Greeting Card
I got a greeting card in the mail today. It's from the girl I started seeing a few weeks ago. The cover doesn't bode well...
There's always a certain feeling of anticipation and also worry when you get a card that's not associated with a holiday or personal milestone.
If it's your birthday you expect to get a few cards, same thing around Christmas or perhaps St Valentine's Day. But a card that arrives in the void betwixt days like that--well it could be trouble.
"My life was just fine until you came along..." That's not a line to inspire confidence, y'know?
This card from the Chipolte Girl made me curious about the entire greeting card industry so I wandered around the web for more information, getting most of it on Wiki. After all, an industry that only made money on birthdays and a few holidays probably wouldn't stay in business long. So how do they sell all those cards?
As it turns out, According to Wiki, the greeting card industry really got its start in the 1840's and 50s. :
According to Wiki, it is estimated that one billion pounds are spent on greeting cards every year, with the average person sending 55 cards per year. That's in the UK but I assume similar numbers are true in the US.
I find that amazing. I send out cards every now and then but 55 a year? That's over one a week! I guess anyone with a lot of friends and family would do that though. I have a very small family and only a few close friends--I guess that's why I'm so surprised at that number. If forced to guess, I'd say I send 10 cards a year. How many do you think you send?
There's always a certain feeling of anticipation and also worry when you get a card that's not associated with a holiday or personal milestone.If it's your birthday you expect to get a few cards, same thing around Christmas or perhaps St Valentine's Day. But a card that arrives in the void betwixt days like that--well it could be trouble.
"My life was just fine until you came along..." That's not a line to inspire confidence, y'know?
This card from the Chipolte Girl made me curious about the entire greeting card industry so I wandered around the web for more information, getting most of it on Wiki. After all, an industry that only made money on birthdays and a few holidays probably wouldn't stay in business long. So how do they sell all those cards?
As it turns out, According to Wiki, the greeting card industry really got its start in the 1840's and 50s. :
However, by the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization.
This trend continued, followed by new trends like Christmas cards, the first of which appeared in published form in London in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card that he could send to his friends and acquaintances.
In the 1860’s companies like Marcus Ward & Co, Goodall and Charles Bennett began mass producing greeting cards. They employed well known artisits such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators and card designers.
This trend continued, followed by new trends like Christmas cards, the first of which appeared in published form in London in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card that he could send to his friends and acquaintances.
In the 1860’s companies like Marcus Ward & Co, Goodall and Charles Bennett began mass producing greeting cards. They employed well known artisits such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators and card designers.
According to Wiki, it is estimated that one billion pounds are spent on greeting cards every year, with the average person sending 55 cards per year. That's in the UK but I assume similar numbers are true in the US.
I find that amazing. I send out cards every now and then but 55 a year? That's over one a week! I guess anyone with a lot of friends and family would do that though. I have a very small family and only a few close friends--I guess that's why I'm so surprised at that number. If forced to guess, I'd say I send 10 cards a year. How many do you think you send?
Comments
Greeting card industry is getting bigger and bigger.
Michele sent me here.
Good Gravy! I don't think so! With e-cards available? And cell phones galore? I find that terribly hard to believe. If they'd said 15, I'd have thought that sounded reasonable. But I'm more like you... I likely only send about 10! Interesting facts on Wiki. Fun read.
Michele says hello!
~S
You know in my vast experience(choke, choke), I have found that most guys get that scared look on their face and start running for the hills when a girl starts sending them cards for... well, almost anything.. birthdays included. My ex-husband just didn't do cards. Perhaps one might send out 55 thank you cards... if you had a baby shower or a wedding shower or a graduation.
Now I have seen a card that you probably never want to receive from a girl you are dating. On the outside, a lovely young lady sitting in a chair with hands neatly folded in her lap... the inscription....GUESS WHO'S PREGNANT!!??!!
Inside ---- Gotcha!
OY!
I send out maybe 10 to 12 caqrds a year, other than Holiday cards I mean.....So I guess I don't fit THAT profile either!
Thanks for the Birthday Wish, my dear Dave.....Not too thrilled with the PH Comparison! (lol)
I was just thinking about that stat and I think I send out more cards a year than 55. I like the personal touch that taking the trouble to buy, write and send a card takes and I send out about 45 Christmas cards a year and over 10 birthday cards to friends and family. I think there is something special about receiving a card.
Michele sent me to say hi this weekend but you're always on my visits anyway :)
Annoying. I wish we weren't such a consumerist-sentimental society.
I'm hoping she wrote something funny inside. Sounds like she's got quite the sense of humor. You deserve that, and more.
I send hardly any cards - actually, I don't think I'm normal, I'm missing the female (do cards and presents for everything) gene.....
Did Michele send me??
cq
Enquiring minds need to know....
cq
Michele sent me.
ack. busted.
JC
Chris looks nice.
That count includes Xmas? I'd be bumping up the average if so. Plus I probably send one or two BD or anniversary or sympathy or get well cards per month.