Grand Rapids MI — Busy consumers can buy, address and mail a greeting card while conducting other Postal Service business under a year-long pilot program launched during 2009.
New greeting card displays are at the Grand Rapids Post Office one of 2500 locations nationwide where greeting cards will be offered.
More than half of the 7 billion greeting cards sold in the U.S. are sent through the mail. "Cards are incredibly linked to the mail," says Chris Tinkham, Postmaster, Grand Rapids. "What better place to sell them than at our Post Offices.”
The assortment includes cards for birthdays, baby announcements, encouragement, sympathy and wedding anniversaries. With Mother’s day and graduation just around the corner, cards are currently available for both occasions.
Greeting cards join the selection of shipping and mailing products at the Postal Service designed to better meet the needs of customers. In addition to items like mailing tape, envelopes and packaging, decorative mailing boxes, cards make sending a gift easier than ever.
“Greeting cards are a great way to let someone know you are thinking about them,” says Postmaster Tinkham. “We think our customers will like the convenience of having greeting cards right at the Post Office, where you can buy a card and mail it in one stop.“
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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.
