The Leuchtturm1917 Team Buying Checklist: 6 Mistakes I Made So You Don't Have To

If you're here because someone asked you to “order some Leuchtturm1917 notebooks for the team,” stop. Don't start googling until you've read this.

I handle office and creative supply orders for a mid-sized product company. Six years in, I've personally made—and documented—enough buying mistakes to fill a shelf of the very notebooks I was supposed to order. This checklist is the one I wish someone had given me in year one.

It's six steps, each based on a real mistake I made. Plus a few notes at the end.

Step 1: Define the use case before you even think about brand

First big mistake: I bought a case of Leuchtturm1917 Classic A5s because a designer said “oh, that's the good German brand.” Half of them sat unopened in the supply cabinet for a year.

Leuchtturm1917 offers distinct notebook types. Match the type to the job:

• Classic Notebook—numbered pages, table of contents, lined, dotted, or grid. Best for structured writing, meeting notes, research logs.
• Sketchbook—hardcover, unlined, heavier paper. For illustrators and designers. If you're comparing Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook hardcover reviews, you'll notice people mainly praise the paper and binding.
• Planner—for schedules, appointments, project timelines.
• Master Classic Notebook—the large format, close to A4 (check exact dimensions). For big diagrams, storyboards, sprawling notes.

Ask each group what they'll actually write on. Blank for sketching? Dotted for layouts? Lined for notes? The answer changes the model you should buy.

Step 2: Measure the space. Use ruler measurements, not eyeballing

I'm embarrassed about this one. I ordered 20 Master Classic notebooks for a shelf that looked perfectly sized. The shelf was exactly 1.5 centimeters too shallow. Trust me, 1.5 cm feels like a mile when you're staring at a cart of notebooks that won't fit.

Leuchtturm1917's sizes are based on international standards for the smaller formats:

• Medium = A5 = 148 × 210 mm (roughly 5.8 × 8.3 in)
• Pocket = A6 = 105 × 148 mm (roughly 4.1 × 5.8 in)
• Master = large format, close to A4 but verify the exact listed dimensions

Dodged a bullet last quarter when I measured our supply cabinet before ordering 24 Mediums. My mental estimate said there was plenty of room. The ruler said 2 cm less than I remembered. Two centimeters—the difference between a clean order and another shelf of orphaned notebooks.

A few measurement notes:

• “Medium” is not a universal term. Leuchtturm1917's Medium is A5; other brands might call similar sizes “Large.” Always compare exact dimensions to your measured space.
• Measure height, depth, and width. Not just one.
• If the notebooks are a gift or client deliverable, measure the packaging too. A Medium fits in many standard bubble mailers. A Master usually doesn't.

Step 3: Calculate the total cost, not the price per unit

This is the mistake that kept finding me for three straight years. I'd compare unit prices, pick the cheapest option, and feel smug. Then the shipping bill came, or the quality didn't hold, or the order was wrong and had to be redone.

The total cost of a notebook order includes:

• Unit price × quantity
• Shipping and handling
• Customs fees (if imported)
• Returns or replacements if the model doesn't match the need
• Your time—ordering, unboxing, distributing, dealing with issues

To give you an example: I once switched to a cheaper brand to save 18% per unit. The paper ghosted badly with the pens our engineers use, and I eventually had to place a rush order for the right notebooks because the first batch was silently abandoned. The rush shipping cost more than the 18% I'd saved. Never expected the “cheap” option to become the expensive one—but that's exactly what happened.

I'm not telling you Leuchtturm1917 notebooks are cheap. They're not. But for teams doing long-term note-taking, sketching, or research logging, the usable lifespan and the willingness of people to actually use them often justify the price. In procurement terms: lower total cost per page actually used.

Also, consider the Master Classic. The Master Classic Notebook is impressive, but the larger sheet size means higher shipping cost and less shelf practicality. If only two people want the giant size, don't order 30.

Step 4: Test pen and paper compatibility before you buy in bulk

Here's a step most buying guides completely ignore: verify that the paper works with the pens your team uses. That kind of detail only shows up after you've handed out 40 notebooks.

Leuchtturm1917's standard notebooks use 80 gsm paper, per the product specs. In office-paper terms, that's close to standard copy paper (20 lb bond ≈ 75 gsm). Many reviewers describe it as fountain-pen friendly. That's mostly accurate, but “mostly” isn't “always.”

Markers, heavy gel pens, or very wet fountain pen nibs can bleed through or ghost. I learned this when an engineer tested a Sharpie on the first page of his new notebook—the ink showed through on the next page. He didn't say a word. He just stopped using the notebook. That's the thing people miss: unused notebooks are the loudest feedback you'll never hear.

So before a large order, buy one sample. Hand it to the people who'll use it, with the pens they actually use. You'll have a clear answer in an afternoon.

Step 5: Run the shipping volume math before you hit confirm

This one bit me hard on a 30-notebook Master order. The notebook total was around $300. The freight cost was nearly the same—because the box became huge once packed.

The key: international and some domestic carriers use volume weight (dimensional weight) for large, lighter shipments. They charge for the space the box occupies, not just its physical weight. The common formula is:

Volume weight (kg) = Length × Width × Height (cm) ÷ 5000 or 6000, depending on the carrier.

For rectangular boxes, that's straightforward. If you're shipping cylindrical tubes—say, rolled prints alongside the sketchbooks—the volume is πr²h. Pull up a cylinder volume calculator online rather than guessing.

Estimate both actual weight and volume weight. The higher number wins. That's how freight billing works.

Another tip: don't assume a bigger format is the same shipping cost. The difference between A5 and Master volume can easily double the freight. Measure, calculate, then choose.

Step 6: Consider your team's workflow (yes, including citation formats)

The last mistake in my personal Hall of Shame: I bought notebooks for a research team without thinking about how they'd structure notes. Leuchtturm1917's numbered pages and table of contents are genuinely useful for retrieval. But only if people record information consistently.

Example: if your researchers need to track journal articles, they should follow a citation standard like APA inside the notebook. I once watched an intern spend 20 minutes flipping back and forth to find a reference that wasn't properly formatted in the notes. The index couldn't help because the entry wasn't clear enough to index.

This isn't just for academics. If your team writes meeting notes, do they have a template? Do they date every entry? Do they flag action items? Leuchtturm1917 gives you the structure, but your team still needs a consistent format to get value from it.

Set up a note-taking convention before handing the notebooks out. It's a 15-minute conversation that saves weeks of confusion later.

Final things to watch for

• Don't over-order. Buy a short batch first. Let people use them for a week. Then scale up.
• Beware of restock delays. Popular Leuchtturm1917 models sell out. If you need notebooks by a specific date, build in lead time.
• Check the layout. Dot grid is the most loved among note-takers, but it's not what everyone prefers. Ask, don't assume.

It took me six years, about 60 orders, and more than a few wasted dollars to figure this out. Skip the first six years. Measure the shelf. Test the pens. Run the freight math. Ask the researchers how they take notes. Future you—and your budget—will be grateful.