FLAG WAIVING CREATES SHORTAGE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Lloyd Smith, an aide to Congressman Bill Emerson, hit a snag recently when he tried to purchase small flags for school children he was going to visit.

"When we give talks to elementary school children in the fourth grade and below, we try to give them a little something," Smith said. "I was trying to come up with 90 or 100 small flags."

He learned that small, parade-waving flags are virtually impossible to get. In fact, flags of all sizes are becoming somewhat scarce, as people decide to display a symbol of their patriotism.

Herb Nance, owner of Ourco, a business which sells a lot of flags locally, said: "There aren't any of the little, four-by-six-inch flags. You can't get something if it doesn't exist.

"All of the flag manufacturers, the biggest and the smallest, are out. They told me to call back in two weeks. Some even said to call back in August."

Stacey Abernathy with Younghouse Distributors, which also sells a lot of flags locally, said she has been answering telephone calls about flags for weeks.

"I thought it would slow down this week, but it hasn't," Abernathy said. "Now, I don't even think it's peaked yet. People are having parties and schools are having dances and are using flags and patriotism as their theme."

A shipment of four-by-six-inch flags arrived at Younghouse Thursday. "We ordered them three weeks ago," Abernathy said. "But we had back orders, which we are trying to fill now.

"And people are calling and wanting more. We just don't have enough in stock."

She said some manufacturers have told them there is a three- to six-month wait. "One company said they can't ship until next May, not this May, next May. That gives you an idea how backed up they are."

Nance and Abernathy both said sales of flags of all sizes have been very steady since the war broke out.

"A lot of people apparently had poles that had been sitting around with no flag on them," Nance said. "Then they got patriotic.

"Ordinarily this a slow time of the year (for flag sales). It would still be that way except for the war.

"It is good to see the patriotism this has brought out," Nance said.

He said parades planned in many areas towns have increased the demand for small flags.

"The manufacturers are working day and night to make them," he said.

Nance has ordered 15,000 small flags. "But my nearest shipping date is March 1."

Five companies supply about 90 percent of the nation's flags, Nance explained.

Nance said the manufacturers anticipate the demand will slow down in a couple of weeks.

"They should be able to catch up with larger sizes real easy," Nance said.

"I try to keep a stock on hand," he said. But his stock is dwindling.

"People are coming from everywhere to buy them," he said. "I met lady in the parking lot at West Park Mall who saw my truck and followed me home to get a flag kit.

"Grave markers for Memorial Day will be hard to get," Nance predicted. "People ought to get them ordered now."

Like Nance, Abernathy said sales of flags have been steady. The business handles all sizes of flags.

"The flag business is pretty steady for us," she said. "But it has increased tremendously since the war began.

"Today we got in some flag kits for people to put up at their houses," Abernathy said Thursday. "We got in 150 of those, but they won't last very long.

"I don't know when more will be coming in. We have a lot ordered. Now we're just waiting."

She said other patriotic items also have been selling fast. "We had 40 gross of flag pins that we got in on a Thursday. They were sold out by Tuesday.

"We're getting in some more expensive lapel pins, which people have been calling and wanting, but I think they also will sell quickly."