Features

Following the first meeting with Postmaster General David Steiner in February, the working relationship between the Greeting Card Association (GCA) and the United States Postal Service (USPS) has seen an upswing in productivity and positivity. During our visit, Steiner indicated an interest in working to grow traditional mail volume and expressed interest in the opportunity to engage younger generations with the mail. GCA has met that challenge in significant ways.

Thanks to the leadership of Dana Lynch of Blue Kite Press and Marina Kishkovich of Ampersand M Studio, who organized and led the event, the GCA brought our members and the USPS together in a first-ever Perfect Pairing Pop Up Birthday Party event April 18 to celebrate the release of the new Birthday Stamp. This was the first opportunity to have both cards and stamps offered together in a retail event, and it was very successful. The USPS has indicated interest in holding similar events going forward to highlight card-compatible stamps.

At the end of April, GCA sponsored the fourth annual Mother’s Day Event on Capitol Hill that featured more that 1,200 cards donated by GCA members. This year, GCA had its largest contingent yet who supported the event by engaging with Members of Congress and hundreds of their staffers. All had the opportunity to select a free greeting card and stamp for the mothers in their lives. As always, the event was met with great enthusiasm from the staffers, mostly in their early twenties, who proved Postmaster General Steiner’s sense that cards and mail do resonate with younger groups when given the opportunity. This year, we also had USPS Vice President Sheila Holman in attendance who saw first-hand how eager these young people are to mail — and how many need to be told where the stamp goes! GCA was there to meet both needs.

Following these successful events, we have invited Postmaster General Steiner to speak at the Greeting Card Conference in August to share more about his vision for growing the mail and to see the best our industry has to offer, including an invitation to attend the Louie Awards. To be sure, we still have policy challenges with the USPS, but in the past, the two organizations have always found a way to work together. It looks like we have the opportunity to do so once again, and the GCA Public Affairs Committee is committed to making the most of it!