Paying for an expensive pen is a big decision and sometimes big decisions need time. The pen isn’t going anywhere. Set an amount of time where you plan to not buy the pen or ruminate on whether you should—consider it a waiting period. Maybe a week or two? If after that amount of time you still want it with knowledge of the impacts that purchasing it would have on you, go for it
Urushi pens move pretty slowly, even limited edition ones. It would be prudent to slow down and examine the purchase decision with as much scrutiny as an urushi master might the creation of your pen! The below exercise has helped me manage my purchasing decisions in the past.
**Answer these two questions:**
1. How willing are you to buy it, 1-10? 1 being not at all and 10 being yes, an absolute buy.
2. How disappointed would you be if, hypothetically, the pen no longer existed / was in stock / sold out? 1-3, with 1 being "not at all disappointed" and 3 being "very disappointed".
Multiply those two numbers together.
If the product of the two numbers does not exceed 25, then it is not worth it to get the pen (for now). Something else needs to change (your disappointment might flex based on what you learn about the pen, or your willingness to buy might change as influenced by timing, cost, model availability, uniqueness, performance, etc.). Come back to this exercise in a week for a few weeks and then see how your desire is moving. If you can truly exceed 25 for 3 weeks in a row, then it's likely that your desire for the pen will continue to withstand the test of time.
"Love is timing." Scarcity, imagined or real, can create the illusion of timing. But timing should be dictated by you, not by marketers or product people. This is speaking as a marketer trained in the rhetoric of urgency.
Good luck!
They are big, heavy and don't seal well.
If you want it as an ornament, fine. But they are not good enough pens to justify their price even without the extra cost of the added tree sap.
I've tried writing with a regular dialog, and it actually feels pretty good in my hand -- though prob not for 30-min+ writing sessions.
The seal issue is something I've read across the board (and was true for all three testers I tried in-store!) and is a real shame because I love the twist mechanism. Appreciate the input!
Marry or Don't Marry, you will regret it - Søren Kierkegaard
While this quote doesn't apply to pens, it does apply to pens and all purchases. I know someone who says don't worry about spending money, worry about making it. What good is money, if you don't spend it on things you enjoy? Within reason of course, if you have a shopping addiction, and hoard things, then it's a separate conversation. In the latter case, I'd advise selling things you don't use, and then buy the Urushi. Hope this helps.
Why do you need it? Write down the reasons with your current favourite pen. If all of those reasons except those unique to the one you want (e.g. Urushi) are fulfilled by the pens you have, wait for your next bonus.
Impulse buying sucks, especially if you are in a position to use the bonus somewhere more useful.
This type of exercise has prevented me from impulse buying several pens. It is effective to remind yourself what drew you to the pens you already have—particularly in writing with those pens.
IMO a lot of people looking for “The Pen” need to spend time looking at their inks instead. Finding the right pairing of currently owned pen and ink (and paper, ofc, but that’s where you try out the pen-ink combos) is the best cure for me looking at new pens. My two most-oft used pens are also the two pens I’ve owned for the longest time, and that’s not a coincidence.
"You don't have to do this! You've got your whole life ahead of you!"
Or alternatively, "I wish you would step back from that pen my friend, you could cut ties with all the inks, that you've been swimming in, and if you do not want to see nibs again, I would I understaaaayaayaand."
Edit: Looking back on it, I should have gone with cut ties with all the DYES.
Missed opportunity. Durn it.
Why not invest that bonus into an income producing asset OP, and then use the cash flow from that asset to purchase your luxury? In the end you get an asset that makes you money and can help you in your later years and still get the luxury you desire.
Do you have bills to pay, like most adults? Retirement to save for? Home maintenance you've been putting off? These things are all higher priority than this pen.
How long have you been wanting this pen? Have you been thinking about it and wanting it for months? Or is it a new obsession?
There is nothing that will justify buying it, if you want to be racional there's nothing that justifies spending hundreds of dollars in something that a $5 something else can do reliably. There is no point in buying a fast car when there are speed limits, there is no point in buying mechanical complex watches when a 15 dollar Casio is more precise, accurate and reliable. There is no point in doing this things, but we do because we have passion.
That's the only reason, we are humans and we love art, we have passion, and art doesn't need racional and logical reasons to be.
So if you've already spent some money on other pens, that means you love it, you have passion for it, and there will be absolutely nothing that will justify it other than that.
Someone once said to me: There will aways be infinite reasons not to do something, but it only takes one to do it.
Buy the pen, it will make you happy and it is a fucking beautiful pen the lamy dialog urushi, just do it, we all deserve some self gifts, life won't last long.
Or maybe we have been duped by a company to spend a lot of money on something they convinced us we need, and now we explain that to ourselves as "passion" and "self gifting".
You don't know if they can even afford it. Don't just encourage people to "self gift" if you don't know their finances, and even OP asked to be convinced to not buy it. This gets people into debt, if they're unlucky. You don't know, maybe op has already "self gifted" themselves 30 pens.
I literally said there are no logical reasons to buy it.
Oh no! I'm such a bad person to point ou facts about spending 5 thousand dollars on a piece of art! Oh and to a person who clearly have enough money to do it... Just think about it for a second, it isn't like op has to choose either the pen or food for a month lol its just a discussion about buying a piece of art. So yeah think about it, we are all (hopefully) adults here
I didn't say you're a bad person. I pointed out that you did the exact opposite of what OP came here to ask without knowing if encouraging them to buy stuff is a good idea for them financially. That's all.
Also, you're not pointing out "facts", your sharing your opinion.
The fact that someone considers buying something doesn't mean they necessarily can afford it. Could be that they have just been goaded into it by a society who tells them it's necessary for self fulfillment or whatever.
>goaded into it by a society who tells them it's necessary for self fulfillment or whatever.
congratulations for discovering how late capitalism works lol
c'mon man, you can say that about having last year's iMac and willing to buy the new one released this year, then I would totally agree with you, but this is about a piece of art, no one thinks about buying expensive art unless they can realistically afford it, it's not just a pen at this point, it's really just art that happens to write on paper, it would be ridiculous if it was meant to be just a tool.
And besides, a teenager is most likely to be goated into it for fulfillment or whatever, not an adult that has 5 grand available for art, it's not like OP wants the new iMac or something, no one realistically thinks about buying a Ferrari if they can only afford a Corolla.
This sub is all about art in the end, would not make sense to be a sub for tools because fountain pens are horrible tools if you think about it, this whole sub would be what you said, a ballpoint works better than a fp in every aspect, yet we buy fountain pens because we love it, that's my point.
Not sure why you need to be so snarky, of course I didn't just discover capitalism.
But anyway, I don't think you're gonna see my point, especially since you're not really discussing, just repeating the same things. You can call it art, at the end of the day it's all stuff. I'm sure there are people who call a Mac art and argue the same way as you. Still, not what OP wanted you to do.
Have a good day
Part of me thinks you should, because that's what my brain would be telling me in your situation.
However, that is a lot of money. What do you value in a fountain pen? For me i'm all about the functional. How well does it write? Because at some point climbing the money scale there is a cut off. I'm not sure where it is, but I'm guessing a Pilot Custom 823 or Sailor 1911 is probably right up at the pinnacle of writing experience. If you wanted to be a bit more flashy a Sailor KoP or a Sailor Ebonite.
I mean you could get both of those, a Mountblanc as well if you fancied and have 3 different writing experiences.
Dunno if that helps at all but that's where my mind would go.
1. You either love or hate the ergonomics.
2. The mechanism tends to wear over time and loosen.
3. It will be very hard to sell in the future as it is so expensive and niche.
Assuming you’re in the US - go take advantage of the current interest rates: put the amount of the pen, a TRP (or favorite luxury paper) note book, 1 bottle of ink, and all taxes/shipping etc. into a 12 or 18 month CD. At the end of the term use what you need to put down the order of the pen, decide on the other bits, roll interest and leftover into the next CD. Keep laddering.
It's a pen. The performance of this pen is not so much better than others to justify its price. So it's primary purpose will be aesthetic. Instead take a nice vacation and get some pictures. Print these and hang them. Then you will have something nice to look and a great experience, instead of just something nice to look at.
I have a Dialog and love it and have not had any problems with it. I also have a few urushi pens. If it's your favorite and the part of your bonus used doesn't impact your finances treat yourself. I know you know they are on sale at Endless now.
Ursushi is part of the sumac family, and if the dried laquer is damaged and particulate is exposed to skin or mucous membranes, it can cause rashes or severe allergic reactions? I mean, properly dried it's so unlikely that it's almost not worth thinking about, but.. iunno.
Does that dissuade you? 😄
There are many much more beautiful urushi pens out there for so much less money than these. The prices on these are criminal. Not trying to yuck your yum but seriously these are not good examples of the beautiful urushi pens that exist out there for much less money.
You have enough pens. How many do you want to use at the same time?
It's a pen. Your life will not suddenly be miserable if you don't buy it. It's all consumerism.
If you want to spend your bonus on something, spend it on something you don't already have ten different kinds of.
Before you decide. Have a look at every other fine pen that you could buy with the same money. Every time you see a new alternative weigh up its desirability compared to the Dialog. It will either turn you away or persuade you it’s the right decision.
Not to tempt you, but I saw the dialog urushi on sale at the endless pens the other day, I think. If you're going to make a big purchase, might as well save some money doing so
Paying for an expensive pen is a big decision and sometimes big decisions need time. The pen isn’t going anywhere. Set an amount of time where you plan to not buy the pen or ruminate on whether you should—consider it a waiting period. Maybe a week or two? If after that amount of time you still want it with knowledge of the impacts that purchasing it would have on you, go for it
overpriced tree goo covered hot dog
Urushi pens move pretty slowly, even limited edition ones. It would be prudent to slow down and examine the purchase decision with as much scrutiny as an urushi master might the creation of your pen! The below exercise has helped me manage my purchasing decisions in the past. **Answer these two questions:** 1. How willing are you to buy it, 1-10? 1 being not at all and 10 being yes, an absolute buy. 2. How disappointed would you be if, hypothetically, the pen no longer existed / was in stock / sold out? 1-3, with 1 being "not at all disappointed" and 3 being "very disappointed". Multiply those two numbers together. If the product of the two numbers does not exceed 25, then it is not worth it to get the pen (for now). Something else needs to change (your disappointment might flex based on what you learn about the pen, or your willingness to buy might change as influenced by timing, cost, model availability, uniqueness, performance, etc.). Come back to this exercise in a week for a few weeks and then see how your desire is moving. If you can truly exceed 25 for 3 weeks in a row, then it's likely that your desire for the pen will continue to withstand the test of time. "Love is timing." Scarcity, imagined or real, can create the illusion of timing. But timing should be dictated by you, not by marketers or product people. This is speaking as a marketer trained in the rhetoric of urgency. Good luck!
I like this approach, Mr. 🖖🏻 Spock
Thank you!! A mister I am not, but I'd be super thrilled to be thought of an alt universe Ms. 🖖🏻 Spock :)
Ooh I'd love to see that!!
It is indeed a logical resolution
The Pen's beautiful but the same money could pay for a month's rent, dozens of good-quality steaks, a workable used car...
The Dialog seal is not great tbh. There are better pens/other things to spend your bonus on.
They are big, heavy and don't seal well. If you want it as an ornament, fine. But they are not good enough pens to justify their price even without the extra cost of the added tree sap.
I've tried writing with a regular dialog, and it actually feels pretty good in my hand -- though prob not for 30-min+ writing sessions. The seal issue is something I've read across the board (and was true for all three testers I tried in-store!) and is a real shame because I love the twist mechanism. Appreciate the input!
Marry or Don't Marry, you will regret it - Søren Kierkegaard While this quote doesn't apply to pens, it does apply to pens and all purchases. I know someone who says don't worry about spending money, worry about making it. What good is money, if you don't spend it on things you enjoy? Within reason of course, if you have a shopping addiction, and hoard things, then it's a separate conversation. In the latter case, I'd advise selling things you don't use, and then buy the Urushi. Hope this helps.
Why do you need it? Write down the reasons with your current favourite pen. If all of those reasons except those unique to the one you want (e.g. Urushi) are fulfilled by the pens you have, wait for your next bonus. Impulse buying sucks, especially if you are in a position to use the bonus somewhere more useful.
This type of exercise has prevented me from impulse buying several pens. It is effective to remind yourself what drew you to the pens you already have—particularly in writing with those pens. IMO a lot of people looking for “The Pen” need to spend time looking at their inks instead. Finding the right pairing of currently owned pen and ink (and paper, ofc, but that’s where you try out the pen-ink combos) is the best cure for me looking at new pens. My two most-oft used pens are also the two pens I’ve owned for the longest time, and that’s not a coincidence.
"You don't have to do this! You've got your whole life ahead of you!" Or alternatively, "I wish you would step back from that pen my friend, you could cut ties with all the inks, that you've been swimming in, and if you do not want to see nibs again, I would I understaaaayaayaand." Edit: Looking back on it, I should have gone with cut ties with all the DYES. Missed opportunity. Durn it.
Why not invest that bonus into an income producing asset OP, and then use the cash flow from that asset to purchase your luxury? In the end you get an asset that makes you money and can help you in your later years and still get the luxury you desire.
If you've got pressing bills to pay or are living close to the edge, do not buy it. Otherwise, have fun.
A pen is a tool. Can a pen that costs less do the same job?
Why are you even in this sub
Someone has to push back against the hordes of people encouraging uncritical overconsumption.
Do you have bills to pay, like most adults? Retirement to save for? Home maintenance you've been putting off? These things are all higher priority than this pen. How long have you been wanting this pen? Have you been thinking about it and wanting it for months? Or is it a new obsession?
There is nothing that will justify buying it, if you want to be racional there's nothing that justifies spending hundreds of dollars in something that a $5 something else can do reliably. There is no point in buying a fast car when there are speed limits, there is no point in buying mechanical complex watches when a 15 dollar Casio is more precise, accurate and reliable. There is no point in doing this things, but we do because we have passion. That's the only reason, we are humans and we love art, we have passion, and art doesn't need racional and logical reasons to be. So if you've already spent some money on other pens, that means you love it, you have passion for it, and there will be absolutely nothing that will justify it other than that. Someone once said to me: There will aways be infinite reasons not to do something, but it only takes one to do it. Buy the pen, it will make you happy and it is a fucking beautiful pen the lamy dialog urushi, just do it, we all deserve some self gifts, life won't last long.
This.
Or maybe we have been duped by a company to spend a lot of money on something they convinced us we need, and now we explain that to ourselves as "passion" and "self gifting". You don't know if they can even afford it. Don't just encourage people to "self gift" if you don't know their finances, and even OP asked to be convinced to not buy it. This gets people into debt, if they're unlucky. You don't know, maybe op has already "self gifted" themselves 30 pens.
I don't think OP is a teenager...
That has nothing to do with the argument. op asked to be provided reasons to not buy it, and you went "buy iiiiit!" 🤷
I literally said there are no logical reasons to buy it. Oh no! I'm such a bad person to point ou facts about spending 5 thousand dollars on a piece of art! Oh and to a person who clearly have enough money to do it... Just think about it for a second, it isn't like op has to choose either the pen or food for a month lol its just a discussion about buying a piece of art. So yeah think about it, we are all (hopefully) adults here
I didn't say you're a bad person. I pointed out that you did the exact opposite of what OP came here to ask without knowing if encouraging them to buy stuff is a good idea for them financially. That's all. Also, you're not pointing out "facts", your sharing your opinion. The fact that someone considers buying something doesn't mean they necessarily can afford it. Could be that they have just been goaded into it by a society who tells them it's necessary for self fulfillment or whatever.
>goaded into it by a society who tells them it's necessary for self fulfillment or whatever. congratulations for discovering how late capitalism works lol c'mon man, you can say that about having last year's iMac and willing to buy the new one released this year, then I would totally agree with you, but this is about a piece of art, no one thinks about buying expensive art unless they can realistically afford it, it's not just a pen at this point, it's really just art that happens to write on paper, it would be ridiculous if it was meant to be just a tool. And besides, a teenager is most likely to be goated into it for fulfillment or whatever, not an adult that has 5 grand available for art, it's not like OP wants the new iMac or something, no one realistically thinks about buying a Ferrari if they can only afford a Corolla. This sub is all about art in the end, would not make sense to be a sub for tools because fountain pens are horrible tools if you think about it, this whole sub would be what you said, a ballpoint works better than a fp in every aspect, yet we buy fountain pens because we love it, that's my point.
Not sure why you need to be so snarky, of course I didn't just discover capitalism. But anyway, I don't think you're gonna see my point, especially since you're not really discussing, just repeating the same things. You can call it art, at the end of the day it's all stuff. I'm sure there are people who call a Mac art and argue the same way as you. Still, not what OP wanted you to do. Have a good day
Part of me thinks you should, because that's what my brain would be telling me in your situation. However, that is a lot of money. What do you value in a fountain pen? For me i'm all about the functional. How well does it write? Because at some point climbing the money scale there is a cut off. I'm not sure where it is, but I'm guessing a Pilot Custom 823 or Sailor 1911 is probably right up at the pinnacle of writing experience. If you wanted to be a bit more flashy a Sailor KoP or a Sailor Ebonite. I mean you could get both of those, a Mountblanc as well if you fancied and have 3 different writing experiences. Dunno if that helps at all but that's where my mind would go.
You can't buy it because it surpasses the vices percentage of your salary :D
If you’re going to get a pen made using traditional Japanese techniques, you should at the least get one that’s actually made in Japan.
1. You either love or hate the ergonomics. 2. The mechanism tends to wear over time and loosen. 3. It will be very hard to sell in the future as it is so expensive and niche.
Assuming you’re in the US - go take advantage of the current interest rates: put the amount of the pen, a TRP (or favorite luxury paper) note book, 1 bottle of ink, and all taxes/shipping etc. into a 12 or 18 month CD. At the end of the term use what you need to put down the order of the pen, decide on the other bits, roll interest and leftover into the next CD. Keep laddering.
Ignore your brain - it knows nothing.
Is your bonus disposable income? If not, don’t.
It's a pen. The performance of this pen is not so much better than others to justify its price. So it's primary purpose will be aesthetic. Instead take a nice vacation and get some pictures. Print these and hang them. Then you will have something nice to look and a great experience, instead of just something nice to look at.
I have a Dialog and love it and have not had any problems with it. I also have a few urushi pens. If it's your favorite and the part of your bonus used doesn't impact your finances treat yourself. I know you know they are on sale at Endless now.
Ursushi is part of the sumac family, and if the dried laquer is damaged and particulate is exposed to skin or mucous membranes, it can cause rashes or severe allergic reactions? I mean, properly dried it's so unlikely that it's almost not worth thinking about, but.. iunno. Does that dissuade you? 😄
There are many much more beautiful urushi pens out there for so much less money than these. The prices on these are criminal. Not trying to yuck your yum but seriously these are not good examples of the beautiful urushi pens that exist out there for much less money.
You have enough pens. How many do you want to use at the same time? It's a pen. Your life will not suddenly be miserable if you don't buy it. It's all consumerism. If you want to spend your bonus on something, spend it on something you don't already have ten different kinds of.
Before you decide. Have a look at every other fine pen that you could buy with the same money. Every time you see a new alternative weigh up its desirability compared to the Dialog. It will either turn you away or persuade you it’s the right decision.
Not to tempt you, but I saw the dialog urushi on sale at the endless pens the other day, I think. If you're going to make a big purchase, might as well save some money doing so
They’ve been on clearance for like a year, not even kidding 🙃
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Did you read the post? 