Keeping a small collection of greeting cards at home is a great way to prepare for holidays and birthdays in advance.
If you check your local Dollar Tree dumpster, you may be able to get some for free.
Even though it’s a huge waste for companies to throw away perfectly good greeting cards, one Reddit user rescued a lot of them from a local store.
what happened?
In the r/DumpsterDiving subreddit, a shopper posted a photo of a large number of greeting cards scattered on the living room floor, all of which came from Dollar Tree dumpsters.
“Dollar Tree ships…thousands of greeting cards with intact envelopes! Perfect for every occasion!” the original poster reads.
Photo credit: Reddit
The lucky dumpster diver later commented that the cards were originally sold by Hallmark, emphasizing their quality.
Commenters are happy for the OP, but also note the incredible waste on Dollar Tree’s part.
“That’s weird, why not just save these until they sell?” one person said. “It’s not seasonal, it’s amazing the level of waste in these places.”
“It’s so boring!!” shared another.
Why is retail waste a concern?
It’s a little-known fact that greeting cards have a considerable impact on the environment, Fast Company reports.
In the United States alone, 1.6 billion greeting cards are sent each year, producing the equivalent of carbon pollution as powering more than 22,000 homes. Pulp and paper manufacturing is also resource-intensive, requiring large amounts of water, trees and energy.
However, even if consumers don’t have the opportunity to purchase these cards and retailers discard them for some reason, this still means valuable resources in production and shipping are wasted.
It also means customers may have to pay more for future cards as the company raises prices to offset losses.
Has Dollar Tree done anything about it?
According to The Cool Down, Dollar Tree did not mention any policies regarding greeting card waste; however, its 2024 sustainability report did disclose several notable goals.
It aims to reduce planet-warming gas pollution by 50% by 2032, from a 2023 baseline, and ensure that by 2029, nearly 70% of its suppliers have achieved these targets.
It also mentions waste reduction and recycling targets, but it’s unclear whether this includes greeting cards.
Another Dollar Tree customer reported that they wanted to buy Christmas cards before the holidays, but the cashier told her the cards had to be thrown away due to company policy.
Some consumers also said that the third-party merchant may have asked the store to cancel the card because the card has been discontinued; apparently, this is a common practice of Dollar Tree.
What else is being done to reduce retail waste?
There’s not much Dollar Tree can do if the cards belong to a third-party seller, but many reviewers say they’ve been lucky enough to find plenty of them in store bins around the holidays, so it’s worth a try.
You can also check out sustainable greeting cards made from recycled materials, and some companies will even plant a tree for every card you order.
Supporting eco-friendly companies is one of the best ways to help your wallet and the planet, especially during the holidays when retail waste is a bigger issue.
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