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Free welcome-home signs available

If a homecoming celebration is in the works for your returning service member, you’d better get in on the rush to order a free banner from Buildasign.com.

The Austin, Texas-based company is giving 10,000 free banners to families or friends of service members to help pump up their welcome-home celebrations. As of July 18, about 7,500 have been given out, said spokeswoman Natasha Fussell. But company officials have decided that once they hit the 10,000 mark, they will offer an additional 10,000 banners at half price, she said.

The banners would normally retail for about $70, she said, and there is no extra cost to customize your own. You must pay shipping costs, which will depend on location, but the lowest-cost option generally is between $7 and $11. They have shipped to APO/FPO locations, too, she said.

Customers can design, proof, and buy signs, banners, magnets and other in items in less than five minutes on the Web site.

“Thank you for providing this service so we can give my husband the hero’s welcome he deserves! It makes it worth the sacrifice to see such grateful Americans rally around us,” wrote Megan Bailey, of Bamberg, Germany, in a note to the company.

Because of the overwhelming response, the delivery time for the free banners is three weeks. But for $15, you can expedite the printing of the banner. You can give Buildasign.com the date your banner is needed, in effect moving you up in the queue. But Fussell said that doesn’t mean people already in the queue will be pre-empted — they’ll still get their free banners.

Once the 10,000 mark is hit, the Web site will not allow any more free orders, Fussell said.

For those who buy other items on the Web site, the company is donating 15 percent of sales to Disabled American Veterans.