Bic’s line of disposable pens became so popular that in 2005 the company reported that its sales had surpassed the 100 billion mark. This means that Bic has sold 57 pens every second since the disposable pen was first introduced in Europe in 1950. Bic calculates that if you lined up all the pens it sold end to end, they would reach from the Earth to the Moon approximately 40 times. .
Bic’s success with disposables:
When the classic Bic Cristal was introduced to American consumers in 1959, the ballpoint pen was selling for 19 cents. The product’s tagline was: “Write first time, every time.”
The company’s founder, Baron Marcel Bich, bought a small factory outside of Paris after World War II and planned to manufacture fountain pens. Instead, Bich invented a pen that dispensed ink with a rolling ball.
In 1973, the company also struck gold with a disposable lighter that supplied 3,000 bulbs before it ran out, but Bic disposable underwear and a brand of Bic perfume failed.