Hallmark plant closing speaks to changing times
Lewis DiuguidHallmark Cards Inc. last week announced it was closing its Topeka production plant. Of the 500 jobs, 300 will be lost as the operation shifts to Lawrence and Leavenworth.
It is a sad statement of the times we are in, and unfortunately there is no greeting card that can be sent for the occasion. The demographic that is most likely to send cards — women — has gotten out of the card-buying and card-sending mode.
People exchange niceties electronically now through the Facebook, email, texting, tweet and instand messaging. Such things take little effort and cost even less.
Sending a greeting card is a sincere investment in commitment. A person has to go to a store, pick out the most appropriate card, pay for it, go home, write something nice inside the card, get the address and put it with the name of the person on the envelope, add a stamp and then take the thing to the post office.
Whew! Are people today lacking in such commitment and sincerity compared with our parents and grandparents, or what? More than the people at Hallmark are the losers in this. We all suffer from the loss of that old paper connection.
William R. Nelson
7 months, 2 weeks agoVery well said. I’ll simply add that ‘social media’ has made us all a little less sociable.