Cross supply issues?

[max dog]

I was at one of the big stationery chain stores, Staples, in Canada, and no more Cross in the pen sections, not even Cross branded refills.  The website has a very sorry selection of Calais and Bailey fountain pens.  

 

Cross is going to lose a ton of market share.  If I was Staples, I would be reluctant to bring Cross back on to the shelves when they are that unreliable. 

 

It seems to be a sad state of affairs for Cross these days.

 

Anyone heard what's the deal with Cross?  They are either about to fold or there is great incompetence in leadership to allow a supply issue to cripple the company for this long.

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Who knows but their issue is not much better in the uk, their still selling pens but refills, bottled ink and converters are like teeth on hens or 💩 from a rocking horse 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

I suspect the venture capitalists backing them don’t have any more …… to give

[ture]

Just my luck... I bought a Century mechanical pencil from a charity shop earlier this winter, and thought it would be fun to have a ballpoint as well, so I managed to get one off an auction site for a something like US$ 10. It seemed to be about 40 years old, and the refill was completely dried out. “Oh well,” I thought, “I’ll just pop into some stationery shop and get a new one; Cross refills should be everywhere.” Yeah, right. I managed to find what appears to be one of the last Fisher pressurized Cross refills (Fisher has apparently stopped making them) but for an actual Cross refill, I’ll have to pay more for the refill and shipping than I did for the pen.

 

Oh well, at least leads should be available for a few years more, until people have given up completely on handwriting...

[tunney]

I tried to buy a cross roller (yes yes I know) from a few vendors in europe. Both told me they were expecting multi month supply issues from cross. this was 2 or so months ago.

[Penguincollector]

If you’re looking for something in particular, I like this EBay seller:

Cross Pens R US

 

I found my latest Cross Century II there for much less than anywhere else.

[Darryl.k]

I've been chasing Cross for a year and a half for fibre tip refills. It pains me to say it publicly on the internet, but their customer support is really poor. Cross USA state conflicting information compared to Cross UK. Hard to get replies to emails.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

I can’t see it being long before the UK / European arm go into Administration if they don’t sort out their supply issues. Nearly everywhere you look cartridges and converters are out of stock. I know supplier has converters on back order and Cross are just not supplying them. 
 

also looking online a lot the pens are out of stock. Luckily I have no intention of buying any more and have a stock of cartridges for the Bailey that that is on cartridge that I can take out and then refill once they are empty and washed through. 
 

I wonder if the US parent company will end up filing for bankruptcy protection? 
 

I have no idea what is going on with them but it does not look good. Hopefully if they do under their cartridges will be made then by someone like Monteverde and we will still be able to get supplies 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

On 6/11/2023 at 8:49 PM, max dog said:

I was at one of the big stationery chain stores, Staples, in Canada, and no more Cross in the pen sections, not even Cross branded refills.  The website has a very sorry selection of Calais and Bailey fountain pens.  

 

Cross is going to lose a ton of market share.  If I was Staples, I would be reluctant to bring Cross back on to the shelves when they are that unreliable. 

 

It seems to be a sad state of affairs for Cross these days.

 

Anyone heard what's the deal with Cross?  They are either about to fold or there is great incompetence in leadership to allow a supply issue to cripple the company for this long.

 

You are right about management incompetence. Getting hold of anything AT Cross related in uk is Impossible, I got last pack of washable blue cartridges from one of our internet shops, along with a blunt needle and syringe. Guess what I am planning on doing going forward.

[ArchiMark]

Maybe this has to do with supply chain issues that are not under Cross's direct control.

 

I am in the design and construction business. We are still having major headaches with getting doors, door hardware, mechanical systems, medical equipment, etc, etc.

 

Even the pandemic ended months ago, many suppliers are still backlogged and struggling to meet the demand.

 

It's a nightmare to try and complete projects still. I'm guessing it may take another year or so, before the supply chain gets back to where it was before the pandemic.

 

Just  my 2¢......

 

Mark

 

 

[jchch1950]

In recent weeks there have been more Sheaffer and Cross pens in the stores than one year ago.Maybe the process of outsourcing is getting back in time.

[ksx4system]

On 6/27/2023 at 11:48 PM, Darryl.k said:

It pains me to say it publicly on the internet, but their customer support is really poor.

 

Nice to hear that I'm not the only one who gets this exact impression.

 

On 6/27/2023 at 11:48 PM, Darryl.k said:

Hard to get replies to emails.

 

This is true, they will send minimal data if any.

 

On 8/27/2023 at 5:57 PM, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Hopefully if they do under their cartridges will be made then by someone like Monteverde and we will still be able to get supplies 

 

There are 3rd party ballpoint screw-in style refills available (I've seen unbranded Chinese ones and Regal branded ones made in Germany), not sure about other types.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

15 hours ago, ksx4system said:

 

Nice to hear that I'm not the only one who gets this exact impression.

 

 

This is true, they will send minimal data if any.

 

 

There are 3rd party ballpoint screw-in style refills available (I've seen unbranded Chinese ones and Regal branded ones made in Germany), not sure about other types.

It’s the cartridge and rollerball/gel ones that are the problem for the likes of the Wanderlust etc

[rabidkangaroo]

Along these lines, is anyone seeing issues in quality control of ink cartridges? I saw on Amazon some reviewers were saying they received cartridges that were half full and looked like they were clumsily refilled. But I saw an unopened pack in a store the other day that also looked only half full. So is cross not sealing them well? I would caution against stocking up on them. I’d love for them to actually get their screw in converters back in stock. 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

The joys of relaying on china for manufacturing your products QA/QC goes out of the window 

[Ron Z]

26 minutes ago, rabidkangaroo said:

Along these lines, is anyone seeing issues in quality control of ink cartridges? I saw on Amazon some reviewers were saying they received cartridges that were half full and looked like they were clumsily refilled. But I saw an unopened pack in a store the other day that also looked only half full. So is cross not sealing them well? I would caution against stocking up on them. I’d love for them to actually get their screw in converters back in stock. 

 

You often find this with many brands when the stock of cartridges is old, as in really old.  The cartridges started out full,  but the plastic allows the water to evaporate out of the ink - very slowly, but it happens.  I've seen sealed cartridges that are empty except for the dye.  I have a bunch of them.  You can pierce the end of the cartridge and then fill with distilled water.  Shake, and you're good to go.

[inkstainedruth]

Besides what Ron said, I'm thinking about refilling some cartridges of Edelstein Amethyst (left over from the first Pelikan Hub I went to) with a syringe directly from the bottle I have of that ink. 

That Hub was a few years ago now, and the cartridges have mostly in the tins they first came in -- and I still had flow issues from evaporation when I stuck one in a Reform I picked up a while back at an estate sale company's showroom sale.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ueno808]

What Ron said!!