175 points

A hole was added to the cap in 1991.

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53 points

Wait, the hole in the cap is that recent?

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117 points

Dude… That’s 34 years ago.

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35 points

Yeah, I know I’m approaching fossil age, but the pen itself was first made 75 years ago. I had always assumed that the hole in the cap was a change made much closer to the 50s than sometime within my lifetime.

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9 points

smeagolnotlistening.gif

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7 points

A very helpful comment

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7 points

How dare you. I wont be 34 for 7 more months…

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3 points

It would had cost you zero dollars to not murder Godort

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1 point

According to the Wikipedia article.

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28 points

Was that to try and prevent choking?

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51 points

Yes. From the BIC website:

Why is there a hole in the cap of BIC® Cristal® Pens?

Our vented caps comply with international safety standards ISO11540. These standards attempt to minimize the risk to children from accidental inhalation of pen caps. Traditionally the pen cap served only to protect the pen point. These vented caps allow more air to circulate around the pen point when the pen is capped. This further adds to the quality and overall performance of the pen.

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3 points

So they dry up more quickly now? How is that supposed to add to the ‘performance’

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96 points

honestly, kinda refreshing to see a business not changing their shit constantly just to change shit. it’s not the nicest pen, but it works.

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14 points

likewise, the uniball eco pen is the perfect pen for lefties.

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4 points

Why does handedness matter?

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19 points

Smudging

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3 points

Honestly still one of my favourite pens, and they last so long. Don’t mess with perfection.

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69 points
*

The guy on the line wants to stop the money printer? No, no no… you don’t change the top selling pen of the century. We can introduce a lighter though. Guess we’re doing fire now.

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15 points

Maybe some razors.

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68 points

They were actually updated in mid 90s when they made the cap have a hole in it.

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16 points

What was the idea behind the drastic change?

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62 points

To prevent choking if it gets swallowed.

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1 point

A reminder that society is based off the lowest common denominator

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60 points
*

Why fix what’s cheap and barely does its job?

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20 points

The kind of grace I yearn for in my performance reviews.

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196

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