Comments on: Researching Greeting Cards Around The World

Researching Greeting Cards Around The World

Quillcards — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 08:51:41 -0800

I am researching information for an article about greeting cards around the world today - who sends them, what do they send - and I have put the questions into a survey. I am in the UK and looking for respondents in other countries.

The survey is set up to accept free-form answers. In other words, you can write a sentence or just a word or two - whatever you think is appropriate.

I've list the questions here so that you know what to expect - and you can take the survey HERE

Greeting Card Survey on SurveyMonkey.

- What cards are 'must-sends' (e.g. Mother's Day)
- Do most towns have shops that specialise in selling greeting cards?
- What is the typical cost of a card + postage ?
- Are most cards blank inside or do they have a verse or other words pre-printed on the inside?
- Do people display cards they receive - for example, putting them on a mantelpiece?
- Who sends cards - for example - young people / only older people / mostly women?
- Is the practise of sending cards a generational thing that is dying out or are cards going strong?
- Add the name of your country here.

Thank you

Again, you can take the survey HERE on SurveyMonkey.

By: wonton endangerment

wonton endangerment — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 08:38:50 -0800

Is this intentionally focused on mass-market, pre-printed cards?

A section covering hand/home/self/maker-made cards might be interesting.

I know quite a few people who make and send their own cards. From pencil on folded DIN-A4 copy paper, to primitive potato stamps, to color-printed stylized landscape photo cards, to 3D-printed flat pieces that pull apart into components that can be assembled into figurines or toys.

In some cultures, DIY cards are valued; in others, recipients would wonder why you were giving them "home-made #$%."

Light bulb: most of the friends/acquaintances who make their own cards are male. Wonder why that is?

By: wonton endangerment

wonton endangerment — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 08:51:19 -0800

In some circles, e-cards are viewed as aggressive spam, no matter the stated privacy policy of the provider. Daniel Post may have OK'd e-cards, but in many cases they're worse than no greeting at all.

By: vickyverky

vickyverky — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:52:10 -0800

Maybe also add vintage/thrifted cards to your list -- I rarely buy new cards in stores, but will always rummage through the boxes at charity shops and often buy them online at Etsy or eBay.

By: Quillcards

Quillcards — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 03:13:32 -0800

@wonton endangerment [ http://www.metafilter.com/user/219377 ] and @vickyverky [ http://www.metafilter.com/user/92336 ]
Thank you for the observations. The survey is specifically aimed at commercially-printed cards such as one would find in a greeting card shop. That said, I could indeed usefully add hand-made cards and vintage/thrift cards into account.

I am not referring to e-cards, although they have their place.