It’s 2018-meets-2019 season: These four types of Indians still buy paper greeting cards
The season of ‘season’s greetings’ comes and goes but with fewer to nil paper greeting cards.
All '90s kids (old kids though!) must have a collection of greeting cards stashed somewhere in their attics and also in their memories. On the left leaf, there are personalised notes written in bad handwriting and wonky grammar. Same on the right leaf — only the font is a little better!
The season of ‘season’s greetings’ comes and goes, but with fewer to nil paper greeting cards (but interestingly, more of wedding cards). That we have judiciously reduced our use (or misuse) of paper and started sharing e-greetings, WhatsApp (never mind the ‘forwarded’ stamp on the top of it) messages and Facebook wishes is no news. But it is surprising that this is not the case in the United States.
According to a recent report published in The Chicago Tribune, sales of greeting cards have been stable in the US — and they are thanking millennials for keeping the tradition of sending personalised wishes alive. Around 6.5 billion greeting cards and 1.6 billion holiday cards are sold across the US.
We don’t know any such figures in India. But we do know that once the spurt of these commercial greeting cards was blamed for killing the art of letter-writing.
Feeling old yet?
However, the gift shops have not done away with the greeting card sections yet. They are still there, standing pretty on the racks, invitingly waiting to share their glitter on your hands. It may sound like an irony, but online retail sites too have very glamourous sections of offline cards, because yes, there are people shopping for real greeting cards, though the purpose may be different.
1. People in public relations, corporate gifting
You can’t WhatsApp your clients the same message you received thrice in three different WhatsApp groups. That’s bad manners. So yes, sending cards is professional etiquette there. (Of course, you don’t scribble on the left leaf).
2. School students — for their teachers
Teachers’ Day cards must still be popular in the market for younger students, who are yet to lay their hands on their first phones, or whose parents are not sending WhatsApp forwards to the teachers. Writing a personal note is acceptable here, but on the risk of the mistakes being pointed out.
3. When you want to sign your gift, but keep it classy
Suppose you are gifting something really precious and costly to someone — whatever be the occasion. Writing your name on a small card looks just cheap and tacky. So, for those occasions, you may just want to buy a nice, shiny greeting card, appropriate for the occasion, so that your effort get duly recognised.
4. A recycled products' enthusiasts
Paper greeting cards are no more in. We get it. But cards made of recycled paper and similar fancy stuff are never out of fashion. They are very much Instagrammable as well. So, instead of contributing to waste, they contribute to save the environment — and heighten our social status.
If none of this describes you, then well, RIP paper greeting cards!
Or, just wait for a fad and they'll be back!