---
title: Supplies on the shelf are out of action! Let's get 'em back in the fight
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/supplies-on-the-shelf-out-of-action-1944/
description: 'U.S. Army supply-room poster: photographs of shelved boots, packs, canteens and crates frame a yellow panel with a pointing hand and ''Supplies on the shelf'
section: Collection
---

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3. Supplies on the shelf are out of action! Let's get 'em back

[![Supplies on the shelf are out of action! Let's get 'em back in the fight, 1944 US poster: U.S. Army supply-room poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/supplies-on-the-shelf-out-of-action-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/supplies-on-the-shelf-out-of-action-1944.jpg)

# Supplies on the shelf are out of action! Let's get 'em back in the fight

U.S. Army supply-room poster: photographs of shelved boots, packs, canteens and crates frame a yellow panel with a pointing hand and 'Supplies on the shelf are Out of Action!', then four numbered rules. Idle stock is cast in combat terms ('out of action', 'back in the fight'), a transfer of battlefield language; the technique is faint here.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
SUPPLIES on the SHELF are
Out of Action!
LET'S GET 'EM BACK
IN THE FIGHT
1 Draw only NEEDED supplies.
2 Issue supplies promptly.
3 Turn in supplies not needed.
4 Requisition regularly and on time.
U·S·ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM
ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT No. 82-P-12
[imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—590011]
THIS POSTER TO BE DISPLAYED IN UNIT SUPPLY ROOM ONLY
```

[← Stop. Stop stealing tools! That crew will need them in combat](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/stop-stealing-tools-1944/) [Supply lines are life lines .. they depend on YOU! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/supply-lines-are-life-lines-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)