Pencil of the Month Club, Vol. I, No. 2 (Dec. 2007): Mystery Solved?

I know what the T I N Y pencil is for! We used to get them when I was a child (1960s), and I saved them because they were cute, not because I was interested in pencils. Advertisers used to include them in direct mail envelopes with their business reply cards as a "gift" to make it easier for you to fill out the BRC for their offer then and there. They are tiny to fit into flat #10 and other envelopes without adding weight or width that would increase postage or prevent the piece from being processed by the postal service equipment. I'm sure a lot of people missed them, but I could always feel them in the "junk mail" envelopes, and sometimes the piece would mention the included pencil. The idea, I'm sure, was really just to get your attention and to throw the pencil out. Interestingly, I have seen them only in red.