Category: Thank You Cards

A Thank You Card for the Commish

With baseball season starting last week, my friends and I recently held our draft for the fourth season of our fantasy baseball league. I love being a participant and this year I am going to send a thank you card to my friend Michael who heads the league (Actually, we don’t refer to him as Michael anymore…he is known as “The Commish”). Not only does Michael, eh, the Commish, have to make sure all the rules and regulations as well as players selected in the draft are coordinated on the website, he also has to settle any issues or disputes that may occur during the six-month long season (in addition to managing his own team).

The great thing about having a team in a baseball fantasy league is being able to be the general manager of an actual team, so-to-speak, since the players selected are real players who play major league baseball and whose actual real-life stats are what drive the league and its results. And because there are so many games in the six-month season, the teams need to be managed on a daily basis. There’s always something to check on and/or study either online or in the daily newspaper to help make one’s team (mine is the Heights Yankees) hopefully finish at least in the playoffs if not in first place.

As the general manager, I decide who plays (from the players on my roster) based on which player is hot and also from studying specific matchups between certain batters and the pitchers they will be facing in that day’s real game. Matchups oftentimes make a difference as to whether the batter (or pitcher if he is on my roster) will have a big game or not. Trades, free agents to pick up, or deciding whether to keep injured players or not are all part of the responsibility and great fun of having a fantasy team. At the end of the season, the top teams compete in the playoffs at the end of which the final two teams play in a “World Series” to determine the eventual champion.

Having the opportunity to devote some of my time and exercise my love of baseball as a participant in something like this makes the baseball season so much more interesting. And the thank you card that I will be sending to the Commish will tell him exactly that.

Thank You Cards for Inside and Outside of Work

When you’re having a party, no matter if it’s a birthday, special event or even just a barbecue, there’s the usual checklist of what you’ll need so your celebration is a great success. For example, you have your food menu, beverages, music, a guest list, and anything else you may need to set up your fun-filled day. What a lot of people do forget is something you’ll need once the party is over and all your guests have left. What is it you ask? Thank you cards!

Your friends and family took the time to give you a gift and made sure your party was special. You should thank them by writing thank you cards to show you appreciated them being there…even if no presents were involved! For the office, business thank you cards are a great way to show your vendors, clients, and employees how grateful you are for their business or for their outstanding work. Business thank you cards are also an indirect way of reminding your recipients that you worked with them and “please don’t forget about us in the future.” The moral of this story is let people know that them being there is important to you, and be sure to use those thank you cards inside and outside of work!

Thank You Cards – It’s Never too Late

It’s never too late to send a thank you card. I know you may be thinking this is just some sales-y pitch to buy thank you cards. It’s not, period. Here’s my quick feel-good thank you cards are important and make everyone thankful story…

Recently I was travelling. As I passed through Newark Airport’s gate area I came upon the Airport Wireless store and decided to browse. It seems like there is always something that I need. Sure enough I realized I had recently lost my stereo-hands-free cell phone mp3 player earbuds. These are very important to me as I am immensely more productive on the phone with them than without them. I purchased a very nice pair of Shure earbuds and said thank you to the store employee who helped me pick them out. I in turn acknowledged his “Thank You for your business” and I rushed off to catch my flight.

A few hours later when I reached my destination I headed over to the rental car counter. I set my things down, filled out the paperwork and exchanged another set of thank yous with the Avis employee. “Thanks very much,” I said “Yes sir, thank you for renting from Avis today” he said. “Which way to my car?” “Right out those doors and to the right, sir.” “Thank you, have a nice day.” “You’re welcome sir and Thank You again.” The exchange was as business-like and as pleasant as can be. This cordial, professional, friendly and just plain polite business exchange is something refreshing about travelling to the Midwest of the United States.

So, a couple of hours of driving later, thankfully I finally arrive at my hotel. I checked-in with a whole new round of “Thank you,” “Thank you sir,” “Thanks and have a nice day.” Settling into my room something seems to be missing, but I just can’t place what it is. Then I realize. Ugggh! It’s too easy to not miss something that you’ve barely owned. My new expensive earbuds, where are they!? I retrace my steps. When was I last sure that I had them? I quickly realize that they are now a two hour drive behind me last seen on the lower counter portion of the Avis rental car check-in desk. I curse a few times and pretty much write them off mentally. And then I realize…Wait a minute! I am in the land of the nicest “thank you, no, thank YOU” people I have ever come across outside of New York. I figure what the heck and I make a call to Avis and get through to the Avis counter at the airport that I flew through. A very nice fellow in maintenance says he’ll have to go take a look and he’ll call me back. I figure I am never getting a call back…but then as he is hanging up the phone he says “Thank you for renting from Avis!” Maybe there is a prayer. Maybe the “thank you, no, thank YOU” culture of just plain nice people will save me.

Well, you guessed it. Saved I was and very very thankful. And of course, thanked again by the loyal and friendly Avis employee. He UPSd a box to my hotel room. I couldn’t be more thankful. Or could I?

So, here I sit in my home office working remotely today, “cleaning up” things. This great Avis employee who UPSd me my earbuds that I frankly had no right to expect I would ever see again did the right thing by his company. He sent the item UPS collect. I didn’t even know you could do that! Anyhow, I need to pay the bill. $12.34 I couldn’t be more happy and thankful to pay. But, it’s not all about money is it? The bill reminds me that I had to rush through the airport and the car return to catch my flight. I never had the opportunity to track down the employee and thank him and the other employees.

It’s just another one of those stories in our busy lives. Too much to do, too little time –
too often too little time to even say “Thank you.” But alas, that is what greeting cards, note cards and letters have always been for. Greeting cards help us to pause for just a moment, to reflect, and to say something. It takes a little bit of effort and a little bit of thoughtfulness, but the rewards are dividends paid to both parties. The little bit of effort is what conveys the thought. The old expression “It is the thought that counts,” which used to be used for gift giving, really isn’t true any more. It is, in fact, the effort that counts. It is the effort, however small, that expresses the thoughtfulness. It is too easy in today’s society to click a button and send your closest 500 friends an email form letter. The “ease” dilutes and diminishes the thoughtfulness conveyed.

So, with this much longer than I thought blog post now finally coming to a conclusion I shall:

  1. Thankfully pay my UPS collect bill.
  2. Write a thank you card to the Avis employee at the airport.
  3. Write some more thank you cards today for others whom I am probably long overdue to send thank you cards.

P.S. – I suppose I could make an argument that the longer the length of time between the event someone is being thanked for and the arrival of the thank you cards actually is a measure of how truly thankful someone is. i.e. They remember it long after the event.  Hmmm. I have wanted to write my sixth grade teacher a thank you card before she passes to a better place. I better get on that! I can’t imagine how old she is now! I’m no spring chicken myself.

Business Thank You Cards Brighten Up My Day

The stars are not aligned today, because it was another one of those mornings. You know the kind I mean. My husband spilled the milk on the table and it dripped onto the floor. Do you think it would miss me? Nooo! Of course not. Then he says he’s in a hurry and asks if I can clean it up. Before I can answer, he says “I’ll send you a thank you card.” He thinks he’s very funny when he plays on my love of greeting cards. The family always teases me and for the most part I am amused, but not today.

Of all mornings, I’m running late, I have a wet spot on my blouse and I have a meeting concerning business thank you cards for the upcoming year (how ironic) first thing. There’s nothing worse than showing up to work disheveled, tired and annoyed. Anyway, I rushed to my desk and a colleague stops me to ask a favor. Can I please make some copies before the meeting because he had to finish a report? So much for sitting down first and enjoying a sip of tea.

From there it just gets worse. The copier needed the toner changed and can you guess what happened next? I somehow got ink smudges on my pants, the paper ran out, and it’s meeting time. Of course I am the last one there and everyone looks at me puffing, sweating, smudged and stained. That’s the kind of morning I had. I was so glad when it was lunch time.

When I came back from lunch there was an envelope on my desk. Inside was a thank you card from my colleague of the morning. He said he appreciated my helping him out. The art of sending thank you cards is not dead and there are still courteous people who express appreciation. The business thank you card was even more coveted than one coming from family or friends.

It just goes to show that, no matter how your day starts, a greeting card will brighten it up and put a smile on your face. Now you see why I have a profound love for greeting cards.

“These are nice cards!”

On the King Day of Service this past Monday, January 19, some of the 100,000 thank you cards that The Gallery Collection donated to Operation Gratitude made their way to Washington D.C.’s Calvin Coolidge High School, where students, military families, and local service groups were helping with various activities for the troops. The thank you cards were being used to write letters to service members deployed overseas.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made a special appearance at Coolidge High School during a service tour they were taking of Washington. While make their rounds to meet all the volunteers, then-President-Elect Obama stopped at one of the tables, picked up one of the thank you cards and exclaimed, “These are nice cards!” He then told one of the volunteers he was speaking to that he would only keep one of the cards, and handed it off to Michelle. The whole conversation was caught on video, and we have it for you to check out. He comments on our cards at one minute and 20 seconds into the video:

At another point during his visit to the high school, Mr. Obama said a few encouraging words about the volunteering and honoring the King Day of Service: “If we’re waiting for somebody else to do something, it never gets done,” he said. “We’re going to have to take responsibility, all of us. This is not just a one-day affair.”

How great it is to have such a significant man make a nice comment about the products we sell. Of course everyone who works at The Gallery Collection already knows how nice our cards are, but it never hurts to have the President of the United States of America reaffirm that for everyone to hear!

The King Day of Service was a Success Indeed!

This past Monday, January 19, was a very special day for The Gallery Collection. Not only was it the day before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, but it was also the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. And in honoring Dr. King as well as our troops currently stationed overseas, we donated 100,000 thank you cards to be included in Operation Gratitude care packages. Operation Gratitude teamed up with Target and Serve DC to set up a care package assembly line at the RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington DC. In paying tribute to Dr. King and acting in the spirit of the National Day of Service, thousands of volunteers came to the stadium to help assemble the packages and personalize thank you cards to individual soldiers. Here is some footage from the stadium:


You’ll notice in the video that some special guests made an appearance, including Michelle Obama and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. At the end of the day, over 75,000 care packages were assembled, thanks to the thousands of people who volunteered their time to help. We all worked together to make this past Monday a day ON instead of a day off.


MichelleObama

ThankYouCard

Business Thank You Cards for an Interview

At this particular moment in time, the economy is in turmoil. If you’ve been laid off and are going on interviews to secure a new stable job for your future, you may want to keep reading. Have you thought to yourself, “How will I stand out from the other qualified interviewees who want the same position that I do?” If the company has a large application quota, they may not even remember your face (or your name, for that matter).

You’ve heard about sending an email thanking your interviewers for their time, but for a more personal touch, why not send business thank you cards instead? If it’s a job you really want, you might consider sending the thank you card express or personally delivering it to the company. Business thank you cards are certain to give you an edge over the competition. And if an unfortunate turn of events leads you to not landing the job, you’ll probably be remembered for a future available position in the company because of the thank you cards you sent!

The Gallery Collection Honors this Year’s King Day of Service

In honor of the Martin Luther King Day of Service, The Gallery Collection is pleased to announce a donation of 100,000 personalized thank you cards that we’re making to Operation Gratitude. These thank you cards will be included in care packages being sent to U.S. troops deployed overseas. Operation Gratitude has partnered with Target and Serve DCA to get these care packages assembled as a part of “A Day of Service for our Military.” The care package assembly line will be setup at Washington DC’s Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium on Monday, January 19 from 10am to 5pm. All volunteers are welcome, so if you’re going to be in the DC area on the 19th and you’d like to help out, please sign up by visiting: http://www.usaservice.org/page/s/operationservice.

The King Day of Service was established to get Americans to truly commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday by participating in service projects instead of “celebrating” the holiday by sleeping in and doing nothing all day. The Gallery Collection is proud to do our part in honoring Dr. King as well as our service men and women, and we hope you will be inspired to dedicate your time to a service project in your area.

A Thank You Card from Iraq

I have this greeting card.  It’s hard to throw away.  I want to show it to someone, cherish it, keep it. It means something to me; something hard to say. I was pleased to receive it. In fact I was even proud. It is a thank you card. The thank you is from a Chaplain and a Sergeant to me personally. They are in the Army. They are in Iraq. I am sitting in my office outside New York City just across the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey. They have written to me to say thanks.

Personalized thank you card from COP Speicher

They are the ones owed a thanks. They are thanking me for donating holiday cards. The card is somehow different than the emails of thanks I have also received. It’s a piece of paper. IT was there, in their hands. The Chaplain and the Sergeant wrote it, signed it, and addressed it to me. In a sense it is a piece of them in a strange way. The few times I have gone to either throw away the card or give it to someone else to archive I have stopped. I can’t part with it. And a big part of that hesitation is the envelope.

The envelope is also hand addressed. The return address is COB Speicher. I am a bit of a news junkie. I remember who Scott Speicher was. Sadly, I presume he is dead. Lost in the first Gulf War he was listed as Killed-in-Action but then later revised to Missing-in-Action – his flight suit was found; his initials were suspiciously carved in a prison wall.  Iraqi records later found a listing of him as a captive. His parents and relatives endlessly hoping for a simple return address on a hand-scribed envelope from a far away place during a dark and uncertain time in the history of the world.

Envelope from COB Speicher

Where do we go from here? How will the world move forward and be at peace while protecting and providing rights to individuals? It is easy to be pessimistic. The reality is that we will all perish some day. It is what we do between now and that day that really matters. I wish the Chaplain and the Sergeant well. I wish for them a safe return. I wish for a bright future for my children and all of the children of this world.

Thank You Cards are a Gesture of Appreciation

I am the first to admit that it is not always easy finding the perfect greeting cards for the occasions you want to recognize. I find it particular difficult to find the perfect thank you cards. Sometimes saying “thank you” just isn’t enough so you need the perfect card and sentiment to show how much you truly appreciate someone’s kind words, a gesture, or a person’s thoughtfulness.

I am now in the habit of keeping an assortment of thank you cards on hand so I have the appropriate thank you card available when I need it. For the most part I am a very fortunate person who is surrounded by kind and generous people. I’ve gone through quite a few thank you cards over the course of just a few months. Speaking of which, I should check my supply at home! I think I might be running low and may need to order more.

I love that The Gallery Collection thank you assortment boxes have such a nice variety of thank you cards to choose from.  I can always find a card that suits both the gesture and the person I am thanking. When it comes to thank you cards, it is not a “one card fits all” kind of world. Since we change our selection of cards every year, I don’t have to worry about sending the same card to the same person year after year. I always have a unique thank you card available and this simple gesture is always appreciated by the recipients.  For the most part people don’t do kind deeds for the gesture to be reciprocated but I know they certainly feel appreciated when their thoughtfulness is acknowledged.