Goulet Dropped Waterman?

[ParkerDuofold]

B&M stores in the Washington DC area: Bertram's Inkwell http://www.bertramsinkwell.com/, The Pen Boutique http://www.penboutique.com/ and Fahrney's Pens https://www.fahrneyspens.com/.

 

Yes. Let us also not forget Vanness in Arkansas:

 

https://vanness1938.com/

 

And Birmingham Pens in Pittsburgh:

 

https://www.birminghampens.com/

 

So, if worse comes to worse... we need not panic... there are plenty of alternate outlets that do mail-order.

 

IIRC, JetPens has a storefront, too, but don't hold me to that.

 

- Anthony

Edited June 5, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[Morphling27]

"Snore, snooze"

 

Oh god - Waterman's not available somewhere? I doubt anyone would notice - plus it's cheap, crappy ink and I can't imagine the Goulet's were making money hand over fist selling it nor would this deter potential customers from ever buying there again.

 

I generally use Aurora Black as the standard to try a new pen, get a pen that seems crummy to work well (and if not, see how I can fix if capable), and just if I need a good black. I'll also use HoD as well, depends on my mood but I find Aurora's black a bit smoother, HoD a bit darker and better in most other respects.

 

Anyway, so many great nibmeisters out there said Watermans was THE ink. It's what they used to test pens and suggested to make any pen work and work well and consistent. I got the mysterious blue (only Lord knows what that means). It's dry and not like Pelikan ink dry, but just... dry in a scratchy, uninspired way. It flows and I didn't have clogging issues - how could anyone anyway as it's the most dull ink ever - but I can't say my pens wrote well with it. I initially tried it in probably one of my Lamy's with an M nib as I have one clean and ready to test and it's a pretty standard pen. Ehhh. I made the mistake of sticking it in my TWSBI 580 with an F nib, MY GOD. I felt like I was attacking the paper. It's not a silky nib but it's the normal feedback of an F, but with Waterman's spooky blue it was like scraping a knife on the paper.

 

Anyway, enough with my rant. I can't think of a less useful or nice to write with ink and losing them is honestly no loss. Also, given the Goulet's track record, they are very good at helping people and a great company. If a product isn't pushing through with them, maybe it's your product, not the seller. The Sailor issue was a bit different as their ink sold well I'm sure, but they were unwilling to carry the full line of pens and that's different.

[praxim]

As I recall the reliable Waterman ink with which people test is Florida Blue / Serenity Blue / Bleu Effaçable, not their blue-black tone, Mysterious Blue.

 

I will happily use any Aurora or Waterman ink in vintage pens. No Noodlers would ever get near them. It is not worth the trouble to find out which individual inks are safe in brands like that.

Edited June 5, 2017 by praxim

[welch]

Fountain Pen Hospital carries Waterman inks. They sell on-line and in their store on Warren Street between Church and Broadway, Manhattan.

 

Names? Waterman inks have the color on the box. Easy to spot which was Florida Blue and which was Blue-black.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hello all,

 

At this point, it's best to remain cool and calm and make like cucumbers. It's probable that the Goulet's dropped WM because of slow sales and that's all there is to it.

 

All I was trying to do, (as well as Tasmith, I would assume), by listing those stores was to assure people that just because one prominent dealer is no longer carrying the brand... or even if this was WM's idea and THEY dropped the Goulet's because they're changing their business model to include only retailers that have an established B&M outlet... that this is not an apocalyptic situation and there are plenty of alternatives. Because for some, the loss of WM inks would be apocalyptic.

 

I myself, might break down in tears and have a slight tantrum if I could no longer get Uninspired Blue, because I think it's a beautiful color and a great performer.

 

That said, I'm gonna put on my Radiant Pink sunglasses and bask in it's rosy glow.

 

Be well.

 

- Anthony

Edited June 5, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[ParkerDuofold]

Fountain Pen Hospital carries Waterman inks. They sell on-line and in their store on Warren Street between Church and Broadway, Manhattan...

Hi Welch,

 

Quite right. FPH and Anderson were the first two I mentioned.

 

- Anthony

[praxim]

If desperate you can always import from Australia at vast shipping expense from where else but a kitchen and homewares shop.

[Kevan]

Waterman inks? Who cares?

 

I care...because they work. They're safe. They work in every situation, in every pen. They don't take forever to dry, don't smear, and don't destroy pens, melt sacs, and eat feeds. They might be "boring" color-wise, but at least they're competent.

[eharriett]

I care...because they work. They're safe. They work in every situation, in every pen. They don't take forever to dry, don't smear, and don't destroy pens, melt sacs, and eat feeds. They might be "boring" color-wise, but at least they're competent.

I agree with this statement. Even though the majority of my pens have more "exciting" inks in them, I admit that my beloved 100 Year Waterman will never have a drop in it of anything but modern Waterman ink or vintage Skrip. All my modern and most of my vintage pens I will always treat them like elegant tools I can use to express myself the best way I can, but my precious 100 Year will always be babied.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Waterman is also available on Amazon. Really, if one vendor stops selling it, it's not the end of the world.

[Kevan]

Yeah, and to be honest these days I get a lot of pen supplies on Amazon anyway. I haven't bought from Goulet since 2014. Not that I haven't wanted to, but it's just worked out that the things I wanted to buy they either didn't sell, or it was just easier to add it to an Amazon order. I've gotten several inks from Amazon in the last few years.

[inkstainedruth]

"Snore, snooze"

 

Oh god - Waterman's not available somewhere? I doubt anyone would notice - plus it's cheap, crappy ink and I can't imagine the Goulet's were making money hand over fist selling it nor would this deter potential customers from ever buying there again.

 

I generally use Aurora Black as the standard to try a new pen, get a pen that seems crummy to work well (and if not, see how I can fix if capable), and just if I need a good black. I'll also use HoD as well, depends on my mood but I find Aurora's black a bit smoother, HoD a bit darker and better in most other respects.

 

Anyway, so many great nibmeisters out there said Watermans was THE ink. It's what they used to test pens and suggested to make any pen work and work well and consistent. I got the mysterious blue (only Lord knows what that means). It's dry and not like Pelikan ink dry, but just... dry in a scratchy, uninspired way. It flows and I didn't have clogging issues - how could anyone anyway as it's the most dull ink ever - but I can't say my pens wrote well with it. I initially tried it in probably one of my Lamy's with an M nib as I have one clean and ready to test and it's a pretty standard pen. Ehhh. I made the mistake of sticking it in my TWSBI 580 with an F nib, MY GOD. I felt like I was attacking the paper. It's not a silky nib but it's the normal feedback of an F, but with Waterman's spooky blue it was like scraping a knife on the paper.

 

Anyway, enough with my rant. I can't think of a less useful or nice to write with ink and losing them is honestly no loss. Also, given the Goulet's track record, they are very good at helping people and a great company. If a product isn't pushing through with them, maybe it's your product, not the seller. The Sailor issue was a bit different as their ink sold well I'm sure, but they were unwilling to carry the full line of pens and that's different.

 

Well, I use Mysterious Blue in a Vac Shadow Wave. Why? Because when I bought it I had it checked out the next morning at the Indy-Pen-Dance table, had it pronounced to be in working condition, and that was the ink available for me to try the pen. And I've used that ink in that pen exclusively -- without ever flushing it -- ever since. Sunday morning of DCSS, August of 2015 till now, with just refilling the pen as needed. Boring? Maybe (although I had it in a different pen a couple of years ago and had people *convinced* it was a green ink ). So perhaps it's *not* such a bad name....

Do I have inks I like better? That are more saturated, more permanent, and have more of a "wow" factor to them? Sure. But I want to always have that ink within reach -- for *that* pen if nothing else. Yes, it's sad that it's no longer carried at Goulet Pens. But it's not like it's some LE ink that is completely unobtanium (man, the people who are already putting up bottles of Lamy Petrol on eBay at ).

As for the discussion about Parker vs. Waterman, I remember a discussion about how N-R were dealing with them from a couple of years ago -- apparently on their stockholders Annual Report they were falling all over themselves with how well Parker was doing in the Chinese market. Waterman? It got barely a footnote....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sailor Kenshin]

No one ever need justify ink likes or dislikes.

[GouletPens]

Hey everyone, thought I'd jump in here since there seems to be some interest in the matter It's not a big conspiracy or anything, we got notice saying that we'd been dropped as a retailer by Newell Rubbermaid because we weren't selling enough, they want to focus on big box stores. They gave us instruction to reach out to a new smaller distributor if we want to continue selling Waterman (and Parker, bc they distribute both). In doing a little research, I just wasn't comfortable with the relationship set up with the new distributor and I'll leave it at that, so the choice was made for us, no more Waterman or Parker. We had no advanced notice (it was effective immediately), and weren't told of the threshold of what we needed to sell in order to maintain the relationship. We're not that upset by it, we've seen that they haven't been giving a lot of attention to the fountain pen community since we've been carrying the brand, and we'd considered dropping it ourselves due to slow sales but were still carrying it because of the history/legacy. I don't know what the future holds for these companies and that's not my place to make that call, I hope to see these iconic brands thrive in the future and if it ever makes sense to be able to carry them again, I'd give it consideration. There's no hard feelings at Goulet, it was just a business decision on Newell Rubbermaid's part and they're completely entitled to make that call.

[langere]

Thanks, Brian, for your kind and clarifying reply. I am glad you finally jumped in!

 

Erick

[Misfit]

+1 for Honeybadgers comments on unions.

 

I also agree with the post about the names of inks changing from evocative names to what I call aromatherapy names. I got a bottle of South Sea Blue soon after the change. I love that ink color.

 

It would be nice if Waterman added an orange, pink, yellow plus more green shades. If Waterman would add a new color or two, it would be great if they changed the names back.

 

My B&M store sells Waterman plus at their online store. Online they charge $11.29 at penplace.com

[ink-syringe]

+1 for Honeybadgers comments on unions.

 

 

Honeybadger=Honeybadger++

 

 

what I call aromatherapy names.

haha. 😂

 

 

Long Live Waterman ink.

[TSherbs]

And Quink! I like my Quink Black.

[domzals1]

Thanks for clearing up, Brian. I had mentioned that upthread as you had touched on it in an Instagram live q&a but it looks like people were running with you were the one who dropped them. Always great to hear it from the source!

[Runnin_Ute]

Thanks for the clarification Brian! I keep Serenity Blue in my P51 Special because it never disappoints. Maybe I use the pen one or twice a week and never had an issue. Wouldn't try that with some other ink brands. Not with that pen.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Runnin_Ute