Greetings and Salutations from the San Mateo Post Office

San Mateo Post Office Now Offering Greeting Cards

SAN MATEO, Calif.—Busy consumers can buy, address and mail a greeting card while conducting other Postal Service business under a year-long pilot program launched earlier this month. New greeting card displays arrived at the San Mateo Post Office this month. San Mateo is one of 1,500 locations nationwide where greeting cards will be offered.

The Postal Service is testing a limited line of greeting cards. Five Hundred initial sites were chosen based on availability of display space, the number of customers visiting the location and convenience to customers. An additional 1,000 locations will begin offering cards after the first of the year.

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," notes Robert Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services. "What better place to sell them than at our Post Offices?”

The assortment includes cards for birthdays, baby announcements, encouragement, sympathy and wedding anniversaries. Additional seasonal displays will offer cards appropriate to various holidays and times of the year, including Mother’s Day.

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 make sending a gift easier than ever, and just in time for the holidays.

“Greeting cards are a great way to let someone know you are thinking about them,” said San Mateo Postmaster Carol Conroy. “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.“

According to the Greeting Card Association, Christmas and the winter holiday season is the biggest time of year for greeting cards, but Valentine’s Day isn’t far behind. And birthdays, anniversaries and other life events happen all year long. The most popular everyday cards are birthday cards, followed in popularity by cards celebrating anniversaries, and cards of encouragement including get well, friendship and sympathy cards.

Several other Post Offices around the San Francisco Bay Area are also offering greeting cards. These include: the Santa Rosa Main Post Office, the Mountain View Main Post Office, Lakeshore Plaza and Steiner Stations in San Francisco, and beginning in early November, the Sunnyvale Main Post Office.