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If you lose pens a lot like me, I just buy the 10 or 20 packs of Pilot G3 gel pens from Costco and roll through them. If I'm down to 3 spares or so, next trip I purchase another pack.

They cost a fraction of what they cost in retail stores.

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Oddly, if I buy an expensive pen I seem to look after it a lot more than a generic cheep one…

I don't. Hence, the procedure I mention above. There is much less guilt involved. I feel you, though.

I tried that but paradoxically found that it worked better when I did the opposite: just get one gel pen and always know where it is like my keys, cell-phone, wallet, etc. These days it's more common for me to replace a pen because it's run out of ink than because I've lost it.

Even pre-pandemic I'd always carry it with me for signing receipts and the like. (Since I found using a public pen by a register kind of squicky.) I learned quickly that a pen with a cap was a must for my daily carry; retractables are just too easy to accidentally engage in my pocket.

I do this as well. My current pen sits next to notebook, Leatherman, wallet, and keys on dresser. But stuff falls out of pockets (I have to spelunk through buildings alot in job), or I leave it on some desk, etc.

FWIW, my current pack of pens has lasted me well over 8 months now.

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