Dear FPNers,
Pelikan is raising its prices 8% effectice Sept. 1st. I do not know if that increase is to the Dealer's cost, or, to the List price (MSRP). Usually Retailers begin charging consumers the new price even for inventory acquired at the old cost because when they replace their stock with new product they will pay the new cost.
Regards,
Pinmin

someone tell me how going from an $80 pen (215) to $116 is an "8% increase"? the standard M200 now $105? Amazing. I love the 200s but don't think they're worth the $70+ they'd crept up to. $45-50 was a fair price for this steel-nibbed pen. Now they're twice what they're worth, IMO.

Pwease?

I have been priced out of my favorite pens. It's very sad. I'll have to rely on resales I suppose.

If Pelikan was trying to improve their "impression" they could have raised the prices on the Souverans alone. Why raise the price on what is barely more than a well-made starter pen?

I know this is old news but I just got a catalog with "specials" on these pens and it just depressed the heck out of me.

Sadder, there just isn't another brand out there that I think makes the quality piston pen that Pelikan makes. I love my Sailors - but they're gold nibbed so I can live with the price.

I am still waiting to see people turn down the opportunity for a 25% salary/wage raise when the opportunity arises.

Never heard of such a thing. Standard is 2%. I once got an 8% which was over-the-top but supposedly well-deserved. But heck no, I wouldn't turn down a 25% raise if I was working hard.

If we'd been told, "Pelikan is raising their prices and this will result in a 25% increase in costs to buyers in the US" I'd probably have found a way to buy that 215 I'd been eyeing. Instead I told myself that I could deal with an 8% raise in price and wait until the time is right for me to buy that pen. So we got one story (through no fault of the original poster's) and are handed another. I know that's how it works. Businesses take advantage of such price increases to increase their own bottom line. But I do prefer honesty in this area.

Silly me, expecting integrity and honesty.

Besides, is Pelikan (or Chartpak, or the dealers) actually paying their employees to reflect that percentage? Or are they like so many companies and just handing it over to the bigwigs? I'll never know, I'm sure. I give Chartpak a lot of leeway on this because they appear to have happy workers who do a good job. So maybe they'll pass on some profits to their employees. Not so sure about the company that sent me the catalog.

Interesting concept, but it is not the way the world works. After all if the employees in anyway deserved anything more, they would be the "bigwigs" or would have started their own companys.

My goodness, even in "socialist" (actually I thing "feudal" is a more appropriate adjective) all the real gravy goes upstairs.

No, anyone wanting to price Pelikan in the low end niche should have bought the company the last time it was up for sale.

Actually, since the design is so old and all patents have long lapsed, they (the "anyone wanting") might as well invest their capital in new equipment and bring out their own line of pens.

If the Pelikan touting keeps going on as well as it has they might be able to adopt model number / dollar pricing, M400 $400, M600 $600, etc.... I really don't see why, with some hard marketing work by Pelikan's "bigwigs" Pelikans couldn't be pushed up into the Mont Blanc niche, or even above........

Unfortunately I agree with this, including the last paragraph. I have a feeling that this is the direction Pelikan is heading in, and those who have criticised MB for all those years and championed Pelikan as the better-value alternative will be left with tears in their eyes and empty hands -- mouthing the words "Et tu, Pelikan!" as they stare at a billboard of Jennifer Lopez clutching a Pelikan handbag and a sparkly $1000 Ductus rollerball as she lies upside down on black satin sheets...

I don't want to bash Pelikan - I love my birds.

I'm just sad and do think the trend is toward an MB approach. Which just makes me sadder. I was definitely one of the "Why buy that expensive (whatever brand) when you can get a great little piston filler for $50, or a good gold nibbed pen for $100 and change." Now the 400 is over 200? For a pen I paid $120 for? Inflation is one thing, but this is policy obviously.

sad. May be time to explore the vintage Pels anyway. When the time comes. Really makes me want to write a letter to Pelikan about this. That's pointless. Nibless.

There's still the Reform's in the marketplace.

Yes I see that Pelikan is pricing itself out of the lower end market. Unfortunate for someone starting out looking for a nice pen.


Kurt

It's just not the same.

I loved the pedestrian prices of Pelikan pens. Admittedly, many applied the attribute pedestrian to their looks. I love my Pelikans, and to me only their prices were pedestrian. Now they are ascending into more rarified air. Good bye, my lovely birds! No new ones will get to sit on my personal perch. Yeah, but seriously, this price increase can be seen all across the board with pen makers, Pelikan being no exception here. I'd accept a price increase that is oriented at the annual inflation but this greedy spike is just a bit too much for my financial situation, too.

Is it a currency / exchange rate issue, or are prices going up in the EU too?

Pen price inflation is interesting. I have a small accumulation of pens (including three Pelikans). Up till recently I'd think, "Gee, why do I need all these pens?" and I'd feel a little sheepish for having bought so many. Now, I think, "What an idiot. I should have bought more while they were cheap."

On the other hand, every time I pick up one of my pens, they seem more wonderful and precious than ever.

Doug

I think its a combination of many things:

(1) Weak US Dollar
(2) Skyrocketing material prices (i.e. Gold, Precious Metals)
(3) Labor increases in Europe

I wanted to buy a Steel / Carbon Fiber Montblanc Fountain and the dealer told me that the price was going to increase effective October 1 for by about 10%

At least it's not just Pelikan. But I still feel like the 200 should have stayed in the "pedestrian" range. It isn't a fancy pen, after all. Some think it looks cheap. The 215 is no better, just a metal binde instead of a plastic one.

oh well.

Makes me glad I got my M200 when it was still available for $50.