Survey Finds Office Pilfering is Abundant

According to the new OfficeMax Workplace Uncovered Survey, working Americans say missing office supplies are the norm in today’s office environment. In fact, many admit to being “Supply-Jackers” who pilfer supplies from the office to use at home and admit to borrowing supplies from coworkers never to return them. Some keep supplies as revenge because they believe their coworkers have done the same while others confess they simply forgot. Either way, when their favorite supplies go missing, working Americans say their productivity suffers, and many fanatically go to great lengths to protect their supplies – from labeling to hiding items to buying reserves.

Below are some highlights from the survey along with links to the survey report and news release.
· View news release: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/officemax/44541/
· View survey report: http://tiny.cc/WorkplaceSurvey
· Twitter hashtag: #SupplyJackers

HIGHLIGHTS – WORKPLACE UNCOVERED SURVEY

Disappearing Act – There seems to be a lot of dwindling workspaces popping up across the nation. Eighty-one percent of employed Americans who report missing supplies from their work area say that pens, pencils, or highlighters go M.I.A. most often. Other disappearing goods include paper products (35%), paper clips or binder clips (28%), staplers (22%), and scissors (20%).

Coworkers Confess – Perhaps it’s the people working closest to you who are responsible. More than four in ten (42%) confess they’ve borrowed supplies from a colleague and never returned it. The most popular loot 82 percent of them have taken are pens, pencils or highlighters.

Behind the Borrowing – 84 percent of those who come clean as to why they’ve held onto their colleague’s goods confess they simply forgot to return the product. Others (26%) say they just didn’t think their coworker would miss it. Close to a quarter (23%) take revenge on coworkers saying they chose not to return the supplies because their colleague had done the same to them!

Homeward Bound – This obsessive behavior isn’t restricted to the workplace. In fact, employed Americans are so attached to some office products that close to six in ten (56%) have taken products from work to use at home.

Always an Excuse – For those who aren’t afraid to admit why they did this, they sure have their reasons. Three in ten (30%) say they considered it an act of borrowing and planned to bring the supplies back, while 25 percent just didn’t think their employer would miss it. Others admit they pilfered products because it was easier to take the supply from the office then purchase it on their own (27%) or because they didn’t have the time to get it outside of work (24%).

Run and Hide – So it’s not surprising that a majority (68%) of working Americans have taken matters into their own hands by finding ways to ensure their favorite provisions don’t go missing. Some keep their much-loved office paraphernalia in a special designated drawer (59%) or in a secret space in their work area (45%). Others order additional quantities of certain products to make certain they’re never low (51%) or label their supplies with their contact information (31%). More employed women than men (73% vs. 63%) report they’ve taken steps to ensure their office products don’t go missing.

Quality Matters – So why do Americans go to such great lengths to protect their supplies? Perhaps it’s because close to half (46%) think that having quality office equipment plays a critical role in being successful on the job.

Picky Fingers – They are so influenced by their beloved products that 34 percent sometimes bring their own stash to work if what is available doesn’t meet their requirements. And there are plenty of goods they need to have at work to perform efficiently. Seventy percent of employed Americans willing to weigh in say it’s impossible to work without their favorite brand, type, or model of pens, pencils, or highlighters. Others say they can’t work if they aren’t able to get their hands on paper products (41%) or printer ink (40%) in their favorite brand, type or model.

A Few of My Favorite Things. So what makes a product so amazing? Close to seven in ten (69%) say the functionality or performance of an office product can make or break how special they consider it to be. Quality (66%), value (47%), innovation (41%), and aesthetics (25%) also influence why working Americans are so particular about their products.

A Herd of Zebras

The Zebra F Series is renowned for it's smoothness and sub 0.7 mm line but for the longest time I was only aware of the Zebra F-301 ballpoint pen and it's companion 0.5 mm pencil. Only recently did I discover that there has grown up an entire series of ballpoint pens based on the F-Refill. I am not a fan of ballpoint pens, preferring rollerballs or gel pens over ballpoints. But every now and again I'll come across a ballpoint pen, or rather it's refill, that I am impressed with. One is the Parker Jotter refill which has become a standard in the industry. Another is the Papermate refill, and not least of all the Zebra F-Refill. I like it so much that I have adapted other pens to accept the F-Refill!

I was first introduced to the Zebra F series in the form of a blue pen and pencil set while I was in high school. While I liked the set I was not fond of the thinness of either device. However that did not stop me from buying 2 more black pens and a replacement pen and pencil set, in of all colors light turquoise-green, when I lost the pencil to the blue set and later the pen as well. It is interesting to note that the turquoise-green set was made in Japan while the current Zebra line is made in Indonesia. The little Zebras were always my "go-to" pens whenever I needed a ballpoint for any reason. Then they sort of fell by the wayside when I was introduced to good gel pens! But lately I've rediscovered the F-301 and it's bigger brothers, the F-402 and the F-701.

All three pens incorporate stainless steel in some amount in their construction. The F-301 the least and the F-701 the most with the F-402 somewhere in between. The only thing that keeps the F-701 from being completely stainless, at least on the outside, is a black plastic ring that keeps the pocket clip in place. This is a little odd because the F-402 has an identical ring but it's made from stainless steel! To me both pens would have looked better had the stainless ring been on the F-701 and the black plastic ring on the F-402. But then no one consulted me on the designs! The 2 pens closest in appearance of the three are the F402 and the F701. While they may look similar they are entirely 2 different pens. And both differ considerably from their elder brother the F-301.

Some stats: The F-301 is approximately 8.5 mm in diameter and approximately 131.4 mm long. The F-402 is approximately 9.7 mm in diameter and approximately 133.1 mm long. The F-701 is approximately 9.7 mm in diameter and approximately 133.7 mm long. Unfortunately I could not find a reliable weight for the pens, not even on the Zebra web site and I do not have a gram scale. I can say that the lightest pen is the F-301, and the heaviest is the F-701 with the F-402 a close second to the F-701. The F-301 sports a plastic grip while the F-402 a rubber one. They both are removable. The metal grip on the F-701 is an integral part of the pen. The texture on the F-301 is a square cut pattern while that of the F-701 is a diamond cut pattern. There is no texture on the rubber grip on the F-402. The F-701 features a quiet "soft clicking mechanism" while the mechanism of the F-402 is a bit louder and has a hollow or metallic sound. The Mechanism of the F-301 has a solid "click".























All 3 pens take the Standard F-Refill yet the only one to come with it is the F-301. A slimmer plastic refill came in both the F-402 and F-701. It has the same 0.7 mm ball stainless steel tip thus the line it makes is the same as the F-Refill and the feel of the refill when writing is the same. Refills come in both black and blue. Black is the standard refill for the F-402 and F-701 while the F-301 has an accent color to match the refill ink color, so the pens come in both black and blue.

The pens all disassemble/assemble in different ways. The F-301 has a stainless steel tip with internal threads. The removable grip has external threads at both ends. The threads are slightly different so the grip can not be turned around. The weakness here is that you have metal nut on a hollow plastic bolt. If the tip or grip is over torqued guess which one loses!

The better design is the external threads of the F-402's tip. But here you have a metal bolt and a plastic nut! But because the threads of the nut are internal and deeper there is a far lesser chance of stripping the threads. The same design is used on the F-701 only here you have a metal bolt and a metal nut! A much better execution of the design!

As mentioned above the F-Refill is known for being a smooth writer. Traditionally ballpoint pens are considered the least smooth of all the pens. It has the thickest ink and to get a smooth writing ballpoint the ball has to be fairly large. This is why "medium*" ballpoint refills abound and "fine*" and "extra fine*" refills do not, though available for some pens. Normally a refill to write as fine as the F-Refill the ball would have to be smaller. But the smaller the ball the harder it seems to me to write with and it gets scratcher! The thick ink of the ballpoint just doesn't like the finer tips. But I think that the ink has a lot to do with the Zebras smooth writing. It appears to my eyes that the ink is a tad thinner than normal ballpoint pen ink. This would allow for the use of larger ball in the tip. The Zebra F-Refill writes as fine as A Pentel R.S.V.P Fine, but does so with less effort and a smoother feel because it has a slightly larger ball in the tip and I'm guessing slightly thinner ink as well.

Of all three pens I prefer the F-701 for a few reasons. One, it's almost all metal and is metal where it counts, in the grip. The grip is finely knurled in a diamond pattern, very much like a drafting pencil. It offers the user a nice griping surface even if slightly damp or moist. It's the heaviest of all 3 pens. I like the heft of it and the feel of it in my hand. It's also larger in diameter than the F-301 thus fits my griping style a lot better. Aside from the tip being removable the barrel is of one piece. It is also the longest of the 3 pens but the one with the worst balance point! It's top heavy and likes to rock back into the web of the hand. It's not a real problem for me and for someone with largr hands it probably won't be noticeable. All-in-all a very nice pen.

My second choice is the F-402. I'm not as fond of this pen as I am the F-701 mainly because of the rubber grip although it does have a better balance to it, just a skosh top heavy, almost neutral. The rubber grip is firm, not squishy, I dislike a squishy rubber grip! It is also a thicker pen than the F-301 being the same diameter as the F-701 and just a tad shorter.

Lastly, and least of all, the F-301. It's just a tad to thin for my taste although the plastic grip is quite serviceable. The balance of the F-301 is comparable to that of the F-402. I also dislike the fact that the plastic grip screws into 2 metal parts of the pen, the body and the tip. The plastic is thinest here and when it breaks the pen is useless.

Last words: Over all I'd give the F-Series pens a 4 out of 5 rating. None of the pen bodies are perfect but the F-Refill is very nice. I like the way it feels and the thin sub 0.7 mm line it makes. Once again my "go-to" ballpoint pen is a Zebra!

* Medium = 0.7 mm, Fine = 0.5 mm, Extra Fine = 0.38 mm. With many manufacturers medium =0.9 mm, fine = 0.7 mm, extra fine = 0.5 mm and ultra fine = 0.38 mm.

Update: 5/3/09. This is exactly what I was writing about! Although this did not happen due to over tightening, it fell off the kitchen counter, it does illustrate the fact that in a tug of war between metal and plastic, metal wins!

I was able to super glue it back together but from now on that will be the weakest part of the entire pen.

Also I'd like to point out something that for some reason never crossed my mind before. If you'll take a look at the three refills you'll notice that 2 are plastic and one is metal and plastic. Well after further examination I discovered that the metal casing is just a shell! The plastic refills fit inside it! It is easily removed and fitted to a new plastic refill! So why supply the more expensive pens with refills that are just the plastic insert? I have no clue unless it's to save on weight. The plastic refill with spring weighs in at 1.4 grams. The metal clad refill with spring weighs in at 3.0 grams! The metal shell weighs as much as the refill alone! But can you really tell the difference of 1.5 grams? Let me know what you think!