Hallmark Cuts Will Involve as many as 250 jobs
Hallmark Cards Inc. made a pair of announcements to employees on Monday that will result in a reduction of as many as 250 positions.
Kansas City-based Hallmark said it is streamlining its development process for greetings cards. This will result in the loss of about 100 positions this year in the Kansas City area, spokeswoman Julie O’Dell said.
The company also plans to exit the party business. O’Dell said the move will be phased in during the next 15 to 20 months to help customers adjust. Hallmark ultimately expects to cut 125 to 150 positions, most in the Kansas City area, as a result.
Hallmark’s decision to change its greeting card development process will affect everything from product strategy to creative development to inventory, according to a company release. The transition to the new process will begin immediately, and the new process will be in place in January.
The decision to stop producing and selling party goods — plates, napkins, cups, table covers — is a result of the low margins in the lines, O’Dell said.
“Most of that product really has become a commodity product,” she said.
Dave Hall, president of Hallmark North America, said in a statement that the company does not take lightly decisions that affect employees, “but business realities require us to become a smaller, leaner organization.”
Hallmark reported consolidated revenue of $4 billion in 2012, down from $4.1 billion the previous year. The company said at the time that revenue for its Hallmark North America unit — which produces greetings, gift wrap, partyware and gifts — was down 3 percent from the previous year. Hallmark officials said the dip was due to cautious consumer spending.
The company’s 2012 revenue ranked it No. 6 on the Kansas City Business Journal‘s list of Top Kansas City-Area Private Companies.
In July, Hallmark ranked No. 10 on the Business Journal‘s list of Top Kansas City-Area Private-Sector Employers, with 3,700 full-time equivalent employees in the area.
In July, the company said that Hallmark Cards Canada would cut more than 300 jobs. Those cuts were to begin in January 2014 and stretch out for 18 to 20 months
Also in July, the company said it would move temporary employees from its payroll. About 185 on-call employees and 130 casual labor workers — many of them Hallmark retirees — became employees of staffing company Guidant Group.
In October 2012, the company said it would close its Topeka manufacturing plant and consolidate operations in facilities in Lawrence and Leavenworth. That move eliminated about 300 positions.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
