Mail is better from your Valentine

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- When it comes to love and romance, Shakespeare's Romeo usually takes all the credit. Yet there is another man whose name is well known but whose story is not. He is Saint Valentine or Valentinus, patron saint of Feb. 14.

The legend of Valentinus is somewhat of a mystery, but most stories recognize him as a martyred Catholic saint, a priest who performed Christian marriages in Rome when these rites were outlawed during the third century, and one who helped Christian prisoners escape torturous Roman prisons.

Whoever this sympathetic, romantic hero really was, the history of St. Valentine's Day stems from an alleged love letter Valentinus wrote in prison the night before he was executed to a young girl presumed to be his jailor's daughter in which he signed, "From your Valentine." His execution was carried out Feb. 14, 269 A.D.

Valentinus' letter is considered to be the first valentine, but the oldest existing valentine card dates back to 1415 and was sent by Charles, the Duke of Orleans, to his wife when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.

Although valentines were exchanged in Europe as far back as the 1400s, modern Valentine's Day greeting cards did not arrive in the United States until the end of the 19th century.

Esther A. Howland, a student at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., was the first mass-producer of valentines in the United States. She designed them using a valentine she received from London as her model.

This year, approximately 200 million individual Valentine's Day cards will be exchanged between loved ones, family members and friends. Add to that the packaged valentines children exchange at school and the number soars to nearly 1 billion.

According to the Greeting Card Association of America (GCAA), Valentine's Day is second only to Christmas as the largest card-sending holiday of the year. Of those cards, about 30 percent are sent to significant others, such as a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend, and nearly half are sent to family members or children.

Women represent about 85 percent of all Valentine's Day card purchases, but in the spirit of Valentinus, men buy more cards for Valentine's Day than for any other holiday and tend to select more expensive, more romantic cards than women.

Whether mailed or delivered personally, studies show that people prefer to give and receive personal, handwritten valentine messages rather than a typed e-mail.

Jessica Ahlers, an administrative assistant for a higher education non-profit in Washington, D.C., said she loves to send and receive cards in the mail, but for keeping in touch with friends who live in other cities, e-mail cards are useful also.

"E-cards are great. I love to send them to my friends. Not for Christmas, but for the side holidays like Valentine's Day or even the Fourth of July," Ahlers told United Press International. "For a significant other, I'd give both an e-card and a real one for Valentine's Day. Maybe the e-card would be a humorous one and the real one would be more personal."

A Valentine's survey by postage equipment company Pitney Bowes said that of those who prefer to send valentines rather than give them in person, 82 percent prefer to send a card in the mail, compared to 18 percent who prefer e-mail.

"For many consumers, a Valentine's Day card is one of the most personal, important pieces of mail they will send or receive all year," said Bruce P. Nolop, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Pitney Bowes, based in Stamford, Conn. "Most consumers view mail as a much more personal, intimate form of communication than e-mail. In fact, our survey results reinforce the fact that mail will continue to be the preferred mode of communication when someone needs to get the right message to the right person."

The survey also showed that people purchase their cards one week before the holiday, presumably to ensure proper delivery time.

U.S. letter carrier Derrick Jordan has been a postal worker in Maryland and Washington, D.C. for 27 years and said the pink and red card envelopes begin showing up around Feb. 1.

"The mail volume really picks up during Valentine's Day and we get an array of colors in the envelopes," Jordan told UPI. He said delivering valentines to people makes him feel great. "I'm a people's person anyway," he said, "so it gives me a chance to be a little more flirtatious."

"The Post Office really tries to connect with its customers," Jordan said. "We like to be involved and creative."

In recent years, the U.S. Post Office has offered postage stamps featuring Necco's "Sweethearts" conversation heart candies and special holiday cancellation stamps featuring love-themed postmarks from Romance, Ark., Loveville, Md., or Valentine, Texas, to name a few. Last year the Post Office printed more than 750 million "Sweethearts" stamps.

This year, it went one step further with its one-stop NetPost CardStore at www.usps.com/cardstore, where customers can create a Valentine's Day card from 50 different designs, include a personal message and send it with a stamp that says "I Love You," "Be Mine" or even "Marry Me." Customers can also include a gift card to a variety of retailers including Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Lowes, and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

The National Retail Federation said the average consumer will spend $97.27 on Valentine's Day this year, down from $99.24 last year, but that more people (61.8 percent) will celebrate the holiday this year. In all, Valentine's Day spending is expected to reach $13.19 billion.

Much of that spending comes from dinner dates, candy, flowers, jewelry and greeting cards. The Society of American Florists said that more than 175 million roses were purchased last year for the holiday, which, according to the GCAA, accounts for the 32 percent of Valentine's Day consumers who celebrate with flowers.

Giving sweets is also a popular way to celebrate Valentine's Day, with 38 percent of consumers who exchange candies and chocolate on the holiday. According to the National Confectioner's Association, 8 billion of the pastel, heart-shaped candies known as "conversation hearts" will be made for this Valentine's Day.

Jordan is among the GCAA's predicted 11 percent of Valentine's Day consumers who plan to celebrate with a gift of jewelry. He said he is giving a friend three small diamonds.

"That's just a nice way to tell someone they're appreciated," Jordan said. "Much better than a card."

Although candy, flowers, and jewelry are popular Valentine's Day gifts, almost 70 percent of Americans exchange Valentine's Day greeting cards, making that the most popular way to celebrate the holiday, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the NRF.

"A lot of time goes into choosing and creating Valentines," Rachel Bolton, spokesperson for Hallmark, told UPI. "When people read a Valentine to choose it, they recognize themselves in it."

"Valentine's Day gives people a socially acceptable time to open up and share how they feel," Bolton said. "A Valentine is very important in that people tend to keep them forever and pass them on to their children."

According to Pitney Bowes, 76 percent of women and 58 percent of men sign their valentines with the word "love."

And, although the Romans forbade marriage in the third century, in the 21st century, Valentine's Day cards can make a lasting impression on lovers.

In fact, the Emily Post Institute, an etiquette and manners advice organization, and the Diamond Information Center estimate that 10 percent of the reported 2.3 million couples who get engaged each year get engaged on Valentine's Day.