Why are Noodler’s bottles so full?

We buy a glass bottle that is an industry standard bottle in all of our bottle sizes. When one glass manufacturer raises prices too much we can easily switch to another glass manufacturer that has not raised prices and thus – avoid price increases such as those recently instituted by almost all of our competitors that have non-industry standard bottles. We believe the product is ink and that the glass bottle serves as the product container…and that our customers are buying it because every bit of value has been concentrated in the ink and its properties (not a flashy bottle with a limited glass form that is subject to single glass manufacturer price increases!). We believe fighting cost increases is our duty to the consumer of ink and that utilizing every bit of space the customer paid for is honorable. In seeking to offer the greatest value for the customer: 1. the bottle cost is as low as possible, 2. the bottle contents are maximized/filled by weight, 3. the cap is industry standard to avoid being trapped by dependency upon a plastic manufacturer and subject to their price increases, 4. the boxes are standardized per bottle size and made more for protection of the bottle than for show – also being subject to competitive bidding by industry…and always of recycled paper, 5. the labels as well communicate the properties of the ink and show its utility (All our labels are printed with our own formulas of Noodler’s Inks. We won’t waste your purchase value on some overpriced outside contract printer.) and thus – EVERY BIT OF VALUE POSSIBLE IS CONCENTRATED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INKS AND THEIR UNIQUE PROPERTIES, COLORS, AND/OR SPECIFIC UTILITIES. Noodler’s Ink is an ink company, not a glass manufacturer. We have recently polled many retailers about this issue – and they overwhelmingly believe that the industry is prone to fill bottles and cartridges* at too low a level instead of maximizing a bottle’s utility by filling it to the top meniscus. We will continue to utilize the glass bottle that is part of your purchase to its full capacity. In conclusion: if opening a new bottle of Noodler’s Ink, beware that it is a FULL bottle of ink! Hint: Use a level and stable surface – and open it slowly to release the air bubble gently if you are in a hot room and the bottle has been in the cold (particularly if shipped in winter).

* Noodler’s refuses to manufacture ink cartridges due to the egregious economics these disposable bits of plastic form as an illusion of value until compared with the economics of the glass bottle. The lowest cost cartridge in the world is still several times as costly as our standard bottle by both weight and volume as well as various dye value measures! In addition, each cartridge is DISPOSABLE..which undermines a key advantage of the fountain pen – its inherently refillable design saves both economic value and is environmentally sound as well as enabling its utility to be far more vast than any other writing instrument as it can utilize hundreds of different inks – whereas cartridges are limited to one ink per cartridge! Cartridges rob one of many of the fundamental economic and utilitarian advantages of the fountain pen.