Last year nearly 100 million single Christmas cards were sold in the UK, bringing the total for the Christmas card market to one billion cards! This week I visited the Lancaster Delivery Office where just some of those cards are being sorted.

In 2017 an estimated 900m Christmas cards were sold in boxes and packs, as well as millions of cards bought from online operators, such as Moonpig.

No other country has such a tradition of card sending or card display in the home – the sending and receiving of cards is an important part of our culture.

We buy more cards per person than any other nation – 33 each a year – with 85% of all cards bought by women.

The greeting card industry is directly and indirectly responsible for 100,000 UK  jobs including publishers, artists, photographers and image suppliers, verse and prose writers, printers, paper and board companies, envelope and cello wrap suppliers, specialist finishers, warehousing and distribution companies, trade fair organisers and retailers.

And then there are all the extra postal staff required to sort and deliver them all!

I hope everyone involved in helping us mark and celebrate Christmas this year has a happy and enjoyable time!