Long live the business card

Those handy business cards we once stuffed in our Rolodexes are going the way of the rotary phone.

Those handy business cards we once stuffed in our Rolodexes are going the way of the rotary phone.

Technology has changed. Where did those vinyl record albums and Kodak film go?

Now, when meeting for the first time, we often get out our cells and type in a new contact’s phone number. We are able to instantly scan a card and add a photo to our Google contacts.

Maybe I’m stuck in the 80s. I miss having something real to hold. Many of us old-fashioned folks still prefer to handle a newspaper or business card made with ink and dead trees in our hands.

I love the formal ceremony of exchanging business cards.

We dig for a card and then present it to another. Some immediately study the card, while others just hide it away.

In classic movies and novels, the butler would be presented a “calling card” at the door and then sometimes show it to the recipient on a plate. How cool is that?

About 15 years ago, at my first fulltime newspaper job at the Phoenix in Phoenixville, I was given my first batch of business cards.

I was thrilled. I’d entered a new club. I belonged.

I exchanged business cards with U.S. Congressmen, mayors, presidents of banks and even other reporters.

By giving me a card with a phone number and address on it, I was given permission to call or set up a visit.

My Rolodex sat beside my office phone. With new technology and cells, our offices now move around from place to place. I’m not too sure this is a good thing.

We can almost be 100 percent assured that the information contained on a business card is accurate. Nobody ever hands out a card with their name spelled wrong, although occasionally someone painstakingly will have crossed out an old phone number and written in a current one.

I rarely flash a press pass. Instead, I present a business card, which seems to open doors faster.

Not everyone appreciates business cards like I do. After meeting someone at a municipal meeting, I will often find my business card left on a meeting room seat. I’m not easily offended and simply stash it back in my wallet for future use.

The typical American business card measures 3.5 x 2 inches. Any bigger than that and it’s too bulky to comfortably fit into my wallet. They are regularly are made from “card stock” or the same material as post cards and playing cards. Most cards are .012 of an inch thick, or 12 points.

Get stylish. It’s no longer just a black and white world.

Scan in a logo or pick a color like Packers Green and Gold or UPS Brown. Leave room. Just don’t fill up both sides with information because I often write notes on the back.

Embarrassingly, I sometimes unknowingly give away a business card with notes or a phone number scribbled on the back.

You can buy 500 custom cards on line for $10. For a price, and “guaranteed to make an impression,” dozens of companies will even make the cards as thick as a credit card. This is not a selling point.

Members of the International Business Card Collectors sometimes specialize in particular categories.

Ken Dupuy, from Louisiana, is devoted to collecting cards of famous personalities, business tycoons and people well-known in their respective fields.

He suggests that collectors inform others of their hobby, while contacting friends, neighbors and business associates. He also suggests writing for cards through the mail, asking printing shops for overruns, talking to cleaners to learn about when businesses are closing and trading with fellow collectors.

Sometimes business cards are too formal. When asking for a date it’s better to not present a card. You don’t want your date showing up in a business suit and carrying a laptop.

It’s better to have a card ready than not. I try to keep well stocked but often run out.

One very busy friend often carries five different cards, each for specific associations. She often has to give the “wrong” card when she’s out of the “right” card. Still, the contact information is the same.

Yes, times they are achangin’. When was the last time you heard of a “business card exchange?”

Now that I’ve got an extra 250 cards, containing all that vital information, the use of business cards is fading away.

We don’t so much miss 8-track tapes and buggy whips, but I still prefer receiving something literal to virtual. I’m stuck in an ink and paper world. Long live the business card.

Bill Rettew Jr. is a weekly columnist and