Greeting Cards (Replay)

The Economics of Everyday Things

Freakonomics Network

Business

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The tradition of sending cards to loved ones was in decline — until it was rescued by a new generation. But millennials have their own ideas about what sentiments they want to convey. Zachary Crockett is thinking of you on your special day.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hollywood has the Oscars.
0:05.3	The music industry has the Grammys.
0:08.0	Broadway, the Tonys.
0:10.2	And then there's this.
0:12.8	First category, we have birthday general, $5 and below.
0:17.0	Paper salad, great aerographics, fine moments, and hallmark cards.
0:22.7	And the winner is?
0:23.7	The winner is.
0:25.2	Paper salad!
0:27.7	This is the Louie Awards, where a panel of judges selects the year's best greeting cards.
0:34.4	More than a thousand entrants compete in 51 categories.
0:39.8	Birthday, sympathy, thank you,
0:47.2	all the major holidays. In the Friendship and Encouragement category, the 2023 Louie Award goes to a card with a bunch of flowers that says, remember, you're an infinitely iconic
0:53.2	bitch having a human experience.
0:55.8	The winner in the Christmas humor category
0:58.0	reads,
0:59.1	Happy, collecting new material for your therapist, holidays.
1:03.3	Lines like those are now the backbone
1:05.2	of the $7 billion greeting card business,
1:08.6	a business that has found some new customers.
1:15.3	The millennial generation is now the largest buyers of greeting cards from a dollar
1:19.1	standpoint. They've saved our industry.
	...

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