It is said that the IKEA pencil was introduced to rival the Argos pen, which was also given for free at Argos stores in the United Kingdom.[3] During this time, the competitor only provided six pens for each catalogue stand while IKEA offered them in large dispensers.[3] IKEA orders 5.2 million pencils yearly for its Canadian stores alone,[4] and the company does not disapprove of customers that put them to other uses such as craft projects or works of art.