GCA Priorities

Postal Matters

More than 60 percent of all greeting cards are mailed.  Since its founding, GCA has been at the forefront in advocating fair and reasonable postage rates for consumers, and preserving postal mail delivery 6 days a week to every U.S. address

GCA has also been instrumental in encouraging the Postal Service to adopt new products and services that can ease and improve the consumer’s ability to mail cards and letters.  

For example, the Greeting Card Association was one of the earliest proponents of a “forever” stamp to help reduce the cost burden of first-class postage hikes, and the inconvenience of purchasing one- and two-cent stamps whenever rates increased. Due in part to GCA’s efforts, the now-familiar Liberty Bell “forever” stamp became a reality in May of 2007.  

GCA is currently working to reduce the current 20-cent surcharge for cards and letters mailed in square envelopes.  Although the postal service argues that the surcharge is needed because squares can’t be processed through its automated equipment, GCA has sponsored independently certified test mailings showing that as many as 80% of square envelopes can be automatically processed, and nearly 90 percent can be successfully sorted on the post office’s automated equipment.

The GCA continues to work with the U.S. Postal Service on a variety of issues and innovations to ensure that the mailing concerns and card-sending preferences of consumers are taken into consideration.