Where Do All The Pens Go?

When you really need a pen, you can't find one can you. Why is that? Why do pens just seem to have a tendency to disappear.  

As a copywriter, nothing is more important than a pen. (Sure, I use tablets, phones and computers to write most things now, but you'll never find me turning up to a meeting in Manchester without a pen and paper, and some of my best ideas still spring from scribbles on a page). 

So I always keep track of my pen, especially when I lend out, as other people invariably don't have one handy.  

But wherever I've worked, pens always seem to go missing. And I just don't get it. Even at home, in that place you have by the phone or somewhere specifically where you keep pens, they always seem to go for a walkabout, never to be found again.  

Where do they go? I've seen stockpiles of pens at work and then just a few weeks later, they've all disappeared, and no one can find a pen when they need one! I'm sure many of you have experienced the same problem. I've replaced lost pens with a pile of at least 50, and sooner rather than later, they've all gone again! Are they just thrown away because they're not working? Maybe for some, but not all of them, surely. Maybe they're just dropped on the floor or down the back of something? They're not, I've checked. 

So where do they end up? Do they go to the same place where all lost things tend to go? Or do they end up on top of some mysterious mound of millions of lost pens from all around the world? 

Or are there just some people who are pen hoarders?  

Now I'll be the first to admit I like a good pen. That's a topic for another blog post. But if there's a good pen up for grabs for free, then I might just pocket it, if it's a freebie or from a big company. And people do tend to have a tendency to slip pens into their pocket or bag after they've used them without realising. 

But surely that would just mean that pens are recycled amongst people, moving from pocket to pocket and house to house. Unless there is one person, or one home somewhere which has that huge pile of pens!

If you know who they are, let me know. I want some pens back.