ALT="Cardthartic Passages card with orange rustic mailbox, thinking of you."Sept. 1, 2020 — Woohoo! USPS has just approved Cardthartic to offer you books of stamps at checkout. (Think “Would you like fries with that?” only better. :)

We applied for the privilege back in March when we were all headed into lockdown. It was around the same time that Cardie Lauri Mendelsohn emailed us, “I love your Spread the Love Not the Virus envelope stickers that come with my card orders … so clever and fun! I’m retired from the USPS and send cards and letters almost every day, so want to thank you for your wonderful cards and helping me share the love via USPS mail!”

We have wholehearted faith in the great likes of Lauri and her 630,000 Postal Service compatriots. Here’s why:

 

ALT="Civil War era letter written in 1962"

When my great-grandmother Laura moved 165 years ago from Connecticut to the then-prairie of Illinois, it was the Post Office that enabled her to stay connected with her friend Mary back East. In this letter written in 1862, Mary tells Laura that her brother Charley and cousin Erastus had enlisted. In another, Mary congratulates Laura on her engagement and asks, “Is Jamie cute?”

When I walked into my mother’s place 15 years ago and found that she’d had a stroke, it was USPS that delivered this astounding note … it was waiting in my mailbox when I returned from the hospital the next day. On her desk, I later found the stack of thank you notes Mom had been writing, so she must have dropped mine in the mail just before.

 

When my thoughtful friend Karen sent a sweet Congrats on Your New Home! gift to my new dog a few weeks ago, it was our persevering postal service that delivered those goodies to Gracie against all odds! First of all, the box had been addressed to a dog :) and to the wrong address, in the wrong city, with no return address. USPS conquers all!

As Cardie Lauri sums up so well, “A card with its handwritten signature brings news of joy and sadness, and it comforts in a way that only a card can. Emailing, texting and social media cannot compete with reaching out and touching someone with a card. I know. I know from personal experience, and I know because people told me how much cards mean to them every day for 31 years.”

Below you’ll see the cards that Cardies are collectively sending most often these days, for all life’s joys and challenges. Long live the United States Postal Service and everyone she so proudly serves. And hats off to you, Cardies, for every day brightening the world.

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative