The Bic Pen. It’s everywhere you look. At bank windows, school desks, and offices around the world. But for all its popularity, we often don’t give it a second thought. It’s the epitome of ubiquity, so in our faces that we ignore it. But behind the mundane appearance lies a fascinating commodity chain that could only happen in our modern globalized age. That story unfolds in six main steps, each with interesting geographical ties and social and environmental implications. I hope you enjoy learning about this story as much as I enjoyed researching it. It reminds us that there can be a whole fascinating world in the most “boring” objects that constantly surround us.