Over the last half a year, I’ve fallen in love with Moleskine notebooks. I bought my first Moleskines on my birthday last year while at the Museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofía shop in Madrid.
I soon regretted not buying more notebooks then, because they were cheaper in Spain than in Singapore – where small notebooks are being sold between S$24-26+.
When I switched to using PDA phones I thought it would be easier for me to organise my thoughts and my life. However, handwriting recognition still isn’t 100% accurate, and fumbling with virtual keypads and miniature keyboards requiring pin-prick accuracy is not my favourite way to jot down ideas or return text messages quickly.
So ironically, for scribbling down my ideas, Moleskines are better for me.
Due to the history and the famous users associated with the brand (even Neil Gaiman uses one), there is a kind of mystique attached to the notebooks. Look at the Wikipedia documentation on Moleskines.
Maybe I’m a fool for marketing ploys but considering I choose Apple iPods over Creative Zens, I am the type who doesn’t mind paying a bit extra for a better user experience. Especially where creativity comes into play.
I’m also involved in a Moleskine project with my closest group of SCGS mates. We will all take turns to write in a notebook as we travel around the world (or simply live our lives in Singapore). We’re all bloggers but there is still a certain old-world charm to keeping a group diary.
I’d like to see Moleskine’s city notebook on Singapore, which will be out in 2008, according to the Wikipedia entry.
In any case I’m thinking of buying notebooks in bulk and on the cheap, via VPost which is supposed to charge cheaper for delivery charges when ordering products from other countries. Anyone tried doing that before? Did you have a good experience with the service?
Comments
In terms of cost, vPOST isn’t half bad if you can purchase your items with free shipping locally i.e. in the country of origin. That way, you only have to pay what vPOST charges you. If you have to pay to get your items delivered to the vPOST address, you might want to do a calculation of shipping charges – sometimes it’s cheaper (and faster!) to get the retailer to send it to you direct than to go through vPOST.
Registering an account is a bit of a pain. You’ll have to send a fax in to them – some form that they need you to sign – or you could just bring the form down to a post office. I don’t know if the procedure has changed though. I went through it almost 3 years ago. Once you’re done with registration, using your account is a breeze.
vConcierge (comes with registering for vPOST) is also useful if the retailer doesn’t accept international credit cards, but I haven’t tried this service because it looks rather pricey.
Hmm. That’s all I can think of, for the moment. Overall, the service has been reliable and easy to use. It’s not offered globally though, which is a pity.
My wife has been using VPost. So far, no problems. I see things delivered to the house on time and in good condition. Have not compared prices thought, but I think the fees are pretty competitive.
I’been trying to figure out how to exactly buy Victoria’s Secret from Vpost. Do share ur experiences in using Vpost and how to go about using it?
Ooh I’ve been toying with buying a moleskine notebook so I can doodle in it, but have been stopped by the expensive prices. Let me know if you’re going ahead with the big moleskine purchase, I’d definitely get one too!
I’ve used vPost in the past, and like jm noted above, it’s best if you can get free shipping from the US. Sign-up was also really easy, and using the service was quite hassle-free – I got my items without any problems.
I like you blog Vanessa. Very pleasant.
We’ve listed you at harro.com
Its just blog mapping right now, but we’ll see the good blogs bubble up soon…
Cheers.
SoDesires: Uhm I’m assuming you’re referring to my experience using vPOST. After registering with vPOST, you’ll be given an address in the States (or Japan) which you should send your online purchases to. You make your purchase as you normally would, indicating the shipping address as the one mentioned above. Thereafter, the good people working for vPOST in the States will forward your items to you. You can choose to combine multiple orders from different stores into one shipment if you like, and the parcels will be collected in the States (or Japan) and repackaged into one big parcel before being sent to you. There is some cost involved if you choose to combine your purchases into one shipment and your parcels have to be held in the States for an extended period of time though. Watch out for that.
I saw the Moleskine notebooks at PageOne, Vivocity. I had wanted that for myself, but was deterred by the price of it….