so people will steal them

Mainly because people steal them these pens don't work well spend a little bit more and get something that works

I bought these as a gift for those lovely people who teach my kids.

As a student, people steal my pens all the time

People can steal one every day and I don't care cause they are cheap

Lets face it, I like most people tend to loose pens

Looks like a conspiracy of manufacturing, not quite of Volkswagen proportions, but the same old mindset that's throwing tons of unnecessary CARBON and METHANE into the atmosphere, remaking weather into something that's destroying a lot of real estate, killing people every day, and has begun the Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction.