Garland Writing Instruments, Coventry, R.I., announced this week that it will be closing for good as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. You might recognize Garland as the company that manufactured the pens that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used to sign the articles of impeachment earlier this year.
Claims spreading online say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used expensive pens, or ones made of gold, to sign the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Actually, the pens, which are made mostly of brass, have a suggested retail value of about $20. https://t.co/w1f3XqxdA8
— FactCheck.org (@factcheckdotorg) January 24, 2020
Garland supplied pens to other government agencies, as well. But Rick Becker, Garland’s owner, told WPRI that most of its orders historically came from conventions and other events, many of which have been canceled, so the orders slowed down to the point where he decided to close up shop.
“What else can you do?” Becker said to WPRI. “You do what you can, we have been working hard to keep things going, and it just wasn’t in the cards, and so we have to figure out meting else to do, so we wanted to give everybody a heads up to make some plans, whether that be our customers, employees or suppliers.”
According to The Kent County Daily Times, Garland temporarily shut down early in the pandemic, but reopened and began producing face shields in a bid to make up lost revenue. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough.
Becker confirmed that the company’s assets and name will be going up for sale, and sees an acquisition as the best-case scenario. The supplier will remain open through the end of October to fulfill remaining orders.
“We just want to thank everyone for their business,” Becker said.
