The Most Stolen Promotional Item

Illinois Stationery company Paper Mate recently conducted a survey and came to a bold conclusion that 100% of respondents admitted to stealing pens from co-workers. Out of the 1,000 Americans interviewed, every last one conceded that they had taken a pen from someone else in the office because they either liked how it looked, how smoothly it wrote, or simply liked its color. 

In addition to being the most stolen product in the office world, according to a 2010 PPAI report, writing instruments are also the second largest category in the promotional product world. Businesses spend $1.5 billion annually on imprinted pens trying to promote their brand.  But why do it with an item that gets stolen so frequently?

As promotions, effectiveness of imprinted pens lies in their ability to reach a large audience for a very low cost.  When pens gets stolen, the cost per impression doubles or triples resulting in greater exposure for the advertiser.

PaperMate went out of their way even further by asking survey respondents on how they protect their pen and concluded that 36% said a chewed up cap or teeth marks on a pen would deter them from pen theft, while 19% said knowing they might get caught would prevent them from pilfering.

This is a powerful potential of pens and with this being said, go ahead and let your giveaway pen get stolen!  Leave in the bank lobby, at the doctor’s office, at a networking event or anywhere else there is a heavy traffic!