Monday, March 02, 2009

Pencils, pencils, who wants some pencils?

It's been awhile since I ordered the popular AQ mini pencils. Honestly, I haven't had much incentive--I've always given them away for free or sold them at a loss. (And that's when they aren't stolen when they're delivered to the front door, but strangely, those thieves opened the box first and only took half of the 1440 pencils that were in it. I'm still curious what they needed the 720 pencils they did take for...) The more I sold, the more I lost. It's not a very good business to get into.

But for a limited time, I have some pencils for sale once again. Since I'm keeping one box for myself, that leaves a total of 39 boxes (144 pencils per box) available for those who want to order one. When they're gone, I do not plan to reorder anymore (at least not anytime in the immediate future), so if you want them, now's the time to order!

Each pencil says, "Get your next clue at www.atlasquest.com." Boring, yes. Informative--some people might say so. =) The idea being, of course, that they would go within a letterbox so people would see the message when they found the box. Probably intended for people such as geocachers or other would-be mugglers who may not have ever heard of letterboxing. On a practical note, it's not adviseable to put these pencils inside ZipLock bags since it could punch a hole in them. And come on, they're pencils. They don't need to stay dry anyhow.

If you're interested, though, get into the AQ Marketplace and put your order in. They're $10/box (premium members get 10% off--just $9/box), and shipping is $2/box. Now that I'm an officially registered business with the state of Washington, I'll also be collecting sales tax for any orders shipped to any destination within Washington. Sorry about that. (Now don't you guys wish I moved to some other state?)

Speaking of sales tax--I had to update a lot of code to support annoying little state taxes such as sales tax, and there could very well be bugs in the system. Wassa kindly tested out a California shipping address so non-Washington destinations seems to be working well at this point. I'm not sure if the sales tax code could break, though. If it does, don't worry--I'll get it fixed. =)

Happy trails!

11 comments:

1SG said...

How big is your pencil??

Urr... That doesn't look very good. How long are these mini pencils.

That looks better.

Anonymous said...

Did you check among the local golfers and ladies' bridge clubs for the mini-pencil thieves?

I was very excited when I first saw one of these pencils in a letterbox! But I really prefer glitter gel pen.

SuziLivvi

Anonymous said...

What if I just want one?? Or are they more like a potato chip kinda thing...

Ryan said...

The pencils are like those you'd use at a mini-golf course (or a real golf course) for that matter.

As for those want just one (or something less than 144 pencils), I just don't really want to be bothered with such small amounts and counting pencils. Anyhow, the cost to ship just one pencil would be more than the cost of the pencil!

You can always buy a box and distribute (or resell) them to friends. I don't mind if someone wants a box just to resell them in smaller amounts. It's probably much more economical that way.

Or, if you just want one, "borrow" it from a friend who did order a box. They probably a few extras they don't need. ;o)

-- Ryan

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't know what to do with anything close to *half* a box, but I'd be interested in getting some for putting in my boxes.

If anyone DOES get a full box and wants to get rid of some, I'd be interested...maybe 20-30 or so.

AQ mail me.

Thankies.

preboxed

oceanwytch said...

So.....I just ordered a box, because, well, you never know when you might need 144 little pencils! :-) Plus, I know that I was really excited about getting some 5 years ago when I started, so I'm sure others would be too.

Bobguyman said...

Ooooooooh... Couldn't resist... had to order... ;)

Sounded like a bargain... 144 for $9? Had to take it =)

Can't wait to get them! =D

~BOB~

Anonymous said...

Hey Bob-

Can I have one?

Goofy girl said...

Fluffy I will send you one of each color. I don't know what I will do with all these pencils but I have at least paid a little bit of my rent for being on AQ so much!!! Thanks Ryan

Sugarpops 'n Teachuh said...

"Teachuh" will have a blast getting her students hooked on letterboxing. Nice 'lil first finder gifts as well.

Sugarpops

lucky day said...

I want some but you must be all sold out as they are not on the marketplace site. I will have to be content with just the two a friend gave me?