Inconspicuous Consumption?

Do you have any idea how much you may have purchased from online retailers?

I just got a shock as I would not have guessed nearly as much as the facts indicate. After writing a review of a notebook I'd purchased at Jet Pens, I got this notice:

"Your review has been submitted and will be posted soon.

"You have 166 previously ordered products that would love a review. Click here to review them!"

Never would I imagine I could have purchased 166 different items. In my defense, most are small -- Preppy pens, scissors, washi tapes, notebooks, etc. But, still...edging up toward 200 items? That looks like addiction territory! And that's only ONE retailer!

Anyone else have such an awakening?

There are certain situations, generally very few but clearly this is one, where ignorance really is the preferrable outcome...

Taking Jet Pens only, yes, I do know how much I've ordered from them. Mind you, some orders have been things like replacement erasers for different types of mechanical pencil, replacement leads in different grades, and different types of wood pencils. Many of those would be on a single order, but I have the opportunity to review each separately. Don't hold your breath for my exhaustive review of Rotring eraser refills.

But I also go through my Amazon orders and think, "I really need to cut back on this". In fact, I haven't ordered any fountain pen stuff in quite a while, but I just ordered some 6H and 6B drawing pencils.

Ignorance is bliss.

If there are any typos in this post, I blame Tapatalk!

200 items isn't shocking. Just think of the groceries you buy every week.

Gee. I've been an Amazon customer for ten years with both a business and a personal account. Not to mention that there are few retailers here in the heart of cattle country.

So probably hundreds of items from spurs to the Lamy Joy that just arrived Friday.

Gee. I've been an Amazon customer for ten years with both a business and a personal account. Not to mention that there are few retailers here in the heart of cattle country; we have to buy most things online.

So probably hundreds of items from spurs to the Lamy Joy that just arrived Friday.

Amazon alone? I don't even want to know!

Between Goulet, Anderson, Pen Chalet, JetPens, etc., I doubt I am at 100 items yet (inks, samples, converters, etc). Give me time...

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Originally Posted by azkid

Between Goulet, Anderson, Pen Chalet, JetPens, etc., I doubt I am at 100 items yet (inks, samples, converters, etc). Give me time...

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Way over 200 items between them. I live for their annual ink sample sales and can easily add 25 at a time, not to mention Rhodia and Clairefontaine pads of all sizes and ink sample vials by the pack.

I just cleaned out my briefcase, and found 11 inked pens. I don’t even remember what some of them are inked with. Worse, I was looking for a pen to make a list for the office supply store.
Edit: 12. 12 fountain pens. I overlooked the Liliput. I need to reflect...

ceebert, that is my nightmare scenario. I am paranoid to ink too many pens for exactly that reason. Although I think all my inks are gentle, so I doubt anything bad would actually happen. Sometimes if I'm not writing a lot, I wonder if I should just go back to pencil and ballpoint :)

Ordering online, it certainly takes out a certain factor of embarrassment. You don't have to look a cashier making $15 an hour and think yes, I am buying a 300, 400, 500 dollar pen... Or yes, you have seen me here 40 times before, buying yet another pen ;p In that way online shops really enable collectors who might otherwise be too embarrassed.

Like everyone else, I've bought lots online in the last ten years. Frankly I think it's better for the environment that one person be delivering parcels on an efficient route, than every person who would have received that parcel driving their car to a brick and mortar store. But I hate that every softcover I buy arrives damaged :(

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Originally Posted by Brilliant Bill

Do you have any idea how much you may have purchased from online retailers?

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If you mean for pens only, it is somewhere between $300 and $400 over the last 15 years. So quite a lot, but that also includes inks and other pen accessories. Virtually everything I have bought penwise has been online.

If you mean how much from online retailers for any and all items, including pens, it is a lot less than I would have spent in brick and mortar stores.

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Originally Posted by Brilliant Bill

Anyone else have such an awakening?

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My "awakening" came when I first started to look into fountain pens. Someone on one of the forums mentioned having a pen "rotation", which was baffling. It was only later that it became apparent they meant switching between pens on a regular basis. It never occurred to me prior that people did that. It still seems rather odd, although having 8 pens myself I am hardly one to talk.