Funny observation at a marine swap meet.......

At the swap meet: People were buying up military surplus signal flags from one of the vendors inside the building. Some of the flags were used, and not in the best of shape. At one of the outside booths, a company from Bellevue, WA was selling brand new signal flags, and for less than the "military surplus" flags being sold inside. The funniest aspect of the comparison is that the company selling the new flags is an *official supplier* of signal flags to the Department of Defense. As the woman selling the new flags remarked, " A lot of people walking by here on the way out of the swap meet are carrying used flags, some of which we probably made, and paying more for them than the price at which we'll sell an absolutely indentical, brand new flag."

I guess calling something "military surplus" must create enough of a cachet to justify a premium price for a used item. :-)