Eighty employees of Siloam Springs, Ark.-based DaySpring cards were laid off yesterday in a cost-cutting move by parent company Hallmark Cards.

"The 80 positions were in our manufacturing area and the employees working in that area will continue to have positions through September and possibly into October," Tim Ward, DaySpring's advertising and public relations manager, told Christian Retailing. "From now until then, DaySpring will continue its manufacturing operations here and Hallmark will prepare its facilities for the transition of people and equipment."

Nearly 200 workers at Hallmark Cards Canada and 60 employees at its Sunrise Greetings arm in Bloomington, Ind., were also terminated, the Toronto Star reported.

"It has nothing to do with the people or the quality of their work or anything like that," Hallmark spokesperson Julie O'Dell told the newspaper. "This is just simply a move that we are making to make more efficient use of the production capacity that we have here at our (Kansas City, Mo.,) facilities. And it will obviously give us a cost savings. It will also help us get product to the market much faster than we could before."

Acquired by Hallmark in 1999, DaySpring has more than 450 employees, who produce more than 7,000 products annually, according to the company's Web site.

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