School Supplies 2013 (Usa)

[Octo]

The local WalMart has begun putting out school supplies this week with more showing up daily.

 

So far for wide line spacing, a few Norcom composition books from Brazil have been available, mixed in with the ones made in the USA. I also found a few Norcoms made in India. Those are 50 cents.

 

All the college rule Norcom composition books that have arrived so far are made in the USA and cost 65 cents each. Walmart must be charging for the ink to print the extra lines. ;-)

 

There were also some nice notebooks without spirals and with perforated pages of Brazilian paper. Unfortunately, those were child size (8 x 10.5 inches) rather than standard size (8.5 x 11 inches) so those stayed in the store, too. School supplies ARE for children.

 

Has anyone found college ruled composition notebooks with Brazilian paper in their town, or is there no hope this year? Other good surprises?

[pencils+pens]

I was in OfficeMax today. They had some back-to-school specials but none on the composition books.

[WC Lee]

Staples will have the compostion notebooks on sale soon probably mid August, both wide ruled and college rule, though where they are made will be the luck of the draw. But last year I got the ones made in Brazil for 50 cents each and stocked up on them since I will never know when I will see the made in Brazil ones again.

[scrivelry]

Staples will have the compostion notebooks on sale soon probably mid August, both wide ruled and college rule, though where they are made will be the luck of the draw. But last year I got the ones made in Brazil for 50 cents each and stocked up on them since I will never know when I will see the made in Brazil ones again.

 

I was in Staples today and picked up five college ruled composition books (100 pages, black marbled covers, multiplication tables in the back, 7.5 by 9.75 inches as measured by my dollar store ruler and tired eyes.) which I thought had very nice paper and sure enough, when I looked just now, made in Brazil.

 

At the moment they are 1.00 US per 100 page notebook. Now that I see these are special for notebooks, I will go back and get myself some more. I did not check the spiral bound notebooks - do they have those from Brazil too?

 

Should I feel guilty - am I writing on the rain forest here?

 

It's possible they will be on sale for less at some point.

[WC Lee]

They will eventually get in huge supply of one subject wirebound notebooks - 70 sheets per notebook, I'm sure they will have some available right now though. Last year they had them on sale for 20 cents each but they had them from all over: Egypt, Brazil, USA, Vietnam, so might have to do a little digging or check out several locations.

 

I got a couple of Staples brand made in Brazil notebooks that has an elastic to keep the notebook close . The cover is plastic with the word "Pages" plastered all over the front and back covers, though all but one is the same color as the cover. The pages are perforated for an easy cleaner removal. It handles fountain pen ink fairly well with lots of show through.

[mhguda]

Paper made in India is also worth a look.

Last year I found filler paper from India that turned out to be very FP friendly. And very inexpensive.

[Octo]

Several people on FPN have reported that the paper from India can be good for FP. I haven't tried it, as I'm holding out for college rule. I may buy a comp. book with paper from India to try.

[ac12]

A few days ago I was at Staples and they did have on sale for 50 cents each, wire bound, 1 subject, 70 sheet, wide ruled notebooks made in Vietnam. This is a better deal than the $1 comp book, which has 100 sheets. You get 40 more sheets (in 2 books) for a $1.

BUT....my experience was that you have to feel the paper in each notebook. Some were rough and some were smooth. Because my F tip pens do not like rough paper, I picked up 2 of the smoothest I could find, which happened to be in a red cover. These proved to be very FP friendly. See my mini-review in post #37 of this thread.

www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/247003-nice-cheap-common-notebooklined-paper/page-2

 

I also found that the composition books at my local Dollar Store is made in India and seems even better than the comp books made in Brazil. But I also found out that comp book paper is lighter than 20 pounds, so if your pen has a broad tip or you put down a lot of ink, you will have some serious shadowing. With my M tip pens, the shadowing is clearly visible but not too so bad that they are irritating (at least for me).

I did a mini-review of the comp books in the same thread as above, post #24

 

Caution, the filler paper at the Dollar store that does not have a "made in ..." printed on it, is LOUSEY. It feathers and bleeds through.

It is useless for me to use for FP writing. I think I will give it to my neice for her kids to use.

[WC Lee]

I went to the local Dollar store and got 2 comp notebooks made in India (even though I didn't need any more notebooks) just to test them out. The paper appears to be pretty decent as far as feathering goes but there are a lot of show through with the medium nibs which also shows signs of threatening to bleed through and if the right ink was used, I'm sure it would have.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about these notebooks, they are a decent alternative to the Brazilian made ones. The only issue I have with getting them at the local Dollar store is that they are usually not kept in good condition, maybe better at another location.

[Tweel]

I just got back from the local Wal-Mart. Unlike last year, there was a jackpot of Brazilian-made comp books, 50 cents each. They also have something new(?), little (7-7/8" X 5-1/2") hardbound composition books, made in Brazil, 97 cents each.

[ac12]

My somewhat local Walmart had a 70 page wire bound notebook made in MEXICO for 17 cents.

BUT...quality is variable. I had to feel the paper in several books and picked up a few with the smoothest feel.

I did a review here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/247003-nice-cheap-common-notebooklined-paper/page-2

Go down to post #41

 

I picked up 5 of the Mexico notebooks at 17 cents each, and 6 of the Brazil composition books at 50 cents each.

 

I plan to check Staples in Aug for the made in Brazil WIDE ruled filler paper. The last time I was there, last week, they only had Brazil made college ruled paper. I want the wider lines to do my handwriting practice.

Edited July 27, 2013 by ac12

[Gloucesterman]

Last week, Staples had composition books(70 pages?) and spiral bound books (70 pages?) made in Brazil for $.25 - Limit of 5 per visit. That means you can go out the door, put rhe bag in your car and come back in a buy some more.

 

I sometimes do that once or twice and then give the stuff that I buy to one of the local non-profits or a friend who is a teach.

 

This week (July 28-August 3, 2013) on of the things on sale is the two pocket "file folder" for .01 cent each for up to 10 "folders".

 

Check out their weekly circular.

No affiliation.

[pencils+pens]

There was an ad in my Sunday paper from Office Depot. Composition books, source unknown, are on sale for 0.25. The limit is 3.

[ac12]

Thanks for the Staples tip.

Looks like I have a trip to Staples tomorrow.

They did not have Brazil made spiral bound notebooks the last time I was there.

 

Now where am I going to put all this paper so my wife does not yell at me.

At least my ink bottles stores in a smaller space than that stack of paper, note books and comp books that I have on the floor.

[Octo]

Has anyone found college rule composition notebooks from Brazil or India at these special prices? Where?

 

Thanks

[ac12]

Walmart had college ruled comp books for 50 cents each.

I presume the Brazil made college ruled ones are burried in the stacks as they were for the wide ruled comp books that I bought. I had to go thru a few stacks of books to find the made in Brazil comp books.

 

The only place that I've seen the India made comp books were at my local Dollar Store.

The regular price is $1 each, I don't know if they drop to 2 for $1 for back to school, I have to stop by and check the prices.

[pencils+pens]

This morning I checked the three Big Box office supply stores for composition books.

 

Office Depot. 100 sheet college and wide ruled composition books on sale for 0.25. Limit of three per customer. All were made in the USA. I bought three to see how they would perform. I haven't tried them yet. There were other composition books from other countries but they were not on sale.

 

Staples. I saw none on sale and the salesperson didn't think they had any on sale.

 

OfficeMax. I saw a large pile of 100 sheet wide ruled composition books, there were no college ruled books. All of the books were made in Brazil. The price was a $1.00. I picked up five. Next to the composition books was a stack of filler paper, college ruled, 100 sheets per package. A sign said that the packages were 0.01 with a purchase of $5.00 or more. I figured that was a good deal, so I picked up 5 packages. I'm not worried about bleed-thru since I only write on one side of filler paper. I headed to the register. The composition books rang up as 0.50 not $1.00. The clerk explained the books are on sale thru this Saturday. I was going to put the filler paper back but that rang up as 0.01 even though my total was well below the $5.00.

 

Your mileage and store may vary.

[Turquoise]

This is not paper, but if you need pencils for your children or like bright ones for yourself Target has exclusive bright colored packs of Ticonderoga pencils (made in Mexico). They come in packs of 10 and include 2 of each of 5 bright solid colors, and so far they write nicely.

[ac12]

DRAT

I went to Staples (in Foster City, CA) and the 1 subject spiral bound wide ruled notebooks are 50 cents each, not 25 cents.

But the BRAZIL note books were finally out on the floor.

I picked up 10 note books.

 

Now should I return the Vietnam made spiral notebooks that I got last week?

I need to compare them.

 

Also they finally got in the Brazil wide ruled filler paper. I went through ALL the packs that was out in the center aisle. Then went into the paper aisle, and there it was.

I picked up 10 packs for 85 cents each.

I'm considering switching from note/comp books to individual sheets. Then I don't have to deal with the level change at the bottom of the page or the center gutter or spiral.

[DanF]

Glad you found the wide rule Brazil filler, bet you will like it.

 

Dan