Vacs. The manufacturer of the Vector and the 25 was very far from being the Parker my parents and I grew up with.

 

So let's say we are not living through the very first time some older people could say that Parker had gone downhill. Depends a lot on when you were born and at what point in the movie you began watching. If you're in your teens and you live in Shanghai or Moscow, Parker can seem to have a perfectly splendid future ahead of it.

[Harlequin]

IIRC, the "5th Technology" (bleep) was introduced in china and is supposed to be the vanguard of the Parker line there. To me that signifies Parker is basically done with actual FPs. It appears that they want to (and by they I mean Newell Rubbermaid) possibly begin positioning Parker as the "luxury" extension of Sharpie- which at least by Newell Rubbermaid's account is the largest writing brand in N. America and one of the largest in the world. I can't think of any other remotely sane reason a fineline marker would be retailing for over $100.

[pajaro]

That's one assessment. It might or might not be correct. Possibly Parker does want to move away from fountain pens. It's an old technology, and technologies are being left in the dust so fast today that it will make your head spin. It could also be another marketing scheme that, while fountain lovers might view it as a threat of doom, might just be seen by the consumer as ridiculous, and flop.

 

China is a bigger market than the west. There is no reason to not have a marketing strategy in China, and another strategy in the west. Might as well make all the money they can.

[nxn96]

IIRC, the "5th Technology" (bleep) was introduced in china and is supposed to be the vanguard of the Parker line there. To me that signifies Parker is basically done with actual FPs. It appears that they want to (and by they I mean Newell Rubbermaid) possibly begin positioning Parker as the "luxury" extension of Sharpie- which at least by Newell Rubbermaid's account is the largest writing brand in N. America and one of the largest in the world. I can't think of any other remotely sane reason a fineline marker would be retailing for over $100.

By the same token, why would someone pay $100 for a Sheaffer bp when you can get a blisterpak of Bics for a buck? Yet, Sheaffer offers ballpoints for sale for $100 and more....

 

I don't see this as Parker being "done with actual FPs" (although some of our brethren on this site might argue that the introduction of the c/c system was the "end"- I don't go there); rather, I think it's attempting to find a market for a product. Am I the customer for this product? Likely not; but if someone else is, so be it.

[The Blue Knight]

An interesting thread. I think everyone is right there is a problem I personally think the probem is they have put parker to one side and consentrated too much on the Waterman line, There are some fine Watermans that have been released in the last 10 years but all Parker have been lack luster e.g. the ugly trio I.M., Premier, Urban. They need to put more effort into the parker line as if you ask the average person for the name of a fine Writing instrument brand a far greater proportion would say Parker not Waterman.