I have calculated that making and sending my christmas cards every year costs around £62.50pa (*see calcs below)
So I am not doing it this year, sorry.
The truth is I don’t even believe in Christmas, I’m a humanist. But I do believe in charity and community. Especially in this culture of austerity – whereby a minority of people in UK hold the most money and food banks are rife.
THIS YEAR I AM GIVING £40 of the £62.50 I USUALLY SPEND ON CARDS TO A CHARITY OF MY CHOICE – AND INVITE YOU TO DO THE SAME. (I NEED TO CUT SPENDING MYSELF TOO)
I work in the arts, which is being financially battered by austerity philosophy. We are encouraged to do philanthropic fundraising, but it appears that the handful of people with the money are not so keen to share, so crowdfunding is trying to support the infrastructure.
So here’s the plan – I’ve decided to share my greetings card digitally and spend what I save on supporting arts crowdfunding initiatives. There are some great ones out there. And I encourage you to do the same. Spend the money where it’s needed. Not on paper and postage, especially when we remember that the Post Office was sold off at a loss to us and at a profit to the investors.
You may not give a monkeys about art, not everyone does (though I must sneak in here that everyone benefits from it!). So you could give yours to a charity of your choice, or to the local food bank, or to a local community project.
THIS IS MY DIGITAL CARD, YOU ARE WELCOME TO DOWNLOAD IT AND USE IT TOO – BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ACT ON IT
Download a pdf file of the make a difference card and share away
*
1st class stamp in uk is 62p
2nd class 53p
If I buy 40 cards and print them it will cost me around 50p per card, allowing for ink and waste of test cards due to being a pain to format the printer. Minimum wage to cover time spent doing designs and printing and writing a £6.50 per hour, about 3 hours
40 x 50p = £20
6.5 x 3hrs = £19.50
20 x 53 = £10.60 (long distance , which are often more as international)
20 x 62 = £12.40 (always some last minutes too)
Carolyn Black 