Hallmark?
 

Curious if anyone knows anything, first or second hand, about Hallmark corporate as an employer? My wife is exploring some options, and they're a possibility.

They are going through a massive downsizing and cost-cutting process right now. It's been that way for several years.

I worked there for 15 years, left 10 years ago. Used to be a great place to work.

I bet you churned out some awesome birthday cards

Yeah. They're redoing their line and storefronts to try to compete with Paper Source and going for a more "boutique" type store, which is actually where my wife's interest comes in as she's pretty well known and respected in the boutique paper industry.

I do worry about the long term feasibility of the company.

I'm hoping to get a job in the Blank Inside card department.

seems like it would be a pretty easy gig.

Selling a crease was easier than first thought.

It's been ~8 years, but I really enjoyed working for them... at least back then, it was pretty obvious they took full advantage of being a private company by taking care of their employees, without the pressures of cutting costs and increasing stock price. But, I know they've downsized since then, so I don't know how much they've changed benefits, perks, raises, etc.

I'm not surprised due to internet cards but their prices are out-of-site.

They tried to hire me out of art school ( had to take a few more courses to satisfy them as it was for 3D ceramics that weren't my major) ....and I was like, wtf...Kansas city?? No way! They were a great employee back then. My mom wanted me to take it.

As I recall, she was into designing patterns right?

Well. That's her Background but she's worked as creative director for a paper company and now owns her own store which is pretty "famous" in paper circles (25k instagram followers).

It seems like Hallmark is always laying people off, cutting costs or restructuring. They're a bit like Sprint in that way. That being said, I have many friends that have worked there for 10+ years and they all seem to enjoy it.

Too big of a company to get a feel for the overall stability of any individual department. One would think that creative would be a safer place to be than middle management for sure.

That place is going downhill. I applied there awhile back, sent them my resume and a few samples of my work. They didn't like any of it. What greeting card company would pass on quality shit like this :

MONEY'S SCARCE
TIMES ARE HARD
HERE'S YOUR ****ING CHRISTMAS CARD



P.S. I was going to put $50 dollars in here for you but I've already sealed the envelope.

ROFL

I still have a bunch I had made up a year ago on regular Business cards that was very close to that.

Money's short, times are hard
Here's your ****ing Christmas card.

On the card it also has a picture of a Charlie brown looking tree with one Christmas ornament hanging on it.

I'm shocked Hallmark survived longer that Blockbuster...

Paper/invite/stationery industry is actually booming in the digital age, but it's more of a boutique/independent market, which I think is hurting Hallmark.

I was horrible at proofs in HS but I'm thinking if the first statement is true the 2nd half should be making bank...

I know a couple guys that worked there several years ago. They thought that it was a pretty good place for the suits, and nothing but an entry level meat grinder for the creatives. The trick was stifling every creative urge long enough to become a suit.

People who spend a lot of money on paper/stationery/invites want to spend money in personalized ways withi their local paper boutique, not at national chains like Hallmark.

But that's why, from what I understand, Hallmark is updating their image and storefronts. Moving from this:

http://staugustine.com/sites/default...20hallmark.jpg

To this:
http://static1.squarespace.com/stati.../1415738745058

The store on the plaza looks like that one now. I remember when my wife and I went in there it was an interesting place but we had no idea what store we were in until we realized all the products were Hallmark products.

Yeah. I think that picture is from the plaza store, actually.

While that layout clearly looks sad I don't see any future in anything about Hallmark.

Good or bad, Hallmark is only important to grandmothers today.

Who sends a card when you tan text/tweet/im/facebook that person with any pic you want to send?...

There's a backlash against the impersonality of e-media. It may just be a fad or trend, but the tactile paper market actually seems to be improving in some demographics with a lot of people feeling that e-vites and such are kind of trashy and impersonal.

The problem is that the demographic who considers evites trashy and impersonal likely have similar feelings about Hallmark, seeing it as akin to Wal-Mart.

They're kind of stuck in a bad place as a company because they're too big to capture niche markets, but the overall market is decreasing.

I agree with all that.

I don't own a cell phone and never will.

I also see no point in buying a paper card and paying more to ship said meaningless card...

Hallmark is way more than cards so I don't think they are going anywhere all of the sudden like a Blockbuster. But even the cards seem to sell well out of the grocery stores still.

Right. And that's also a part of the problem. Hallmark is basically known for cards (even though they do more), and that's a shitty market. My wife sells a lot of cards, but even the high end cards she sells for $6 only represent $3 profit. That requires a lot of volume to make any kind of money from, and cards are Hallmark's brand.

Contrast that with a single wedding appointment for invites. She can clear $3000+ off one sale, if it's the right customer.

Hallmark doesn't do custom invites and such, though. So being relegated in the public's mind to just cards screws them, as people who buy cards now really want clever/profane/witty and printed by small letterpress printers. None of which is represented by HMK at the moment.

I have had a friend that has worked for them in their Point of Sale Support / training or something - He is very proud of his company and seems to love what he does.

And they do more, I get that as well. They do sell collectables. But even that is a down trending business model. They sell 2nd hand $3it and cute dogs and angel figures.

And even if they suddenly changed tomorrow and sold Batman figurines it would only hasten their demise and isolate the very small market they do have.

So even the people that do buy cards don't tend to buy them there. And they have almost nothing in collectibles. No exclusives other than cheap trinkets...

Are they wanting her to run a store or something corporate?

If it's just a store I have a hard time seeing it be better than what she has.

Oh no. It would be corporate if she were to do it. She's just looking at options. Time for some kind of stretch and she can either do it with someone else or stretch her existing business. The grind of that is wearing us all down though. And scaling it will take even more that we aren't sure we can give right now.

I can think of nothing worse.

Just me.

You can consider the opinion of a college drop out with an illegitimate kid who's worked for 2 different corporate entities right before they went tits up, or not.

I watched two businesses basically burn under my watch doing what I was told. The 2nd time I didn't stick around to tell everyone they were fired, I quit when I saw it coming and moved on...

Really interesting. I make more of my own these days digitally or paper. I think a physical card shows more thoughtfulness myself.

They've gotten into some nice developments with dimension and even sound. Some are quite beautiful verging on a homemade look. But just their regular card prices are just too high.

After being on my own for a good while, my ship is going to have to sink before I can go back to anything corporate. That's just me, and our industries are vastly different but that's where I am.

You should probably ask her some pretty serious questions about how she's going to handle it when a good idea gets bound up in bureaucracy, or how she's going to handle it when some worthless POS keeps their job despite their gross ineffectiveness because corporate.

EDIT: I really do miss the reduced stress and increased stability of a normal job but there is no way I could do it unless I had no other choice

Both of my in-laws retired from Hallmark. Worked there for decades.

It does feel as if the greeting card industry is in a decline. The Hallmark brand i feel like has sort of of image problem. It screams 'old and grandma'


Do greeting cards mean anything to the under 30 crowd??


I do still love the Hallmark Christmas ornaments. We must have thousands of those things. Dont buy as many as we used to though.

I'm over 30 and they mean nothing to me.

DIL works there and loves it.

Old grump

ROFL

I'm an accountant. I don't have heart strings to pull.

Hallmark isnt going anywhere. I am a contracted employee for them. Hallmark owns crayola, and produces every disney product that is paper(napkins, plates, cups, party decorations,etc), they own eveything downtown from pershing to 27th, and gilham to main. Tjat includes condo towers, office buildings, a mall, and here recently is renting out millions of square footage to children's mercy hopsital. They are long term viable. Certain departments aren't, but as a whole, they are not going anywhere.

So everything you sell is a licensed picture on an object no one wants.

No one wants to send a card.
Think about it.

No matter what you do it's awkward....

One more prime example of KC's deep roots.

I know artists who have worked for them...used to dream about working there as a kid.

My wife worked for Hallmark Cards from after she graduated HS to when she quit to be a stay at home Mom at age 36. Started at the Liberty Distribution Center and worked her way up from Order Picker to her last job as a Manager in Seasonal Products at the downtown location. (She worked in Production, Logistics, Human Resources, Inside Sales and finally in Seasonal Merchandising.)

She always liked working for Hallmark back then because they were an employee-centric Corporation. But that was before all the layoffs and retirements that happened along with the change in the industry. Many of her friends worked there for several years after she left but many of them left out of worry for their jobs.

Interestingly enough, about 5 months ago she took a Merchandising position here locally with Hallmark. It's one that lets her work part time hours and gain some extra money for our retirement without too much stress.

as long as they got the christmas ornament business they are fine as a seasonal