The Postal Service’s ‘get well’ plan? Greeting cards

November 2nd, 2009

The U.S. Postal Service has started selling Hallmark greeting cards at some post offices, a one-year experiment that may lead the nation’s 34,000 postal outlets to eventually sell other goods and services, including banking, insurance and cellphones.

Unlike the mail, greeting cards remain a popular and profitable line of business, with 7 billion sold annually for more than $7.5 billion in sales, according to the Greeting Card Association.  People receive more than 20 greeting cards each year, one-third of them for birthdays.

Of those 7 billion cards, roughly 4 billion are sent through the mail, accounting for about 2 percent of total mail volume, said Robert F. Bernstock, president of mailing and shipping services for the Postal Service.

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Entry Filed under: Interesting, Pop Culture