How many yardsigns and bumperstickers are you all seeing where you live?

[Adam Griffin]

Surely it's been said already over the course of 5 pages or so, but campaigns are increasingly moving away from the sign/bumpersticker game in terms of large-scale distribution. They may send supporters/donors a free bumpersticker or offer yard signs for sale on their websites, but other than that...they don't want anything to do with them. Field offices usually have some, of course, but it is usually not enough to genuinely satiate demand and they run out often.

It's my impression that campaigns don't even want to deal with selling this type of merchandise directly unless they're making a large sum through exorbitant fundraising: that is why yard signs from candidates jumped from $5-10 a few years ago to $20 or more on their websites. Another reason for the jump is if you look closely at campaign websites/URLs, you'll see that campaigns aren't even stocking this kind of stuff directly. They're often outsourcing the entire operation to a third-party, who presumably is making tons of money off of it, with the campaign making relatively little but having to invest nothing upfront nor store loads of paraphernalia.

So, if you think back over the past four years or so and are seeing fewer signs and bumperstickers, this is why. Campaigns know they provide minimal benefit (virtually none if you can't out-canvass the s[inks]t out of your opponent), take up space and resources, and are just one big hassle.