Greeting Cards Frustrate Me
Jun 27th, 2007 by Alex
Having gone to a few graduation parties this summer, the usual birthdays, and a handful of weddings I’ve been spending more time at Hallmark than should be necessary.
I never know what to write, so I usually attempt to get a card that says something witty so that I won’t have to. It takes me a while to find a card that I feel is worthy to express something witty but not too cheap. It still takes less time than it would to buy a blank card and come up with something witty to write myself. At least that’s how I rationalize it.
I used to save all the cards I received. I never designated a shoebox for all of them, so I find them all over the place. I usually never read them again, except for some of the ones where people wrote a letter on the inside in addition to the cheeky little joke. I kept them in hopes that I’d find them again someday and read them. Mostly I wonder where they’ve gone, whether I’ll ever find them again and if I do whether I’ll take the time to read them again. If I do, how many of them will be like mine: short and concise, with no real inspiratation content beyond what’s was provided by the card itself? Not many, probably. Why did I keep them again?
I don’t save cards anymore unless they’ve got something handwritten that I think will be worth keeping for ten years or more.
Cards are expensive and take up space, considering that the reader only gets a quick chuckle before they either save them all (as I used to) or chuck them into the circular file. It isn’t about the money; I think cards are priced because of perceived value. It costs next to nothing to print a greeting card on heavy stock, yet prices range from $0.99 to $6.50. The price shouldn’t matter. What matters more is that you took time out of your day and tried to pick one up, yet I see lots of people steer clear of less expensive cards as if the recipient would think you think less of them because you spent $1 instead of $4. Attempting to measure the heartiness of a relationship by the cost of a card (or anything else) is a foolish endeavor.
That’s why Internet e-cards are cheap. Both on price and on effort.
It’s a strange concept, but I try to buy cards that are funny and fitting but that the recipient won’t feel such an attachment to that they’ll feel they ought to hold onto them forever. People have enough to worry about and enough stuff to keep track of than to worry about holding onto my card or figuring out where to store it. I buy a lot of $0.99 cards now, especially if I think they’ll get tossed.
Sending a card is fine, but showing up in person is better.
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