Christmas cards making a comeback this year

Physical Christmas cards seem to be making a comeback in the Netherlands this year. Greeting card sellers and producers like Hallmark, Primera and Bruna are already reporting sales increases of dozens of percentage points, NOS reports.

"In the month of November, we already saw a doubling of sales," Gert van Doorn of the Greeting Cards Association said to the broadcaster. Website Cart2go also noticed a significant increase. "Compared to last year, more than half more cards went through our machines," marketing manager Mark van Kasteren said. 

When greeting cards had their heyday, in the 80s and 90s before emails and text messages, some 200 million Christmas cards were sent in the Netherlands every year. In 2017, that had dropped to 85 million.

PostNL, which received numerous complaints about late Christmas cards last year, is preparing for the extra work this year. Hundreds of extra deliverers will be deployed, and mailboxes will be emptied more often over the festive season, including on Sundays, a spokesperson said to NOS. "In short: we pull out all the stops, but also ask our customers to send their mail on time. Preferably no later than the weekend before Christmas, then they'll arrive before Christmas."

According to Van Doorn, the coronavirus pandemic is behind greeting cards' comeback. There's been an increase in greeting card sales since the pandemic hit the Netherlands in March. "If you can spend less time together during this time, sending a card is of course a great way to let someone know you are thinking of them," he said to the broadcaster.