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The history of
DogTagsRus:
My
name is Kobie, I am 12-years old. I see my dad
working so hard all the time to try to make ends
meet that I told him I wanted to do something to
help out with the family bills and I wanted to make
some spending money for myself. As early as
age 9 and 10 I was accused of following in my Great
Grandfathers entrepreneurial footsteps. One
example is I got in trouble at school for buying
"pokemon" cards in bulk and selling them at a mark up
to my fellow students. Funny thing is the
principal did not see the humor in it so I was shut
down. Another example is a good friend of mine
Mr. Mike Green owns an army navy store.
Mr. Green gave me a pocket knife for doing some work
for him at the store. When I went to my
Grandpa's house someone asked to see my knife and
they said "wow-that is a neat knife I sure wish I
had one like it." I slapped that knife down on
the table and started negotiating a price, "what
will you give me for it?"
Here is
Kobie at ANIMEfest 2004 - Held in
Dallas, TX.
Note his dog tags !!!! They
were a great hit at the show.
When I was 11-years old during the
summer vacation I ran a snow cone stand in front of
my fathers machine shop. While I made pretty
good money each day I really did not enjoy the snow
cone stand as the only customers I had were truck
drivers and salesmen. My fathers machine shop
is located in the middle of an industrial district.
There are not many kids shopping for snow cones in
an industrial park. I told my dad I wanted to
do something different and meet more people so my
dad and I began to look for something else I could
do to make money.
My father and I had been searching
for a project that he and I could both do together
as a father/son project. For several years we
had hinted that selling dog tags might be fun.
Selling dog tags seemed interesting to both of us
and we decided to purchase a machine and give it a
try.
My dad calls
DogTagsRus
"a father/son character building experience."
Dad and I agreed that we would give
the dog tags a try and if it did not interfere with
my school and other activities I could keep the
business. We also came to the agreement that I
could keep 10% of my profits for myself to spend on
things I want. Another 10% is tithed and
another 10% is spent on the business. The
remaining 70% goes directly into my college fund.
DogTagsRus first began making dog
tags on March 20th 2004. Our first attempt at
selling dog tags was at the Side Walk Sale, a
computer swap meet that takes place twice a month in
downtown Dallas.
Here we are set up at
the Side Walk Sale with the dog tag machine mounted
on the back of a flat bed trailer selling dog tags
at the computer swap meet. The grey machine
with the large round flywheel in the center of the
picture is the dog tag machine.
After
several years of searching for an affordable machine to make dog tags
- in March of 2004 we were approached by a man that was
selling his machine - my dad and I discussed it and bought
our first dog tag machine, an Addressograph
Graphotype 6341. Our 6341 is shown to the
right as we received it with missing keys and parts,
broken work light and covered in dirt and grime.
Dad and I took possession of dog tag
machine March 13th, 2004. We literally bought
it in the parking lot of a local gun show and loaded
it right then and there into the back of the pickup
truck. The machine was in good shape but
needed some parts, adjustments and lots of cleaning
before we could press it into service.
The evening of March 19th, 2004 my
father and I were experimenting with the dog tag
machine to see how much information we could print
on one dog tag and we found that we could get the
following text on one tag:
DOG TAGS MAILED
DIRECT TO YOU
$6.00 PER SET
ORDER ON-LINE
DOGTAGSRUS.COM
Once we determined what would fit on
the dog tags we went to the web and searched to see
if the domain name of
DOGTAGSRUS.com was available. The
name was available so we purchased it that evening.
This was the beginning of
DogTagsRus and
DogTagsRus.com
The next morning March 20th, 2004 my
dad and I loaded the Addressograph (all 390 lbs of
it) into the back of the pickup truck. We then
gathered up some supplies, extension cords and other
equipment and headed to downtown Dallas to the Third
Saturday Side Walk Sale - a computer flea market.
When we got to the sale it was evident that the
Addressograph was just to heavy to remove from the
back of the pickup truck, so I went and met with the
event manager and negotiated a deal to park the
pickup truck in the lot for $20.00 and we sold right
out of the back of the truck.
An
interesting note: My dad had been teaching me
about negotiating with people and since we were not
going to be able to get the dog tag machine out of
the pickup truck it looked as if we were not going
to be able to sell any dog tags. It was then
that I decided to negotiated with the manager and I
talked him into giving me a better rate since the
dog tags were a novelty at the computer swap meet.
Normal booth rental is $40.00 and I was able to
negotiate a rate of $20.00.
After plugging the Addressograph
into the generator and opening the tail gate of the
pickup truck it was a matter of minutes before our
first customer came and purchased the first set of
dog tags. From that moment on we have been
making dog tags.
Soon after taking possession of our
first Addressograph we found that there was a lot
more to dog tags or identification tags than just
buying a machine and "punching" out dog tags.
We found out the history of dog tags could fill
volumes and that dog tags have become a part of our
culture just like camouflage is to the military or
scrubs are to the medical profession.
A word from the
owner:
My name is Kobie, I am 13 years old and this
is my business.
I love to fish with my Grandmother
on her boat.
I want to
thank each and every customer for
their order in advance.
70%
of every order goes directly into my
college fund -
so your order is helping me pay for
my future education.
Thank You for
your interest and for visiting my
web site.
For the year 2004 we went undefeated
in basketball.
DogTagsRus
has opened a whole world of opportunity for me and
has led me to research dog tags and other things of
interest to me and my father. One of the
things that we have come to appreciate are the
Addressograph machines and the history associated
with the machines.
The Addressograph machines
themselves are a mechanical marvel, truly a work of
art. The Addressograph is truly a machine that
one can say "they don't make them like that
anymore." The basic concept of the
addressograph has patents that date back to the
1890's. The Addressograph is one of the finest
examples of American ingenuity and craftsmanship
that represents the best of the 1900's and
mechanical engineering.
I
have become so appreciative of the Addressograph and
it history that I have invested in several specimens
to add to the collection. One of the machines
we are most proud of is our G1 hand operated
machine. At 100 years old, this machine still
operates and prints as fine as the day it was made.
See Addressograph's in the
HISTORY section to see more about this
machine.
Besides making dog tags the
Addressograph-Multigraph corporation and it's
associated machines have been truly instrumental in
shaping our country into what it is today. The
Addressograph had impact in almost every industry in
the United States at one time or another.
DogTagsRus
has expanded their product line as a direct result
of the sale of dog tags. For example many
veterans placed P-38 can openers on their dog tags
while serving our country so it only made since that
we should also sell the P-38 and P-51 can openers.
As soon as we started selling the P-38 and P-51 can
openers it opened the door to the history of the can
openers.
As
DogTagsRus evolves we continue to expand
our product line to better serve our customers.
All of
DogTagsRus's
products can be found in our
on-line
catalog.
We often find
small or single item lots that are sold on a first
come first serve basis. Because of the
constantly changing inventory we encourage you to
book mark our web site and frequently review the
catalog
for updates.
Our
catalog
can be accessed by clicking on the below button.
Within the
catalog
you can also select an option to be informed via
e-mail of any new "limited supply" products we might
locate.
If you have
items you would like to see in our
catalog or if you
have praise, criticism, questions or comments please
e-mail me at
kobie@dogtagsrus.com or use our CONTACT US form
located in our on-line
catalog.
I am always
looking for comments and testimony to add to my web
site so I encourage you to write and share your
stories and comments with us.
My father and I
bought a dog tag machine so that I
might start this business. I run
the business and print the dog
tags. Currently I am in the process
of paying off the machine.
Bookmark this page
and check back often I welcome
comments and those who wish to
follow my progress with this new
business venture.
Please have patience
with me as I have a full time job
with school and sports.
I am currently playing football.
|
Hello, I
am Kobie's father, below is
a short chronology of how
DogTagsRus got started and
some interesting notes about
DogTagsRus.com
-
March,
2004 Kobie and I make a
decision to find some
type of activity that
could be a father/son
character building
experience that Kobie
could actively
participate in and
enjoy.
-
March
13, 2004 - Kobie
purchases his first
electric dog tag machine
an Addressograph
Graphotype Model 6341.
-
March
19, 2004 - We purchase
the domain and name
DogTagsRus.com
-
March
20, 2004 - Kobie
negotiates with a local
computer flea market to
pull the pickup truck
into the parking lot and
he starts selling dog
tags from the back of
the pick up truck.
Kobie prints his first
dog tags. - An
interesting note is that
normal booth fee was
$45.00 for the day at
the computer flea
market, Kobie negotiated
on his own, a fee to
park and sell for $20.00
- the art of negotiation
is put to good use.
-
April,
2004 with several sales
under his belt, Kobie
elects to expand his
product line by adding a
variety of dog tag
options and military can
openers.
-
May,
2004 - Kobie buys his
first manual dog tag
machine and
Addressograph Graphotype
Model G1.
-
May,
2004 - After negotiating
with a local gun show
about having a 12-year
old running a business -
they agree to allow
Kobie to sell dog tags
at the gun show and
Kobie debuts his
business at his first
gun show.
-
June,
2004 - DogTagsRus
deploys their first web
site
-
August,
2004 - Deployment of our
first on-line shopping
cart and catalog -
powered by osCommerce.
-
August,
2004 - Kobie might
have some competition
soon. Kobie's two-year
old sister Kelsey all
ready has her dog tags
on - here she is helping
to paint one of our
booth signs.
"Watch out
Kobie - I am moving in" -
Kelsey
-
September, 2004 - Kobie
purchases an
Addressograph Model 70
U.S. Army Medical
Imprinter. This
device is the only
reason that the WWII
military dog tags had a
notch in them. We
now have one of these
historical machines in
near MINT condition.
Please see our history
and information section
for more details and
photographs of the
Addressograph Model 70.
-
November, 2004 -
DogTagsRus purchases an
Addressograph Graphotype
G1 or Graphotype 6185.
This machine is near new
and is in wonderful
condition. We
located this machine in
Texas and it came from a
small town bank.
For more information and
photographs of this
machine and other G1 or
6100 series Graphotypes
please see our history
and information section.
-
Come see us at the Big
Town Gun Show!
### |
