29. Greeting Cards

April 8, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Every year, Americans buy 6.5 billion greeting cards. The industry is dominated by two privately held giants, Hallmark and American Greetings, which control about 80 percent of the market. But the remaining 20 percent is a fragmented world of roughly 2,000 smaller publishers, ranging from one-person operations selling to a single local store to mid-size companies like Up With Paper, a specialty firm in Ohio run by George White, a former president of the Greeting Card Association trade group. White says the industry divides cards into two categories: everyday and seasonal. Everyday cards—birthdays, weddings, sympathy, thinking of you—account for more than half of all sales. Seasonal cards spike dramatically: Christmas alone moves about 1.5 billion units, followed by Mother’s Day, then Easter. Father’s Day, White notes, is “even lower than that.”

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of The Economics of Everyday Things

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (01:09) **The Louis Awards: The Oscars of Greeting Cards** - Introduces the Louis Awards, where judges select the year's best greeting cards across 51 categories, with examples of edgy winning cards.
2 (02:11) **Millennials Saved the Greeting Card Industry** - Millennials are now the largest buyers of greeting cards by dollar amount, reversing a decline from Generation X.
3 (03:28) **The Two Categories: Everyday vs. Seasonal** - White breaks down the market: everyday cards (birthdays, sympathy) make up over half of sales, while Christmas alone accounts for 1.5 billion of the 6.5 billion cards sold annually.
4 (04:13) **Who Buys Greeting Cards? The "Kinkeeper" Profile** - 85% of cards are bought by women, typically "kinkeepers" (often aunts) aged 40-65 who maintain family connections.
5 (05:20) **Millennials: The Unlikely Saviors of the Industry** - Millennials have jumpstarted a new era by spending more on premium, highly differentiated cards for "cardworthy" friends.
6 (07:52) **The Design Process: From Llamas to Pop-Up Possums** - Explains how card companies create new designs, from trend-spotting (llamas, owls) to Hallmark's data-driven approach.
7 (10:20) **Inside Hallmark: The "Universally Specific" Writing Process** - Former Hallmark editor Mia Mercado describes how the company crafts card copy to feel emotionally relevant but broadly applicable.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The tradition of sending cards to loved ones was in decline — until it was rescued by a new generation. But millennials have their own ideas about what sentiments they want to convey. Zachary Crockett is thinking of you on your special day. This episode was originally published on December 17th, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.