Summer 2024 - 40

THE GCA DESK
Honoring
Mom
- and the Mail
A GCA-sponsored Capitol card send literally brought
home the importance of the USPS
BY NORA WEISER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GCA
RAFE MORRISSEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, GCA
Nora Weiser
Rafe Morrissey
n early May, the Greeting Card Association (GCA) sponsored
the second annual Keep US Posted Mother's Day greeting card
event on Capitol Hill. It was an even bigger success than last year's
event, with more than 750 cards donated by 16 GCA member
companies distributed to hundreds of staff and members of
Congress - more than double the number distributed last year.
The growth of this year's event is apt, since the challenges
our industry faces from the United States Postal Service's (USPS)
Delivering for America plan make this kind of engagement twice
as important. This event comes at a critical time, with yet another
nickel stamp increase looming in July, a major review of the entire
rate-setting system by the Postal Regulatory Commission due to
begin that same month, and increasing frustration on Capitol
Hill that mail service and postage pricing are out of control.
The public policy challenges are huge, but this event really
highlighted the fundamental belief the greeting card industry
has in the importance of cards in the mail. The common
assumption is that young people don't send mail. But this event
drew hundreds of mostly Gen Z staffers who flocked to select a
card to send to their mothers.
Their joy in selecting, writing, addressing - and yes, many
needed instruction here - and finally dropping them in the
mailbox was organic and pervasive. It is a rare experience these
days for people from all political persuasions to be all smiling
at the same time in the Capitol, but for a couple of hours on a
random May day, hundreds of people shared the joy of doing a
simple act of kindness to honor their mothers.
Hopefully, that experience will stay with them as they
consider not only the huge challenges facing the USPS, but also
the importance and need to overcome them. GCA will remain
heavily engaged in the regulatory process supporting vitally
needed legislation to make sure the USPS' regulators have the
tools and clear mandate they need to hold it to account.
40 Summer 2024 | STATIONERY TRENDS
I
Above, at the Keep Us
Posted Event on Capitol
Hill, every last letter
mailed to Mom was also
a physical reminder to
keep snail mail alive and
well. At top right, since it's
hard to pick just the right
card, 16 GCA member
companies donated 750
cards for the event. At right, Keep Us Posted messaging to protect
our mail was impossible to miss displayed alongside cards.
All photographs courtesy of the Greeting Card Association.
Soon we'll be debuting a second phase of economic research
showing that postage rates can remain at affordable levels and
still meet accurately calculated USPS revenue needs. But as we
engage in that effort, we come to it with the knowledge that
hundreds of people on Capitol Hill understand the power of
cards in the mail firsthand. S T
Summer 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2024
