Sweethearts will leave you speechless this Valentine’s Day. A broken printer means some won’t have words

If you’re giving out Sweethearts this Valentine’s Day, odds are you’ll leave your sweetheart speechless.

That’s because many of the traditional phrases typically printed on the Sweethearts — “be mine,” “love you” and the like — won’t be there this holiday.

Blame the damaged printer.

When Spangler Candy Co. produced its first batch of Sweethearts this year, the printer that places those phrases on the candies was damaged.

The company couldn’t fix it before production ended, Diana Eschhofen, a Spangler spokesperson, explained. “It impacted the alignment of the printer, so some of the hearts are full, some are partial, some not at all,” she told CNN.

One online candy store, the Candy Store, opened 10 boxes of the new Sweethearts to put the candy to the test. The results were striking — 97% of the hearts were missing a phrase and 65% were completely blank.

“We know that we have consumers that are disappointed about the printing not being as much as it should be, but we also have a lot of consumers who are… letting us know that they are very happy that we have Sweethearts back on the shelves,” Eschhofen said.

Spangler took over production of the candies in 2018 after it acquired the 118-year-old brand from New England Confectionery Co. (NECCO).

But Spangler isn’t new to the candy world — you might be familiar with its Dum Dums lollipops.

And if you’re wondering why you didn’t see the candy on the shelves last year, the popular Valentine’s Day candy was just adjusting to the ownership change. The company had to move 60 truckloads of machinery from Massachusetts to Mexico, which took about a year. “We’re just delighted to have it back as well,” the company spokesperson added.

The Sweethearts will be sold in limited quantities, but you can find a box at CVS and Walgreens.