Surely the Coelacanth of the Promotional Pen Industry – It was around before most of us became involved with selling promotional pens.

Well we have 3 types; gold trim, silver trim and all-over silver and it is still a great seller. Very popular with the Hotel Industry as they are a little traditional in style. The silver trim version is a new twist on an old theme and it has turne dthis pen into a modern classic.

The Alpine Ball Pens range comes with jumbo black refill as standard and the cap-action of the pen makes it a firm favourite. We have lost count of the amount of Alpines we have sold as printed pens over the years but it is certainly many millions.

Call us today for samples today for samples of further information

Like so many other debates in our industry the age-old one about whether you can call your company trade exclusive and still sell souvenirs direct to tourist attractions such as museums, theme parks etc shows no sign of dying down.

Here at The Pen Warehouse, we do not sell direct to these tourist attractions as we prefer to sell to wholesalers, who in turn sell our products on. Could we sell direct to these potential customers and still remain trade-exclusive? The simple answer is yes we could. Then why don’t we do it I hear you ask? – well it’s because we have a number of distributors that sell both business gifts and souvenirs and we believe the boundaries between the two are quite blurred at times and it could be contentious.

Why are souvenirs not considered business gifts? Simple, they are really a retail product and are not gifted, they are sold. Also, the end user is a consumer and not a business.

If there are any business gift distributors out there that also sell souvenirs then we feel we are great to partner with because there is no potential conflict of interest. As well as promotional pens we have tons of souvenir products and here are a few.

Souvenir Popper Pencil

Souvenir Foil Pencils

Souvenir Multicolour Pencils

Souvenir Crayons

Souvenir Colouring Pencils

Souvenir Erasers

And loads, loads more. Just browse the website.

I think it is safe to say that sales in general are down across most industries and I suppose our own industry is no different.

The big question is, ‘has sales of eco-friendly business gifts been affected more than general promotional items?’. Well by all accounts the recession seems to have affected sales of environmentally friendly pens and pencils disproportionately. My first reaction was to apportion this anomaly to the public sector and their current budgetary constraints but it seems the main reason that eco-friendly promotional items have taken a surprising dip is that when it comes down to it the end-user seems more concerned about saving money than the environment….or was the planet ever the real issue in their minds?

The more cynical amongst us would say that perhaps political correctness was always the driving force behind the sales of eco-friendly products as everyone tries to remain onside in the environmental debate.

Whether demand for promotional products was fuelled by tree huggers or politically correct executives in pinstripe suits it is largely irrelevant to us – all we know is that sales need to be better. Step aside please and let The Pen Warehouse work its magic…. yes you guessed it we have several recycled  products that cost no more than normal promotional pens and pencils. Have a google at the Panther Eco ballpen, the Envirostick and the Recycled Plastic Pencil

We are all waiting here at PW for your orders to flood in now that you know this exciting news!

We all like to think we will leave our mark as something to be remembered by and carpenters are no exception. They leave marks everywhere, many as a reminder of that measurement they didn’t get quite right and it remains on the wood as a symbol to us all that we can’t everything right all of the time.

We all leave an unavoidable mark on our environment, just by being here and the extent of that mark is down to each one of us. We are much more enlightened about such matters these days and consequently we feel under a moral obligation to do our bit so that future generations inherit the planet in a state no-worse than we found it.

FSC wood makes a small, but important contribution to global forest sustainability and this in turn ensures that the lungs of our planet, the trees, continue their task of providing oxygen for us to breathe. We are fighting a losing battle through deforestation in the poorer countries of South America and Africa as their inhabitants try to provide for their families by creating more agricultural land. That need for survival is what drove us to cause widespread deforestation here in the West several thousand years ago so nobody can take the moral high ground when judging. A meaningful solution will only emerge when we work with countries that are involved in deforestation so that they can afford to abandon it and that is some way off as it requires the political will of our politicians. In the meantime we should strive to ensure that wherever possible we support forest sustainability and that is where The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) comes in. They are a global organisation that monitor sustainable forests and provide a chain of custody certificate to ensure FSC wood is genuinely produced from sustainable sources.

At The Pen Warehouse we have two different types of pencils made from FSC wood, conventional round FSC wooden pencils and also carpenters pencils. Why not help Carpenters leave fewer marks, particularly environmental ones by choosing FSC Carpenters pencils for your next promotion.

Often confused with recycled pens as they share the common eco-friendly theme but Biodegradable Pens are entirely different.

Their unique contribution to the environment is due to their ability to decompose naturally once they are disposed of in a landfill. Many materials are used to make biodegradable promotional pens but the most popular are wood, paper and maize.

The Pen Warehouse has long been a distributor of Lecce Pen Company whose pedigree on promoting the use of environmentally friendly advertising products is without equal. Lecce Pen has been making biodegradable pens, mainly from an extract of Maize for almost 25 years – long before they became politically correct.  The Green Pens range is Lecce’s most time-honoured promotional pen and is still going strong after all this time.

Just browse our environmental range by clicking on the Eco Friendly tab to see our full offering.

Not regarded as a promotional item in themselves, the humble packaging that holds your business gift is often overlooked and none moreso than the promotional pen box.

Known under many names such as pen boxes, pen cases, pen presentation cases or pen display cases it is no wonder customers have a problem finding just what they want. At The Pen Warehouse, we carry a very large range of presentation packaging – there is something for everyone as follows.

• Plastic Pouches. Inexpensive and suitable for low cost pens
• Suede Pouches. Although these are very low cost, nevertheless they are often used as packaging for metal pens as they have a reasonably high perceived value
• Pen Tubes. These are manufactured to our own design and are perfect for low to medium cost pens including metal pens. We also stock aluminium pen tubes for that extra touch of luxury.
• Pen Boxes. These come in all sort of shapes and sizes and are made from metal, plastic or paper. We have pen cases for single pens and sets – the choice is yours.

Next time you order printed promotional pens why not consider presentation packaging as well to add value and is a valuable revenue stream

Typically, in  a recession large corporations to small businesses cut back on everything that is not a necessary spend. Promotional products certainly fall into that category and we have seen demand drop off for promotional pens in two ways – orders are getting smaller and orders are fewer. In addition we have seen a drop in the average unit value of printed pens and this is where there are opportunities for increasing sales of printed promotional pencils as they are generally cheaper than even the cheapest pens. Here is a list of the types of pencils we sell

• Printed Wooden Pencils: Low cost and we can now print up to 3 colours in close registration
• Printed Mechanical Pencils: Available in low cost versions up to executive types.
• Recycled Pencils: Available as recycled plastic pencils and recycled paper pencils
• FSC Pencils: Promotional wooden pencils with chain of custody certification
• Souvenir Pencils: Prismatic foil pencils, rainbow foil pencils and Popper pencils.
• Golf Pencils: Mini Pencils now available as half pencils, mini pencils with eraser and mechanical golf pencils
• Carpenters Pencils: Flat FSC pencils printed in line colours of in full colour
• Black Wood Pencils: Luxurious pencils made from black wood
• Colouring pencils: Half size colouring pencils, full length colouring pencils, Quartet Pencils, Topper Set and Sharp Set.

With so many printed promotional pencils to choose from at low cost we feel that we are a virtual one-stop-shop for promotional gift distributors.

Every now and then we would get an enquiry for an inexpensive double ended pen with either two pen refill colours or a stylus at one end and a pen at the other. We developed two capped pens for the purpose 4 years ago but we quickly realised that the caps kept getting lost by users. We went back to the drawing board and came up with the Duotwist and the Stylotwist Promotional Pens

These are different to the originals in that we removed the caps, increased the barrel diameter, put a twist-action mechanism each end and added some finger grips – phew! The result is:

1. The DuoTwist Ballpen – Black ink one end and blue ink the other end
2. The StyloTwist Ballpen – Black ink one end and a stylus the other end.

What’s the point of these I hear you ask! Here’s something to think about.

• They are inexpensive
• Two for the price of one
• No caps needed as the twist action each end eliminates the need
• Large barrel print area make these the perfect Promotional Printed Pens
• Great for applications that need two in one eg. delivery drivers that need a pen one end and a stylus the other end.

Hot Tip

Why not contact courier companies, transport companies, delivery services, national carriers etc and send them a picture of these brilliant pens and we are sure you will get a very favourable response.

DuoTwist and StyloTwist are registered designs and trademarks of The Pen Warehouse

Our company name, The Pen Warehouse, has been synonymous with The Lecce Pen Company since our inception and our symbiotic relationship continues to grow in strength year by year,

Lecce has long been a worldwide brand leader in the promotional pens market for the last 25 years with an enviable reputation for innovative styling. As the world’s brand-leader on advertising pens their ranges have been copied relentlessly by both European and Far-Eastern manufacturers but never equalld in terms of quality.

The technical know-how that comes with maturity when coupled with Italian flair and style ensures that the competition is in a permanent state of catch-me-up and this is as true today as it was 15 years ago. Take the latest product launch from Lecce Pens, the EcoAllene range. EcoAllene is a newly developed moulded material, the product of many year’s research between Lecce Pen and Tetra Pak. This research has led to The Lecce Pen Company developing a patented system for recycling drinks cartons. We are now seeing several promotional products emerge from this new technology, the latest being a range of EcoAllene pens.

The EcoAllene range is not only groundbreaking because it is the world’s first and still the only recycled drinks carton  material on the market but a recent development has produced the world’s first truly post-consumer recycled pen refill. This is now available in the Envirostick ballpen and its development provides a fantastic opportunity for our distributors to capitalise on the benefits this range brings.

We believe these writing instruments are amongst the most eco friendly pens on the market today and whether you require them as plain pens or Printed Pens we hold large stocks here in the UK.

The Biologo Ballpen is one of our newest eco friendly promotional products. Made from recycled paper and corn starch it is the very best in biodegradable materials.

With its large print area and great eco credentials this promotional pen is perfect for your next environmentally friendly promotion.

Hot Tip

Why not send an email to your all your local authority or public sector organisations extolling the virtues of this very cost-effective pen see how you can raise awareness of your distributor business. Printed Pens or Plain Pens, the choice is yours – Biologo the newest eco friendly pen on the block.

Biologo is a trademark of The Pen Warehouse