In the U.S., where I'm writing from, there's a lot of confusion and even turmoil. The same can be said of much of the world. How does your planner help you? Do you have a plan of action? Or just stay organized to maintain sanity? Or escape into the beauty of art, leather, and pens?
The eagle-eyed will have noticed that LFB (Letts Filofax Blueline) in the U.K. has slipped through another price rise - of around 10% - across its range. So a Clipbook rises from £17 to £19 and a Lockwood Personal Slim from £69 to £76. Further up, a Heritage A5 Compact has gone up from £109 to £120.
ReplyDeleteThe sharp decline in the value of our currency (the pound £) since the European Union referendum vote, will be to blame for these rises. However, even The Original - which is made in the U.K. has gone up from £65 to £69 - no doubt as it uses imported materials.
Expect further turmoil in the U.K. and Europe as well, Nan!
I presume you read this story (included in last weeks Web Finds) about the state of the company:
Deletehttp://www.heraldscotland.com/business/15040417.Filofax_maker_turns_new_page/
No - missed that! Interesting article. I predict the next 12 months will be much tougher and doubt that customers will accept price rises.
DeleteI wonder what is the "new product initiative that will see a focus on returning to sales growth". Hopefully not like 1991 all over again - cut costs, introduce huge numbers of cheaply made products from overseas etc.
Hi Tim and Steve, I had read the mentioned article and was also wondering what the new product initiative was about. Any guesses or even better information on this would be appreciated.
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Delete@Tim: when I read about the new low cost business model the Filofax company had re-engineered it's business to, I don't expect a better product range not to mention excellent service. I've seen a number of businesses that went worse with every cost cutting restructuring.
DeleteMaybe FF will release some digital binders in 2017.....to capture the younger market....
DeleteJust a thought....
;)
Happy Friday!
The new synthetic Domino Soft organiser was being promoted on the Filofax blog yesterday, so maybe that's it?
DeleteWell, with all kind of bad news (still the central focus of the media industry) it is good for me to get my focus on my BuJo task list. Being productive is for me the best remedy for the blues that comes along with bad news.
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DeleteFor not misportraying the current reality, I might better add that there are many more issues to report than the last few years. So for not falling hostage to the worries of the world, I limit listening to news to one time a day or even less (e.g. Sunday news free).
Delete@Tim: I presume that the rising prices for new Filofax products are promoting the second sales cycle of not only vintage organisers.
I used my weekly format for one month and set it aside. I designed a new layout on grid sheets of a notebook. I trimmed about one hundred sheets in thirty minutes and placed the notebook in the pocket of my leather cover. Sometimes I want to know the length of time of an activity. On your question of escaping in the beauty of leather, art or pens I have favored luxurious products. Now I am using my attractive inexpensive cover.
ReplyDeleteIn my line of work, interest rates are a very important factor. So I use my Filofax to track Fed meeting dates to be sure and watch the news for the announcement. :)
ReplyDeleteYep - I enjoy 'escaping' by writing letters to friends, planning books in gorgeous leather notebooks and trying not to go online too much. There is much joy to be had in writing a letter to a good friend with a beautiful pen on glorious stationery. And just as much in receiving one back!
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