Paper greeting cards are now seen as optional as digital and social media are the go-to platforms for such things.  Hallmark Cards Inc. last week announced it will close a Kansas plant that made one-third of its greeting cards. In consolidating its Kansas operations, Kansas City-based Hallmark plans to shed 300 jobs. Pete Burney, Hallmark’s senior vice president who overseas production, says “competition in our industry is indeed formidable” and that “consumers do have more ways to connect digitally and online and through social media.” Over the past decade, the number of greeting cards sold in the U.S. has dropped from 6 billion to 5 billion annually, by Hallmark’s estimates.

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