How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

1. Coshocton RotaryApril 23, 2013 How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

2. By Ken Smith & Jim Edwards of the Louisville Rotary Club How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

3. www.louisvillerotary.comCLICK ON: “How to build a Flag Program”to view this whole presentation at home.

5. Join your neighbors and show your patriotism.   We will post your U. S. Flag on the following 6 holidays:    Memorial Day, Flag Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, 9/11, Constitution Day, and Veteran's Day.The Louisville Ohio Rotary Club will place a flag in your front yard a few days before the listed holidays. A 3’x 5’ flag on a 10’ staff will be placed in a plastic anchor pipe permanently buried in your front yard. The anchor will be flush with the ground with a red plastic cap on it when not in use.  The flag and staff will remain the property of the Louisville Rotary Club. You must live in the Louisville School District to lease a flag from us.     The flags will remain posted from Labor Day through 9/11 & Constitution Week.In 2012: we awarded six $1,000 grants to benefit Louisville citizens; we sponsored a Foreign Exchange student at LHS; we maintained a mile of the Nickelplate Trail; we operated Punt, Pass and Kick and we donated to eradicate Polio worldwide. In the past, we built the $60,000 restrooms at Metzger Park, and the Gazebo on the Square.

6. Our Flag applications fit in your wallet, or by the tellers window at a bank or grocery store. We originally printed 5,000 applications. We used them all in 3 years.

7. We lease a flag for $25 / year.   Since the flag cost $8, we net: $17 the first year.   $23 there after. 

9. Louisville & Nimishillen Twp. have a total population of 19,000 or 7,400 households. Every September, we celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution with a Queen's pageant, and a huge parade.      Flags and the Constitution Celebration go hand in hand.Over time, I think we can subscribe 1,300 households.

10. Membership Growth: In 2003, we had 6 Rotary members, today we have 44 members.   For the past 35 years, we ran our club on about $3,500 per year. - - Pancake & Rose Day.For 2012 our flag program made us $24,600, plus Pancake Day.        Goals: As a Club, we have pledged to back the planned Louisville Community Center/Library ($4,000,000). (est. 2016)

13. Overall Flag Mgr. Base Installation Mgr.Manufacturing Mgr. Treasurer Database Mgr. Route Supervisor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Route Drivers One for every 30 flags. We have 1100 customers and 37 routes.  

14. Ken secured:   (1)    Tele # for our club is his Cell! He has an answering machine. (2)    Club mailing address - he used the Treasurer's work address.   (3)    Barn to store and manufacture the flags. We were offered an unheated brick barn with a concrete floor with a 10’ x 20’ work area for manufacturing.    (4)    Permission from the city – he contacted the city manager and found out where the city would like the flags installed. Either in front of, or behind the sidewalk.   The bases are normally 18" behind the sidewalk in the city.   In the township, they are normally 54" off of the road.   (5)    Poles - 10' Electrical Conduit, Lowes sells them to us for $1.50 each! Retail = $1.90.X

15. Flag Bases - white schedule 40 PVC - each base costs us about $.30 3’ x 5’ flags Made in America.   $5.75 each. We buy our flags through: Eder Flag Company 1000 W. Rawson Ave.   Oak Creek, Wi   53154Can you get us a better deal in Coshocton? 15

16. Tele 414-764-3522 or 800-558-6044 E-Mail:   sales@ederflag.ComWire ties 8“   We pay retail at Lowes     Red caps (tapered plug model # T185) We pay about 3 cents apiece thru:Sinclair & Rush 123 Manufacturers Dr. Arnold, Mo 63010 Tele 636-828-6800 www.sinclair-rush.com Model # T185 Any new customer leasing a flag after July 7th of any year will receive the remaining 3 postings of that year plus all 6 postings for next year. Then it’s: “Fair to all concerned?”“Rotary Flags” 330-417-1527Our 2’ x 2’ outside signs were extremely effective. 

17. We have E-mails for 75% of our clients. We use Excel. Once a year, we export the Database to Quickbooks to E-Mail the invoices. On March 15th, we E-Mail an invoice to each UNPAID customer.    70% of the E-Mailed invoices were paid by May1stsaving the Club $560 in USPS mailing costs. On May 1st, we mail an invoice (USPS) to all the remaining UNPAID customers.    Overall, we have a 92% renewal rate.  Creating your own database is easy in Excel.X

18. Our database manager receives the checks and annotates the database, then he gives the batch of checks to the treasurer for deposit.  For RENEWALS - - - - - No paperwork required, “just a check with name & address.”   X

19. We use a team of 4 to produce 200 finished flags in about 4 hours.We cover 3 saw horses with a 2” x 6” x 36” laid on its side.    We lay 20 pieces of 10' electrical conduit (flag poles) together & parallel on the 3 horses with the ends flush.   Now we can drill through the conduit and not damage the horses. We mark all 20 poles at the same time with a permanent magic marker.   Then we punch a dent in the conduit to help start the drill accurately.   We keep 2 of the horses directly under the drill holes for support.   Using a 1/4" drill bit made of cobalt or titanium, drill the top hole 1" down from the top.   From that hole, measure down the pole a distance equal to the distance between your flag's two grommet holes and add one inch.   This will be the distance between the top and bottom holes.   The extra inch is needed to keep the flag taut when you draw the bottom wire tie finger tight.   A batch of 20 takes 10 minutes to mark, peen and drill.   Then we buff the razor edges of the holes with a stationary wire wheel grinder.   To assemble the flag on the pole:  Insert an 8" wire tie thru the top grommet and the top hole on the pole.   Pull this wire tie tight.   Then stretch the flag down and make sure it is not twisted, and insert the bottom wire tie. Making the 18" long pieces of PVC for the bases is a little dirty (white flakes).   It took one man 1 hour to make 240 PVC bases.   Using 5 sections of 10' PVC at a time, we set up a jig 18" from the cutoff saw blade and cut all 5 at once.   We attached a Shop-Vac to keep the area clean.X

20. A base is an 18" piece of 3/4“ schedule 40 PVC (white).   It takes us about 4 minutes to install a base.   To determine the location of the base, we consider road visibility, safety, and an obvious reference for measurement. “Important” Whenever possible, we line up the hole with a crack in sidewalk, or in line with the end of a concrete drive.   We used a 6' spud bar, cut it in half and ground the top half to a point.   We make 2 tools out of each $30 spud bar.   The 1" shaft is perfect for the pilot hole needed to drive the PVC section into the ground.     Example of dimensions: 18" back- 7' 11“ N. of sidewalk.On the road, we paint a 9“ mark perpendicular to the road “exactly” in front of the flag base.   Then we install a red cap on the PVC to keep dirt out and log the dimensions for the database.X

21. When someone calls our club #, we refer them to our printable flag application posted on our web page:www.louisvillerotary.comX

22. Ken sets up meeting times with each route driver prior to each posting and retiring.   He then meets the drivers at the barn to distribute the flags and the route kits.   We have 37 routes, 25 of which have a Rotarian as a primary driver.   The other 12 drivers are local citizens interested in supporting our flag program.   Flags are posted 2 to 3 days prior to a holiday and retired 2 to 3 days after the holiday.   Route Kits:25' Tape MeasurePry bar to find red cap in tall grassExtra red caps & rubber bands     Aerosol can of white line paint Route list sorted on; Paid - Street - House #Applications for curious neighborsX

23. The average route has 30 flags that can be posted in less than 80 minutes and retired in one hour .    If you can’t find the base quickly using the white stripe, use the coordinates on the printed route sheet.   We use the curved end of the pry bar to jab the ground in the target area until the red cap is found.   When posting, keep the red caps and rubber bands in the route box. When we retire, we roll each flag to store them neatly.   If it is raining, we’ll wait until the flags are dry before we pick them up.Each base is marked with a 9" white hash mark in the road in front of the flag base.   The white mark, along with the red caps on the bases is usually sufficient to locate the bases for flag postings.   Write any corrections on the printed route sheets and hand them in. Spend 3 minutes max looking for a flag base; a manager will come out and put in a new base and "post a flag" with new dimensions.Helpful note from all post offices: Odd # addresses are on the north or west sides of the street.   Even # addresses are on the south or east.

24. LOUISVILLE H.S. FOOTBALL STADIUM (19 FLAGS)SOLDIER’S MEMORIAL - CITY HALLSOLDIER'S MEMORIAL - OLD HIGH SCHOOL   METZGER PARKMOLLY STARK PARK    VFW & EAGLESto ACCENTUATE the 2’ x 2’ SIGNS for “Rotary Flags”

25. About a year ago, we saw a chance to quickly double our customers! If we would pay $17, (the first year’s net) to any group that would sell a flag for us; then, we would receive all the profits for future years.    Our club did not agree to hire other groups to help us sell because our route system was running so well. Now, we have 5 additional non Rotarians as substitute drivers and are ready to grow again. Don’t outgrow your delivery capability. 25

28. ANY QUESTIONS? We had “UNANIMOUS” support to MANUFACTURE, SELL and DELIVER!        KEN SMITH 330-417-1527 ksmith@neo.rr.com JIM EDWARDS 330-875-1595 jedwards@neo.rr.comwww.louisvillerotary.com

29. Rules for night lighting QuestionsON THE NATIONAL LEVEL THE FEDERAL FLAG CODE1 PROVIDES UNIFORM GUIDELINES FOR THE DISPLAY OF AND RESPECT SHOWN TO THE FLAG. IN ADDITION TO THE CODE, CONGRESS HAS BY STATUTE DESIGNATED THE NATIONAL ANTHEM AND SET OUT THE PROPER CONDUCT DURING ITS PRESENTATION. THE CODE IS DESIGNED “FOR THE USE OF SUCH CIVILIAN GROUPS OR ORGANIZATIONS AS MAY NOT BE REQUIRED TO CONFORM WITH REGULATIONS PROMULGATED BY ONE OR MORE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THUS, THE FLAG CODE DOES NOT PRESCRIBE ANY PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE NOR DOES IT INCLUDE ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS; RATHER THE CODE FUNCTIONS SIMPLY AS A GUIDE TO BE VOLUNTARILY FOLLOWED BY CIVILIANS AND CIVILIAN GROUPS. OTHER CLUBS HAVE HIRED THE BOY SCOUTS, SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES, OR OTHER GROUPS TO DELIVER THEIR FLAGS.   BY DOING THIS, THE CLUB LOSES SOME CONTROL OF THE PROGRAM.   ON THE APPLICATION, WE NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY WE NEED AN EMAIL. PEOPLE WON’T GIVE UP THEIR EMAILS EASILY. 29

30. CLICK ON “How to build a Flag Program”to view this whole presentation at home.My tele 330-875-1595

31. TAKE TO SPEECHComputerMaster listRoute listSorted DB street or alphaPPT presentationApplicationsRoute kit, caps, list, tape, pry bar, spare apps, rubber bandsSpikeFlags on staffPVC base 18”