...to be completely outraged at how much a greetings card just cost me?!

[lynniep]

flipping heck - go on guess

was a large card, not massive, a bit bigger than A5 maybe, with a nice bit of 'paperwork' on the front

but nothing 'amazing'

My dad has been hospitalised and bedridden for months, and was a bit upset on the phone yesterday because he cant get out to buy my stepmum an anniversary card. He's too embarrased to ask someone to wheel him down to the shop bless him (and my stepmum is there for the whole of the daytime every day anyway) so I said I'd get one and send it to him (I live 3hrs away)

I had an hour this morning to go to the shops, and I spent it trawling around all the card shops in town + sainsburys/boots etc and could NOT find a really nice card that wasnt cringey/overthetop/relevant to the situation.

I finally found one in WHSmith which was almost perfect - making references to how much she takes care of him and wotnot - so just grabbed it and took it to the till.

Have you guessed how much yet?

£6.20

For a card!!!

I nearly swore ( I think I came out with 'flipping heck' lol). To be fair the nice lady at the till asked if I wanted to go back and change it, but having seen what was available in the rest of town I thought b*gger it I'm getting it.

There were no bells and whistles on it - just a card with a lovely appropriate verse and a bit of adornment on the front.

The mark up must be mahoosive!

I realise this is a large rant for a small issue

but

bl**dy hell - thats nappies for a week!

and I'm going to keep on bumping this until someone gets suitably outraged on my behalf as well

They are outrageous I agree.

Have you got a nice little independent bookshop? I find that is a good place for lovely cards that are cheaper. And then there's Bastins, Wilkinsons et all for kids, bday parties.

Oh I am outraged, not to say shocked.

See?

Yep you're right- its daylight robbery!

Hope you're dad's feeling better!

You're right, cards are an absolute rip off. It's the only occasion in the history of the world that I've ever got to the till to be told the price and said 'no thanks, I don't want it', I'm usually too much of a chicken to do anything like that but you could feed a family on the money you could spend on some cards. I am a phoenix rep now because of it - although most of what I sell I buy myself!

Sod that - that is an outrage.

FWIW I buy cards from the local House of Fraser - they do really nice 'arty' cards for about £2. Plain so you can write your owm message.

SIX POUNDS TWENTY PENCE??? For a CARD??

I would be in the bed next to him!

M&S are quite good, or make your own (a nice linecut is pretty easy and looks impressive) or get the kids to draw one.

yanbu
I will rant alongside you willingly
It is a blardy rip off.
I try and buy charity shop cards if i can...much more reasonably priced.

Agree wahwah. We bought a box of 50 plain white cards and envelopes from a craft shop for 5.99. Then we dragoon DD and DS#2 into decorating them for us

lol at Hecate's ranting

I have made my own greeting cards, invites etc. for years - from handmade paper/wire/feathers/beads/buttons etc. - I had a manufacturing and design company for 5 years and we distributed them nationally (when I lived in South Africa).

£6.20 is madness - and the manufacturer is getting less than half that plus VAT!

I have found my cards have been framed and/or kept, and not thrown in the bin, as most shop bought ones are too Making your own cards is not hard to do, is enjoyable and means a lot more... besides being a lot cheaper!!!

Asda or card factory are pretty decent cards and value for money. Actually, I very often buy mine in the local dicount city for 4 for £1 or 35p each. They're not bad either. I couldn't bring myself to pay £6.20 for one card though...NO!

Thank you so much for all your outrageousnousness!!

Orm - no our town is lacking in an independant bookshop. (Its only a small town centre) Tried Wilkinson but the selection was terrible.

If it was for me, I wouldnt care so much, but cos I was picking it for dad I wanted it to be special. I do have a stock of 'blank' cards but none of them were right.

wah - from us they can have a handmade card from our 2yr old!

They closed our M&S down a couple of months ago.

All the outrage is much appreciated though

they are far too expensive aren't they - its only a piece of card that will be looked at for a couple of weeks and then get chucked away.

i don't go to the card shops to get cards anymore though, theres a little shop near where i live where they cost 89p each - and they are nice cards too

oh my goodness, i buy a pack or cards from moo.com and use them for all occasions. it is very economical and they have so many designs (or can upload your own)

£6.20 is outrageous, I agree.

But, they wouldn't get away with charging insane prices if we didn't pay.

The works do a choice of 3 really nice cards for £1.50 or

Tescos do 5 for £1 from their cheapy range, which are still ok

I hate spending loads of money on cards.

That is outrageous!!!!!

I had a similar shock when i bought a card for my sister's 30th from tesco. It was quite nice, but there's no way I would have spent £5 on it. I just assumed it would be £3 max.

KingRolo you're right - they wouldnt get away with it if we didnt pay. So I'm pepertuating the outrageousness of ridiculous greetings card costs

In my defence (other than what I've stated above) I had to get it sent today and therefore only had this morning to find the right card. My dad specifically asked for something like 'to my wife on our anniversary' (which I don't happen to have on hand in the card drawer ) and a nice verse (i.e. relevant to their situation - and I'm sh*t at writing stuff like that myself) so I felt my hands were tied a bit and thats why I just paid up when I got to the till.

Fathers Day coming up everyone - reminder to get them early/make em yourselves/get DC's to produce some masterpieces - so you don't end up in a queue in smiths being charged over six squid for a bit of card

You do all know that they have little codes on the back (like 51 or HH) and there should be a piece of card somewhere on the display telling you what the price is for eaach code.

So you don't have to go to the till ignorant of the price and in fear of what you might be told!

Yep, a total rip-off ... YANBU!!! I hope your dad is feeling better. For future reference, you can buy 49p cards in Sainsburys (you have to rummage through all the expensive tat to find them, but they are there ... ) possibly not anniversary cards, but defo kids' birthday cards, congrats on your new baby cards, etc etc ...

We received loads of "welcome to your new home" cards last week, and I feel so guilty that i've chucked them in the recycling bin ... they probably cost a fortune!

I'm trying to ban them in our family - I'm a meany and think it's much better to buy a £2 gift voucher and get the free card and then give both to the recipient. A few M&S gift cards with a couple of quid of vouchers in each would keep me in pants for a year!

yeah of course but I'd spent an hour looking and was late for work and had finally found the card I wanted so I just picked it up and headed for the till. I expected it to be expensive. Just not that expensive!

£6.20 is bloody outrageous, I would expect the card to sing me a song, do a little dance, make me a cup of tea and then wash up the cup for THAT much money ...