CityNews:
For years, the greeting card industry has been pretty much the same. You can get a million different messages that say “Happy Birthday”, “Congratulations,” “Best Wishes For Your Engagement/Wedding,” “In Sympathy,” “Get Well Soon” and on and on.
In the past few years, there have been some slight additions, including kudos on a divorce and a few words from the family dog. But while the cards have changed, up until now the target market has mostly stayed the same.
Except for the folks at a company called Three Squares Greetings. It was started by an attorney who couldn’t quite find the Hallmark moment that expressed her needs – a note to a prisoner languishing in jail.
So the lawyer with the unlikely name of Terrye L. Cheathem decided to start her own line just for the incarcerated. The prison greeting cards quite literally target a captive audience and are made for friends and relatives to send to inmates on the appropriate occasion.
And with a startling study released earlier this month from the Pew Centre that shows one out of every ten Americans in the U.S. is in jail – about 2.5 million people – it would appear there’s a big market for her product. “I saw that there was a tremendous need,” she explains.
“We understand that our parents, children, brothers, sisters, spouses, other relatives and friends continue to be our relatives and friends, even when they can’t come home because they are in custody,” a company mission statement reads. “An arrest or conviction doesn’t change our feelings because we love them no matter what.”
So what are the sentiments in the cell statements? “Happy Birthday” reads one. “It’s your birthday and I know that you’d rather be almost anywhere else right now. Hopefully, one year older will really mean one year wiser for you. Take care.”
A Valentine’s Day card contains this wish: “If it weren’t for those walls, I’d give you lots of hugs and kisses.”
A greeting that says “Money” on the front cover has this message inside: “I just wanted to tell you that I put some money on your books. Take care.”
Most of the items are serious and address occasions that might be difficult for loved ones to express. But at least one tries at some humour. The Christmas card reads: “You had the choice to be “naughty or nice.” And you chose . . . . . . .
Photo by huffingtonpost.