The Story Behind National Duty Supply
People ask me from time to time how I got into this business. The funny thing is, I never really set out to build one.
If you asked my wife, she'd probably tell you I have a thousand different ideas. She's right. Some of them never get off the ground, some have cost me more money than I'd like to admit, and every once in a while one actually works.
National Duty Supply is one of those ideas.
It Started With My Dad
I think I inherited that curiosity from my dad.
Growing up, we didn't have much, although I never really knew it at the time because my parents always made sure we had everything we needed. Looking back, though, I realize money was tight. My dad was always trying another little business or side job to earn a few extra dollars for the family. He'd buy things, fix things, sell things—whatever he thought might help. He wasn't chasing wealth. He was simply trying to provide for the people he loved.
Sometimes I wonder what he could have accomplished if the Internet had existed back then. There was no eBay, no Amazon, no YouTube, and no way for someone with a good idea to reach millions of people from their home. I honestly think he would have loved it. I'd like to think that, in some small way, National Duty Supply is my generation's version of the dream he was always chasing.
Learning to Serve
After high school, I joined the United States Air Force and spent the next ten years as an Aircraft Structural Repair Specialist. When you're repairing military aircraft, there isn't much room for "close enough." People depend on the quality of your work, and that teaches you to pay attention to the details.
After leaving the Air Force, I spent the next twenty-two years in federal service. The first twelve years were as a uniformed federal law enforcement officer protecting our nation's borders. The next ten years were spent enforcing federal trade laws and investigating import violations. I didn't realize it then, but those careers taught me lessons that I still rely on today—do the job right, keep your word, and treat people honestly.
While All of This Was Going On, Something Unexpected Happened
In 2004, while I was still working full-time for the federal government, I made what I thought was a pretty major technology upgrade. I replaced the cassette player in my car with one of those fancy new CD players. (If you're too young to remember cassette players, you may have to Google them.)
That left me with a perfectly good cassette player sitting in a box in my basement. Rather than throw it away, I figured, "What the heck," and listed it on eBay.
When it sold, something clicked.
It wasn't the money that excited me. It was the fact that someone I'd never met found my little listing and trusted me enough to buy from me. Twenty years later, I still feel exactly the same way every time an order comes in.
Like most new sellers, I spent some time trying different ideas. One of my first successful products was a three-dimensional crystal keepsake with a law enforcement badge engraved inside. I didn't do the engraving myself; I worked with a company that specialized in that process. They sold well for a while, but the quality wasn't consistent enough for my standards, so I eventually moved on.
Not long afterward, I bought a retractable badge reel with a miniature badge attached to it and started wearing it at work. Before long, coworkers were asking where I got it and whether I could get one for them. I bought several, sold every one of them, and then another idea popped into my head:
Why am I buying these from someone else? Why don't I learn how to make them myself?
Looking back, that little badge reel changed the direction of my business. Instead of simply reselling products, I started looking for ways to improve them, personalize them, or create something customers couldn't easily find somewhere else.
The business grew slowly because it had to. I was still working a full-time federal career and raising three kids, so most of the work happened at night or on weekends. I didn't have a web designer, a photographer, an SEO consultant, or a marketing agency. Everything I know about building websites, writing product descriptions, taking photographs, and running an online business came from reading, experimenting, making mistakes, and refusing to quit. I've wasted plenty of money over the years, but every mistake taught me something, and little by little the business kept getting better.
Built for the People Who Serve
Around 2008, I stumbled across a small company in Maine called Perfect Fit Shield Wallets. They made quality leather products for law enforcement officers and first responders, but I immediately noticed something. Most companies selling their products did a terrible job at selling them online.
It wasn't just badge wallets but holsters, belts, credential cases, flashlight holders—you name it—almost everything was presented with poor photographs and generic descriptions. As someone who had worn the gear myself, I knew there had to be a better way.
Officers don't search for "badge wallet." They search for "NYPD badge wallet," "DEA credential case," or a wallet that fits the badge they carry every day. So I started building agency-specific pages with better photographs, more detailed descriptions, accurate badge cutout information, and resources that helped customers choose the right product the first time. I approached every product the same way because I knew online customers couldn't pick it up, hold it, or ask questions across a counter. My job was to give them enough information to buy with confidence.
That philosophy hasn't changed. Today, National Duty Supply has grown into a leading online source for agency-specific badge wallets, credential cases, duty gear, and related accessories for law enforcement, corrections, military personnel, first responders, and government agencies throughout the United States and Canada. It's still hard for me to believe it all started with an old cassette player sitting in a box in my basement.
People sometimes ask if I'll ever really retire. The truth is that I don't think I know how. I enjoy building this business just as much today as I did when I made that first sale back in 2004. There is always another product to add, another page to improve, another photo to retake, or another idea to chase. Maybe that's why I still get excited to come down to my office every morning.
Thank You
There is one thing I've done ever since that first sale on eBay back in 2004, and I still do it today.
Every time I hear the notification that a new order has come in, I pause for just a moment and say:
"Thank you."
Thank you for believing in me, thank you for trusting me, and thank you for supporting my business. I do this not because I made another sale, but because somebody found my little corner of the Internet. Out of the billions and billions of web pages out there, someone somehow found mine. They decided to spend their hard-earned money with someone they've probably never met and trust that I'd send them exactly what I promised.
When you really stop and think about it, that's a pretty amazing thing.
I don't ever want to lose sight of that.
I don't know where National Duty Supply will be five or ten years from now. I do know that tomorrow morning I'll probably wake up with another idea. Maybe it'll be a new product. Maybe it'll be a better way to organize the website. Maybe it'll be another buying guide, another database, another improvement, or maybe—just maybe—it'll be that next "Pet Rock" I've been searching for all these years.
Until then, I'll keep doing what I've always done. I'll keep learning. I'll keep building. I'll keep trying to make this website a little better than it was yesterday.
And every time I hear that order notification, I'll quietly say the same two words I've been saying since 2004.
"Thank you."
Because without customers willing to place their trust in me, National Duty Supply wouldn't exist. I don't take that for granted.
I never will.
Ready to Find Your Gear?
Whether you're looking for a precise, agency-specific cutout for your badge or rugged duty gear built to withstand the daily grind, I've put everything I have into making sure you find exactly what you need.
— Ray
Founder, National Duty Supply