#69: find a YELLOW sharpie mini

I don't know if everyone knows this... but I love sharpies... especially the sharpie mini. I got my original 8 pack of the mini from my fellow varsity crew girls a few years ago and from that point on I have been on a search to get all the colors. That means... whenever I go into an office max or staples... I'm always looking in those bins full of sharpie minis to see if there are any colors missing from my collection. Over time... I realized one startling fact... there is no YELLOW sharpie mini.

You may be saying to yourself... oh Claire... you're wrong... the regular sharpie comes in YELLOW... so must the mini. Well... at first I didn't believe it either and thus I began on a quest to find a YELLOW sharpie mini... as #69 on my list states.

Note: The color between green and orange is lime... not YELLOW.

The other day I decided to check out the sharpie website to see what colors are out there for the mini. To my surprise... I saw that there are some new colors... the "natural tones" and one of these colors is named "dandelion" (pictured below).

When I saw this... I decided to use the "contact" feature on the sharpie website to ask (1) does sharpie make the mini in YELLOW, (2) is dandelion the name sharpie uses for the color YELLOW and (3) where can I purchase a YELLOW sharpie mini (not in bulk)? Secretly I was hoping the company would send me a YELLOW sharpie mini for free... needless to say... that didn't happen. I received the following generic email response instead:

Thank you for reaching out to us about our Sharpie® Mini and we apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced locating this item. Many of our products are available through local stationer and/or office supply stores; unfortunately, Sanford does not sell direct to individual consumers.

If you are unsuccessful through your local retailers, the Sharpie® Mini should be available from Ellsworth at (800) 765-4031 as well as Jackson Office Supply (800) 598-2736 or www.jacksonofficesupply.com. Additionally, Sanford and Paper Mate items can be ordered from Gray Enterprises (800) 970-7367 (www.kingpen.net) or www.shoplet.com if you prefer to order by the dozen. Because we sell to various distributors, we are not always able to list your exact local retailers.

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail us and for your support of Sanford products.

Brad Kelly
Sanford Consumer Affairs

So... after I got this email... I still thought that dandelion might just be the color mini I have been looking for... and I was getting ready to order a pack of the "natural tones" when I thought of something. Hasn't the regular sharpie come in a YELLOW color since the beginning? If that is true... why would sharpie call this color something else for the mini? Of course I needed to find out the answer. So... I decided to once again check out the sharpie website and this time... look at the colors the regular sharpie comes in.

To my surprise... not only does the regular sharpie come in dandelion... but it also comes in YELLOW! They are not the same color... but different. See what you think... the top picture is dandelion and the bottom is YELLOW.

What does this mean for my #69... you may be asking yourself. Well... I don't know. All I can do is hope that sharpie will come to its senses and make the mini in ALL three primary colors (which I don't this is too much to ask). Until then... keep your eyes and ears open for me.