Overview

The objectives of the Greeting Card Association are:

• To promote the tradition of sending greeting cards;

• To represent the industry before government and regulatory agencies;

• To serve as an information service center to its members; and

• To monitor trends and developments that may impact the industry.

The GCA traces its roots to 1941, when a small group of greeting card publishers under the leadership of George Burkhardt of Burkhardt-Warner established an organization known as the Greeting Card Industry. At the time, there were about 100 card publishers in the U.S., accounting for approximately $43 million annually in wholesale card sales.

Today, more than 280 U.S. and international greeting card publishers and suppliers are members of the GCA, and U.S. retail card sales are estimated at nearly $7.5 billion annually.

The impetus for forming the first greeting card association was a War Department order in World War II, directing paper use to be cut by 25 percent. The new greeting card organization successfully fought the possible elimination of paper for card use by launching "Defense Stamp Christmas Cards" and V-Mail greeting cards to help promote the sale of defense stamps and war bonds.

A similar association effort, named "Greeting Cards in Wartime," demonstrated how greeting cards could help keep families in touch and boost the morale of soldiers fighting abroad. For this campaign, GCA provided millions of greeting cards to wounded servicemen through the Red Cross. In 1943, the association cooperated with the Post Office on the first “Mail Early” Christmas campaign.

Following World War II, the GCA continued to focus its attention on postal issues. In 1947, GCA successfully fought a proposed postal hike of the 3-cent first-class stamp, marking the beginning of a sometimes stormy, but for the most part, extremely cooperative, relationship with the U.S. Postal Service.

GCA continues today to be actively involved in postal matters and is the staunchest private-sector advocate for consumers regarding postal costs.