Demand for flags exceeds supplies

AUGUSTA – Since last week’s terrorist attacks, the American flag can be found everywhere in Maine – except on store shelves.

A random survey Tuesday of the state’s retail outlets failed to produce a single business that had any flags left in stock. The most commonly asked question among storekeepers was: When will the next shipment arrive?

“We ran out two days after this all happened,” said Jeff Burtt, co-owner of Fort Fairfield Hardware. “We only had about three in stock. So we contacted our distributor, Emery Waterhouse in Portland, and they ordered 33,000. As of today, they still hadn’t come in. They just can’t keep up with the demand. We’re just telling people we’ll get them in as soon as we can.”

On Monday, Annin & Co. of Roseland, N.J., one of the oldest and largest flag manufacturers in the United States, issued a press release detailing its efforts to cope with the surging demand for U.S. flags since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The company bulletin said phone calls were way up for flag orders and the number of U.S. flag requests were “many times what is normally ordered at this time of year.”

The 154-year-old company with 675 employees owns five flag manufacturing plants and two distribution centers on the East Coast and West Coast. The company is coping with demands from its regular customers and was not accepting any new accounts.

“Since the present crisis began we have increased our production at these plants and are reviewing our capacity at our other plants to convert as much of their production as possible over to U.S. flag manufacturing,” the press release stated. The company also has narrowed production to only the most popular sizes and materials.

The most popular size sought by homeowners is a 3-foot-by-5-foot American flag. Like other flag manufacturers and distributors, Annin said it would allocate its flags on what it determines to be an equitable basis among its main channels of distribution and existing customers.

“We’ve been adding shifts and paying a lot of overtime, doing everything possible to get more production,” said Randy Beard, vice president of corporate sales for Annin.

Those shipments can’t get to Maine soon enough for Ryan Auclair at the Gorham Flag Center near Portland. On a normal daily basis, the company would have 50 3-by-5-foot American flags on hand. Annin has been able to supply about 70 to 100 flags to Auclair each day, but they are sold almost as soon as they come through the door.

“I probably get about 1,200 calls a day for flags,” Auclair said. “It’s nonstop and our mailbox is full every day. Everyone is united and almost every customer has told me they’re ashamed it took something like this to make them go out and buy a flag.”

In Bangor, store officials at Wal-Mart said they had been out of flags for days and had no idea when new shipments would arrive. Tom Williams, a spokesman for the national chain, said his company was doing everything it could to replenish supplies at Maine’s 20 Wal-Mart stores.

“We started moving on it last Tuesday, working with five suppliers and we’re trying to get them out as quickly as possible,” he said.

Sheldon Hartstone, owner of Fairmount Hardware in Bangor, said there was simply an empty space in his store where the flags used to be.

“I’m hoping that we get some soon, because there’s a lot of people out there who want them,” he said. “And I think that you’re going to see more people buying flags now than they ever did. People are going to keep their flags flying. They’re not going to just take it out on the Fourth of July, only to be packed away the next day like last year’s Christmas lights.”

Diana Harrington at Winter Harbor Hardware never received the shipment of flags she had expected last month. As in other areas of the state, American flags were difficult to obtain in Hancock County.

“I was out because my warehouse was out,” Harrington said. “They say that maybe by the 24th we might get some in.”

For a brief time, some University of Maine employees who were able to find a flag were being discouraged from displaying it. Department administrators initially nixed a request from public safety workers and plumbing shop employees who wanted to display the flag from their vehicles. Joe Carr, a university spokesman, said standing policy prohibits attaching any banners to university vehicles, but he added that the university administration quickly decided to make an exception to the rule, allowing the employees to fly the flag.

Upon learning of the scarcity of flags in the Bangor area, Edward S. Marston came up with a way to distribute lawn flags to those who wanted them. Marston, a World War II veteran and member of the Isaac E. Clewley VFW in Brewer, knew there were several hundred flags stored at the post for Memorial Day and other patriotic ceremonial events. Working with Marden’s Store in Brewer, Marston offered the flags in exchange for donations to the Attack on America fund for disaster assistance and raised more than $1,000.

One option for those unable to purchase a flag was offered Saturday by the Bangor Daily News. The pull-out, full-page flag was printed on heavier, bright paper stock and was an immediate hit among Mainers who couldn’t find a cloth version of Old Glory.

“I’ve seen the BDN flags everywhere,” said Hartstone of Fairmount Hardware. “They’re on cars. Businesses have them in the window. We’ve got ’em in ours.”

Mike Fern, the paper’s circulation manager, said the decision to include the pull-out flag for the paper had been well-received by the public and more will be offered for $1 each at the BDN’s main entrance on Buck Street.

“We actually had people asking if they could get more,” he said. “It was an expense for newsprint, but we were more than glad to do it this past Saturday to show our patriotic support for the victims and their families as well as for our citizens here in this area.”

While consumers may become discouraged with having to wait for their flags, Charles Faulkingham, manager at the Rockland True Value Hardware, observed that there are worse problems to have.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “It’s exciting to see people participating in our democracy and being proud of it.”