Mar
18
The China Experiment
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There have been a number of news organizations talking about the Made in America movement. More retailers are starting to offer more products Made in U.S.A. — and even the big guns like Walmart have jumped on the bandwagon due to customer requests.
News reports have also stated that more American’s are looking for the Made in U.S.A. label or wording on products than in the past.
At FlagandBanner.com we did an experiment a few months ago we’d like to share. Just to test if one of our larger product lines could be manufactured in China for less than what can be manufactured in the United States, we did a test run. The results surprised some of our staff while others were glad to see they were right.
We asked for a supplier in China to produce 100 items. It took weeks for communication, manufacture and shipment. When we received the products we were not impressed. The quality was poor compared to our American made product of the same type. They also had several problems that had to be corrected in our own manufacturing facility. While the Chinese made products on price point alone were significantly cheaper than the American made, the cost of shipping and wait time as well as having to rework all 100 products in house made them more costly than their American counterparts. If the experiment had worked, we could have saved around .90 cents each but in the end we spent upwards of $2 more for a lesser quality product.
We were surprised by the results but in the end it turned out to be a good surprise. What we were already selling was the better deal in the long run. It cemented our belief more than ever in the American made philosophy and gave us a very nice anecdote to use in favor of American Made products.
One of the biggest things we renewed our faith in was just because a cheaper price may seem a better deal — sometimes it just isn’t.
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Dec
14
Rough year for Razorbacks fans and retailers
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This has been a particularly hard year for Razorback fans. I haven’t agreed with many of Jeff Long’s decisions as athletic director, starting with NOT hiring Gus Malzahn back in 2008. But when Bobby Petrino turned out to be one of the best Razorback football coaches of my life time, I thought okay, Long may know what he’s doing. All too soon, my suspicions that Jeff Long had poor decision making skills came to fruition. First he fired Patrino for his off duty indiscretions, next he cried on national TV, and then he hired John Smith to coach our Heisman trophy quarterback, Tyler Wilson. If I was Tyler’s mother, I would have yanked my son out of that school. Now, he has hired the Wisconsin defensive coach Bret Bielema. What is wrong with Jeff Long! Hiring Bielema is like hiring Ken Hatfield or Houston Nutt again. Bielema can’t score in the RED ZONE. Jeeeeezzzz
Lest we remember, athletic director, Frank Broyles, was no walk in the park either. He too always had a lot of controversy swirling around him, but he’s turned out to be an Arkansas icon. One of my favorite events of the year is the Frank Broyles Award. Long-time friend, local celeb, and founder David Bazzel, has started a legacy for himself and our state with his annual assistant coach award. For 15 years Rotary Club 99, which I am a member, has been the main sponsor. For three years, I have had the privilege to usher at this great event. I met a lot of the football coaches I watch on TV every weekend. This year the Frank Broyles Award went to a good catholic boy, Bob Diaco of Notre Dame. A list of impressive assistant coaches have been given this prestigious award, Gus Malzahn won it last year. You can read more at the official Broyles Award Website.
Maybe one day, I will usher at an award ceremony for Jeff Long and hear the good things he has done for Arkansas. But right now, Arkansas Flag and Banner’s sale of Razorback gift items is nothing to brag about. I wonder if Jeff Long thinks about the businesses that support the Razorbacks? Or how his decisions affect the economy of not just the U of A but of our whole state? I vote to upgrade ASU to 7A status, so retailers like Flagandbanner.com can have another school to support while Jeff Long flounders. Maybe he will find his footing or get fired.
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Dec
11
Made in USA Christmas
Filed Under holiday decorations, my business, my products, patriotism | Leave a Comment
ABC News recently did a story saying, “Economists say that if each American spends $64 on U.S. made items this h0liday season, they’d create 200,000 jobs”. Wow, is it really that easy? No, because even if you try, it is hard to find anything made in America. In the 1960s, nine out of 10 holiday gifts that Americans bought were made in the U.S. But these days, more than half of what Americans purchase for the holidays is made overseas. So with U.S. shoppers expected to spend more than $700 this holiday season – and the average shopper having already forked over about $423 on Black Friday weekend – “ABC World News” took to the streets of New York City recently as it kicked off the return of its “Made in America Christmas.”
Kim Hoffman of the Poconos let ABC News peek inside her bags outside of FAO Schwartz.
“Oh, I hope it’s American,” she said of the items she’d just purchased.
But the teddy bear inside bore a “Made in China” label. In fact, according to the U.S. census, Americans spent $2.5 billion on Christmas toys made in China last year.
Marianella and Denise Sorita traveled from Mexico to buy U.S. products but found Chinese tags inside two shopping bags.
These were just random shoppers who had no idea where what they purchased was made.
When AFB goes to market, we look far and wide for American Made products. Of course, all our US flags and US flag home kits are made on our shores but we managed to find a few more….toys, Zippo Lighters, patriotic clothing made just “next door” in Oklahoma… So be a patriot this Christmas in more ways than one, by shopping FLagandBanner.com!
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Sep
6
Go Hogs! – Appearance on 103.7 The Buzz every Friday for Football Season
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If you know me now, you’ll find this next confession hard to believe. Like so many kids in middle and high school, I felt like a fish out of water. Too thin, too flat, too tall, too loud, too dumb, too hyper and too self-conscious. My confidence was so low, that just knowing I had to take a speech class – in order to graduate high school – caused me to start fretting in the 10th grade. I was one of the 95 percent of people that would rather die than make a speech.
I guess you could say I was lucky that my ambition was stronger than my fear. I did all kinds of things in my early career that kept me awake at night. One such task was TV interviews. I may have been scared but I was not stupid, I knew the power of TV. So if any reporters wanted to come do a news story on flags, I was always available. Eventually, I became comfortable with TV, radio and newspaper interviews.
That’s why, when my marketing director Brian Shaddock, asked me if I would like to be on The Buzz radio show (103.7) with Pat Bradley and Justin Acri every Friday at 11:30 from now until December 16th, I agreed. Yes, it’s a sport show but I like sports. I do not have the male DNA to remember all the games and stats but I do watch a lot of sports and have a real girl’s point of view. But the real reason I’m on the Buzz, is to talk about all the Razorback items at Arkansas Flag and Banner.
Many retail stores have female purchasing agents, but not AFB. We have a male, Jeremy and he loves buying Razorback stuff!
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Feb
20
Super Bowl and Our Flags
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We see our flags everywhere, around town, when we travel, in the newspaper, on TV and in the movies. This past Super Bowl Sunday we contributed to the game, you wouldn’t even know you were seeing our product if we didn’t point it out. This is a fun little thing to know about us. We make and sell the little flags that go on top of almost all the goal posts you see on TV. The following article is about Sportsfield, to whom we sell our goal post flags to.
On The Bright Side: Delhi plays a part in Super Bowl
By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI _ A group of 18 to 20 people from Sportsfield Specialties in Delhi headed for the Super Bowl are hoping that on Sunday, they’ll view not only the game, but the goal posts.
The goal posts at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., were custom-made at the Delhi plant, according to Wayne Oliver, Sportsfield Specialties Inc. president.
“We can’t wait to see our goal posts,” said Debbie Oliver, a company employee and Wayne’s wife. “It’s going to be great.” Wayne Oliver said the group would probably have gone to the Super Bowl, but “our goal posts are just another good reason to be there.”
When the ball sails across the end zone, said Michael P. Zambito, modular products business unit manager, he will be thinking to himself, “That is one nice set of goal posts.”
The posts are the Sportsfield Specialties’ AdjustRight model, which are the company’s largest sales volume product, Wayne Oliver said. There are hundreds of the posts installed across the country, he said, including in Delhi on the Delaware Academy and Delhi Central School football field.
“They are the most specified goals posts by far,” Oliver said. “We are the nation’s largest manufacturer of goal posts.”
He said that when the University of Phoenix Stadium was being designed, semi-custom goal posts that could be easily taken down were needed. This was to accommodate the movement of the natural grass field outside, where it could be watered and fertilized and receive natural sunlight.
He said to move the tray that the field grows in, the goal posts must be removed, replaced and uprights adjusted.
Zambito said that because the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals host many televised games, it was essential for them to have perpendicular/parallel uprights on the goal post with the ability to quickly and easily adjust them.
Sportsfield’s AdjustRight provided this capability by a simple adjustment of hardware, versus pulling out roll pins, drilling new holes, adjusting to level then inserting new pins, Zambito said.
Oliver said that when the posts are being constructed, “almost everyone in the factory works on them, so that makes this a neat small-town story that Delhi has a part in the Super Bowl.”
During the construction process, the post had to be painted the distinctive florescent National Football League yellow, Oliver said.
Flag and BannerHome
Jun
4
Do the Red White and Blue
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June is the month we begin to celebrate patriotism. On June 4 Arkansas FlagandBanner.com owner, Kerry McCoy, started her morning early with KARK Channel 4s co-host Tracy Douglass to show the viewers how to Do The Red White and Blue. Kerry and her team decorated the exterior of Tracy Douglass house for the upcoming patriotic season.The first two segments centered on the decorations in the front yard. They draped the outside of her garage with a patriotic swag of red white and blue bunting that framed an American flag. Lit patriotic citronella candles and U.S. stick flags decorated her garden. Her porch eave featured full fans with wind chimes, and her porch railing repeated the patriotic sway of bunting used above the garage.
The last segment illustrated ways to decorate the backyard, the favorite place for 4th of July family gatherings. The back porch was outfitted with stars and stripes pulldowns and full fans, and more full fans and a U.S. flag kit adorned her fence. Kerry and Tracy also showed viewers the wide variety of products offered at her company, Flagandbanner.com from cake stands to patriotic bikinis and sunglasses, to flagpole brackets and pole kits. The morning segment ended with the National Anthem sung by a special guest, Kerrys son, Grady McCoy, a voice student at Indiana University. Dont forget to watch this upcoming U.S. Flag Day, June 14th, for live at FlagandBanner.com
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Jul
3
“American Pride” patriotic art
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The original painting of “American Pride” was inspired by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Nationally recognized artist Pat Matthews painted this impressionistic image of the American flag on the same day as the attacks in memory of those who suffered and died that day.
This original oil painting as well as 1000 limited edition, lithograph prints of “American Pride” were signed and numbered by the artist and designated to help those directly affected by the events.
Proceeds from the sale of these prints were placed in a special fund for the New York City fire fighters. In April of 2002, Patrick flew to New York City and presented an original oil painting with a check from the special fund along with three hundred and forty-three signed original lithograph prints to Engine 4, Ladder Company 54, Battalion 9 at 782 Eighth Avenue in New York City.
This station lost fifteen men on the morning of September 11. Additionally, there were a total of three hundred and forty-three fire fighters that died as a result of that tragic day.
FlagandBanner.com is proud to offer both the original paintings and lithographs for sale in our gift store, with proceeds benefiting the New York City fire fighters fund.
Posted by dlorah
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Nov
26
Christmas decoration trends
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1. Christmas Tree Decorations.
2. Traditional patriotic symbols: American flag and American patriotic Bunting.
It’s patriotism all the way!
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Sep
30
Static cling yellow ribbons
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You’ve seen the yellow ribbon magnets that stormed the nation.
Everyone loves magnets because (unlike stickers) they don’t leave the goo behind when you remove them. But unfortunately (unlike stickers) they are easy to remove and be stolen.
Introducing the static cling ribbon. Reusable but harder to steal.
btw …. flagandbanner.com has Static cling yellow ribbons
Stories of stolen magnets on the blogosphere:
* Story 1
* Story 2
Posted by jeff
Flag and BannerHome
Jun
17
For flags that can’t be lowered, such as those on many homes, the American Legion says attaching a black ribbon or streamer to the top of the flag is an acceptable alternative. The ribbon should be the same width as a stripe on the flag and the same length as the flag.
For a wall-mounted flag, three black mourning bows should be attached to the top edge of the flag, one at each corner and one in the center.
Works well with a Mourning pulldown flag which has a widely known meaning.
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