Autogen Birthday Cards

I'm not huge into birthdays. I think they are weird. You are celebrated for something you had no control over. Makes no sense to me. I like that my parents recognize it; hell, they were actually involved.

I received two birthday cards from my hone/auto insurance company. One was from my direct agent, the other from the team. My insurance agent is genuinely nice and her father was the original agent for my account. A nice family. Both cards were the same except for the pre-printed signatures and, in the case of my personal agent, her photo.

That being said, I started to think about the auto-generated cards that are sent to people on their birthdays. I imagine that the folks that are happy to get them are already self-involved in their day and feel some sort of entitlement. You know the kind of person, they run around announcing it in plenty of time for getting gifts, telling folks what they feel entitled to.

And, I suppose others that are happy to get them in the mail are more private about their birthdays and this is a teeny reminder of something nice for them. It makes them have a quick smile, and the card is tossed in the recycle bin never to be thought of again, till the next year when they get another.

I don't think either of the above people would give a rat's ass about not getting these cards. They already feel ok about their birthdays. They would never miss it.

A third person might feel horrible about their birthday. I did on my 25th, and I'll never forget how horrible it was for me. For this person, getting a very cold, auto-gen, mechanically-signed card, let alone two of the exact same card, from the same company, a company that could have taken a second to look at the duplicate cards and decide to either only send one, or two different ones, it might just suck. It might double the misery they are already feeling. It may set off their depression to dive super deep.

All this gives me an idea. How about not sending these any more? For 475 cards with envelopes and personalization, you can spend $360.00. Then there's the postage. How about don't waste the money? Donate it to orphans or something. It would make them happy, no matter what.