I don't know if my business cards have ever made a positive impression on anyone. In any case, I had a friend do them in letterpress on quality paper, so at least people get a little piece of fine art.

I have handed them out to friends I went to college with who were looking for a job, and have other friends looking for jobs

Useful for recruiting...

I used to work at a company where our neighbors was a company called Ubleam. They have an interesting QRCode alternative they've named a "Bleam", much prettier than a QRCode and scans in the blink of an eye. Years ago they created this concept of "Bleam Card" which was an "augmented reality" business card. Here's a video (sorry for the French accent folks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXrAuFRzCNM The idea was pretty cool (imho) but never took off, which probably means it's not that useful even for people used to business cards. Now they're trying to make it with their "Bleam" in the IoT world, not sure it's working better but they still exist.

Personally I don't use business cards, I've got a few dozens when I've joined my current company, I forget to bring them every time they "could have been useful", as I'm told. It's easy to find people on LinkedIn or Twitter nowadays, so I just use that.

There was a spell where I would work at a job that would promise me business cards, and they’d be delayed and delayed, and then I’d finally get some, and within a month (for entirely unrelated reasons), I’d be giving my notice and leaving to work somewhere else. Happened like 3 or 4 jobs in a row. I told my current boss I don’t want any business cards.