The increasing use of SMS and Internet for people greeting each other on Eid has decreased the sale of greeting cards, having adverse effects on card printing industry and revenue of Pakistan post office. It is a tradition that every year, a very large number of people purchase different colorful Eid cards and send them through post to their dear and near ones.
However, text messages and e-mails have taken over and replaced Eid cards, which were the primary means of conveying Eid greetings in the past. "Young generation has not carried on with the trend, and so they are more interested in Internet and mobile," said a shopkeeper, adding, "cost is also an issue, but an SMS will not give the same feeling as a card."
Tradition of sending Eid greeting cards by post has registered considerable reduction in last few years and this year also, it is almost negligible and having negatively affected on foreign mail in general and Eid cards related revenue in particular.
The availability of animated and glittering electronic Eid cards on different websites is pulling youths away from the tradition of sending Eid cards. All the electronic means of communication are much cheaper and time saving the general public. General public seems no more interested to visit shop to shop and select Eid cards.
Shopkeepers also blame SMS packages and price-hike of essential goods and reducing purchasing power for the sluggish sale of Eid cards. Eid cards stalls remain open from 11 am to 12 pm but the sale is almost negligible. Eid cards are at display in every nook and corner of Saddar and other shopping areas in addition to the regular sale points like book stores and stationary shops.
The messages printed on the greeting cards are poetic, passionate, persuasive and very comforting. The cards available in the market meet the requirements of all the conceivable situations in the human relationship. According to a rough estimate, around 400,000 personal greeting cards are sold across the country on occasions such as Eid and Friendship Day, while about 50 lac corporate greeting and wedding cards are sold every year.
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