pen. how does this even make sense?

HMP

HMP

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Found a Zebra gel pen at work a few weeks back - stainless steel body, click pen - I like it.
Used it for a bit and this morning it ran out of ink.
Well, as I said, I like it. So I hop on amazon and look up refills for it, 2 refills for 6 bucks shipped. Ok.
Wait, right under I see a 2 pack of NEW PENS for only 5 shipped.

How they gonna sell me more stuff for less money?
Are they hoping that people wont look up what the new pens cost?

I checked ebay, and, in my quick search, cost wasnt much better at all. Especially when factoring in the two day shipping etc
 
When you have a life as easy as mine, it's worth noting.
 
Not much different than being able to buy a new printer instead of replacing all four ink cartridges if using OEM ink.
 
I use the same pen (had the same one forever) but refills can be had cheaper. I bought a 12 pack of refills for 9 bucks about a year ago.
 
HMP said:
Found a Zebra gel pen at work a few weeks back - stainless steel body, click pen - I like it.
Click to expand...
GEL PENS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICES OR GOOD DOCUMENTATION PRACTICES
this is part of my job
I have to take pens from people and yell at them.
 
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DrScaryGuy said:
GEL PENS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICES OR GOOD DOCUMENTATION PRACTICES
this is part of my job
I have to take pens from people and yell at them.
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate? Not specifically interested in your job but since you mentioned it Iā€™m curious how one gets paid to yell at people for their choice of pens haha.
Are gel pens no good because they tend to smear more and fade faster over time?
 
Using amazon as a pricing benchmark doesnā€™t always work so well. Usually itā€™s because of two items being sold by different sellers. Even if theyā€™re both prime, one could be sold by Amazon and one sold by Joeā€™s Stationary. Amazon does some realllly weird things with pricing and will regularly sell things for a gross loss.

Iā€™ve seen Amazon sit on qty 100 product A for 6 weeks, liquidate them at a large loss via alternate channels, re-buy 50 of product A the following week, then complain that the buyer of the liquidated inventory is able to offer a lower price than they can profitably offer. It goes farther than this but again, they can do some odd things.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
Are gel pens no good because they tend to smear more and fade faster over time?
Click to expand...
Yes. Those are the reasons.
Our written records need to be readable for decades if necessary.
And I do more than just snoop around for the wrong kind of pen... but I've watched a company auditor lick his finger and test the ink on pages, then order us to write up a record of the bad habit and have us implement a corrective action for it.
 
HMP said:
Found a Zebra gel pen at work a few weeks back - stainless steel body, click pen - I like it.
Used it for a bit and this morning it ran out of ink.
Well, as I said, I like it. So I hop on amazon and look up refills for it, 2 refills for 6 bucks shipped. Ok.
Wait, right under I see a 2 pack of NEW PENS for only 5 shipped.

How they gonna sell me more stuff for less money?
Are they hoping that people wont look up what the new pens cost?

I checked ebay, and, in my quick search, cost wasnt much better at all. Especially when factoring in the two day shipping etc
Click to expand...
By "found" do you mean stole it from someone?
:D

DrScaryGuy said:
Yes. Those are the reasons.
Our written records need to be readable for decades if necessary.
And I do more than just snoop around for the wrong kind of pen... but I've watched a company auditor lick his finger and test the ink on pages, then order us to write up a record of the bad habit and have us implement a corrective action for it.
Click to expand...
Interesting stuff when you deal with archival type documentation. Inks matter, paper matters... Even digital has it's requirements. Had a design firm once that needed unmodifiable storage of it's drawing files to track it's change history and time/date stamps. They had to know how something was changed and when it was changed without someone being able to alter the record.

And I get annoyed when I need an old register receipt and the thermal paper has faded or turned black from exposure to heat.
 
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I work in food service. Moisture and gel ink does not mix. Day dots are used to track expiration dates. A day dot completed with a gel pen and then put in a walk in cooler will become unreadable due to the ink bleeding on the day dot. I to would yell at people for using the wrong pen.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
 
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Zebra also has a half steel body pen, might want to double check. But I found I could buy a pack of the half steel pens at Sam's for about the same price as a couple refills.
 
@georgel lol no, I really did find it sitting randomly on a bench in the halls.
It writes well, I like the feel of it (most of the tube is SS, the area where you grip is plastic, and that's there the two parts come undone and you can put a refill in)

@Jerzsubbie I understand what youre saying, but even when I went to ebay I saw similar things/pricing

@BigWaylon good call, didnt think about printers.
MAKES NO SENSE! lol
 
georgel said:
Interesting stuff when you deal with archival type documentation. Inks matter, paper matters... Even digital has it's requirements. Had a design firm once that needed unmodifiable storage of it's drawing files to track it's change history and time/date stamps. They had to know how something was changed and when it was changed without someone being able to alter the record.

And I get annoyed when I need an old register receipt and the thermal paper has faded or turned black from exposure to heat.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen it myself, but i hear stories of people in the company getting fired for having somebody look at the edit history of a digital document and finding little inappropriate notes (I hate this place, everybody it stupid, my boss is a @#$@#) that somebody entered and then edited over. That has become part of my standard training speech. And yes, when somebody offsite prints on cheap inkjet or when a delivery/pickup uses thermal tape, it makes the job that much more annoying because then i have to go make a laserprinter copy of everything just in case the original fades...
And we only use black ink pens. corporate offices use blue. it's silly.

premise said:
You touch my Pilot G2 cartridge in a dream, you wake up and apologize.
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I only really snatch pens out of hands if people are about to sign an important/regulated document. And in that case, sometimes a brief nap is worth keeping my own job :)
Normally I just do a quick "STOP!" "WHAT KIND OF PEN IS THAT?" and tell people to go put it in their locker and NEVER bring it back to work.
 
I hate receipts on thermal paper too.

Well, basically, I just hate thermal paper for anything except temporary...but the temporary has a way of needing to be permanent.
 
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georgel said:
By "found" do you mean stole it from someone?
:D


Interesting stuff when you deal with archival type documentation. Inks matter, paper matters... Even digital has it's requirements. Had a design firm once that needed unmodifiable storage of it's drawing files to track it's change history and time/date stamps. They had to know how something was changed and when it was changed without someone being able to alter the record.
Click to expand...
Very important in construction design. If failures occur a record is needed for all changes made after initial design. I had to train many A/E's to keep up with design revisions and I always kept a hard copy of all originals and revised drawings.
 
DrScaryGuy said:
And yes, when somebody offsite prints on cheap inkjet or when a delivery/pickup uses thermal tape, it makes the job that much more annoying because then i have to go make a laserprinter copy of everything just in case the original fades...
Click to expand...

What's the big deal with thermal paper? If you want to archive it just laminate it. Duh. :rolleyes:
 
JohnnyTyler said:
What's the big deal with thermal paper? If you want to archive it just laminate it. Duh. :rolleyes:
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LoL. I can just see the black blob that would result. :D

BTW, thermal paper is toxic...

In receipt paper known as ā€œthermal paperā€ because of the way the ink develops, BPA and BPS are added in their free form without being bound to the paper or polymerized. So the chemicals can easily transfer to anything a receipt touchesā€”your hand, the money in your wallet or even the groceries in your shopping bag. Several studies have found that handling receipts, even briefly, leads to significant BPA or BPS absorption into the body.

And this type of ā€œthermal paperā€ isnā€™t limited to receiptsā€”itā€™s also used for movie and concert tickets, boarding passes and deli meat and cheese labels. Itā€™s pretty hard to avoid. And studies have found that the body absorbs more BPA when thermal paper is handled with moist or greasy fingers. Using hand sanitizer and hand creams can make the body absorb BPA much more rapidly.

Whatā€™s the problem with BPA and BPS?

These chemicals are endocrine disruptors that mimic hormones like estrogen and thyroid hormone, disrupting the bodyā€™s normal functioning. Studies have found links between BPA exposure and numerous health problems like breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Unlike some chemicals that are only toxic at certain doses, scientists have found that even low doses of these chemicals can impact fetal development and may contribute to reproductive impairment, ADHD, autism and other health problems. The most common replacement chemical for BPA in receipt paper, BPS, and emerging science suggests it may be just as bad as BPA. Itā€™s a classic case of a ā€œregrettable substitute


https://saferchemicals.org/2018/01/17/new-report-9-out-of-10-receipts-contain-toxic-bpa-or-bps/
 
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Disposable society. One reason I enjoy casting lead so much. I'm sure when lead wheel weights were a burden to tire stores and they were giving them away, someone somewhere thought Hey it's cheaper to buy new bullets than to make my own!

He He He. Anybody got some old lead they wanna give away to the Redneck Disposal Collection Site in Midland NC?
 
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