Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 3:50 PM
To: Todd Silver
Subject: 3x5" notebook with the spiral binding on the side: why not?
Dear Rite-In-The-Rain:
Can you please manufacture a 3x5" pocket notebook with the spiral binding on the side?
(Note: Not the loop-wire that can easily be undone by pulling it--like many of your other notebooks, but a genuine spiral that winds through all the holes in the binding, which is less likely to pinch and guaranteed not to come undone).
Here's my reasoning:
As a former journalist I've never kicked the habit of carrying a notebook; rather, I've become somewhat dependent on always having one with me for the past ten years. However, the type I carry--which has been the most practical and useful to carry in the back pocket of my jeans/slacks--has been an 80-page 3x5" notebook with a side spiral binding. This type allows me to easily keep pages in sequence--turning the pages like a "book" (unlike a top spiral, that you have to flip back and forth, which I've tried and find extremely annoying)--and also allows me to hook my trusty stainless-steel Parker "Jotter" along the side.
What I have to do in order to keep myself sane is staple the first 10 pages of each side of the notebook to the card-stock covers when it's new, then wrap those pages in clear packing tape so the binding will last (making them 60-page notebooks instead), and is somewhat water resistant--not unlike the notebooks you make. However, finding this type of notebook is always a challenge because they sell out FAST in every office-supply and stationery store I've been in. Meanwhile, the top-spiraled pocket notebooks are always in abundance--probably because they are, in my view, useless.
Anyway, I realize this is a shot in the dark, and you might report me to the authorities for having such an obsession, but why not give it a try? After all, your company almost manufactures the exact notebook I so carefully re-create two or three times a year by hand. Furthermore, I more than perfectly fit the profile of your customer base, as a traveler, camper, researcher, instructor, designer, tradesman and writer ... who also happens not to have the best memory. And if my story is not compelling enough to enhance (i.e. improve) your product line (and potentially corner a new market!), I'll just continue to make my notebooks and lament that you do not.
Attached is an image of a few of my more recent notebooks. Notice the one on the bottom, which shows how nicely the pen lines up with the notebook. Genius? perhaps, but more likely just common sense; or just the child of necessity.
Cheers,
George McQueen
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| From George's Random Notes |
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RESPONSE BELOW
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On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 7:34 PM, Todd Silver
George,
Thanks for the feedback, input and photo! Always helps to get info from the front lines! You definitely have worked hard to create your own survivable notebooks!
The good news is that we do have a side spiraled 3” x 5” Rite in the Rain notebook #393-M. The “bad news” is that it is wire-O spiral not continuous spiral but hopefully this gets you at least half way there! (Sorry, we don’t have that kind of spiraling equipment.)
I’d be happy to mail you a free one to try. Send me your address and off it’ll go. A picture is shown below.
Happy writing George and thanks again for the note.
Sincerely,
Todd Silver
Todd Silver
Co-President
J.L. Darling Corporation
2614 Pacific Hwy East
Tacoma, WA 98424 USA
todd@riteintherain.com
253-922-5000x111
Fax 253-922-5300
www.riteintherain.com
Specializing in "Outdoor writing products for outdoor writing people".
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| From George's Random Notes |
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