I was stunned to read the NASSTRAC 2013 Shipper of the Year award has gone to …hold on, a maker of pencils.
Seriously, how retro is that in our paperless world?
But this is a giant in that industry – Dixon Ticonderoga, one of the oldest US companies still alive, sells a half billion pencils a year and has 150,000 SKUs.
It is a fascinating story of how that hexagonal contraption of cedar, graphite, rubber, metal ferrule and layers of iconic high-gloss, non-toxic yellow paint made in Mexico, China, Korea and India shows up at our local Staples for a few pennies, and always in time for the back to school spike in orders.
I know not as exciting as the new iPad or the Google autonomous car, but in many ways more heart warming.
As the CEO, Tim Gomez writes on his blog, Colorful Points
“As CEO of a 218-year-old company, I’ve become somewhat of a student of history – especially when it comes to pencils. I’ve learned some fascinating facts about communication. Centuries ago, creative herders in England realized that graphite was useful for marking sheep. If you know pencils, you know that it’s graphite, not lead, that is the core of our pencils. By the 19th century, artists such as Vincent Van Gogh were using pencils to create now priceless pieces of art while Ulysses S. Grant sketched strategic battle plans with his. But what is the role of the pencil in the 21st century? Pencils have always been used to communicate information and artistic vision, and now we are joining the digital conversation.”
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