“While I don’t think the sentiment of giving a greeting card has left, what I do think is changing is the message that’s being given and what the card actually looks like,” she says. Dayna Isom Johnson, a trend expert at Etsy, shares that in the last six months alone, the site has seen a 7 percent uptick in searches for greeting cards. We’re just doing them differently, when it comes to both content and delivery. We are! Of course we are - we love nothing more than to celebrate. None of this means, however, that younger generations are not doing greeting cards. It doesn’t help that mail is also bad for the planet… not that that’s stopped us from Amazon Primeing our hearts out. This aversion to physical mail has actually become a huge problem for the USPS, which is on the brink of financial collapse and is said to be looking to privatize in order to stay afloat. If the concept of having to go out and purchase an envelope and stamp gives you a minor case of hives, you’re far from alone: Apparently, many young people don’t know where to buy the materials necessary to mail their absentee ballots. Or perhaps they just aren’t the places that spring to mind when we think of sustainable gifting.Īnd then there’s the mail thing. While Papyrus and other retailers do offer cards and gift wrap made from recycled materials, many consumers still find other alternatives cheaper, easier, and more in line with their values. One obvious reason people may be abstaining from sending paper greeting cards is environmental factors - in a world where plastic straws and non-reusable cups are increasingly taboo, passing along a piece of paper that’s almost inevitably going to end up in the garbage or recycling feels off-message for many of us. (American Greetings did not respond to a request for comment.) In 2013, the once-publicly traded company went private - something that’s not usually a sign of positive financial health. American Greetings, Papyrus’s parent company, which is the second-largest greeting card producer aside from Hallmark, had been struggling to stay afloat for a while. By 2019, that number had dropped to 44 percent. In 2009, 58 percent of people surveyed said they planned to spend on greeting cards. According to data from the National Retail Federation, which declined to comment on Papyrus specifically, spending on Valentine’s cards (the only card spending it regularly tracks) has mostly trended downward in the past decade. So, uh, did we? As with most things (see: tuna fish, mayonnaise, marriage), the answer is both yes and no. We’re all too familiar with the reality that any time there’s a major corporate closure or market shift, the question gets asked: Did millennials cause the death of the greeting card industry? Or how about Gen Z, they’re in the mix now too, right? (Liquidation sales are already underway, so if you’re in the market for, say, a wine glass that says “Party Girl” on it, or a $6.95 roll of wedding-themed wrapping paper, this is your moment.) But this isn’t just about the ease of acquisition for belated birthday cards, or the death of a once-beloved suburban shopping mall staple. Papyrus, longtime purveyor of mid-price cards, gifts, and gift-wrapping accoutrements, announced this week that it’s closing all of its stores within the next four to six weeks. This Valentine’s Day, last-minute shoppers will have one less place to turn.
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