Has the cost of Stamps killed off the Xmas Cards?

[girlfriend44]

I don't send cards anymore anyway, but wondered will they die out with the cost of stamps now?

Our office are pretty relaxed about staff sending personal letters by normal second class post but even then I can’t be bothered to send cards to anyone.

its a shame but yeah

I think it was on the way out anyway.

Years ago, you might not have had any contact or updates from friends or family. The annual Christmas card might be the only check in you had!

Nowadays… I can check in with those friends via WhatsApp in minutes, see their social media updates etc.

I do still send some cards but very few - and because I also like receiving some! It’s usually close family, friends that are abroad or very far away (only a couple), and I might give one by hand to any friends I see face to face.

They are nice as part of the decorations!

I send a weekly card or letter to my nephews as I don't see them often, it's expensive but a nice way to keep in touch! I don't send any Christmas cards through, I think it's dying out due to technology and new generations rather than the cost of stamps, but that won't help!

I still send a few but get increasingly less each year.

I did buy dozens of the National Trust stamps when they were launched in 2020, so I will be able to use them for years to come. Well worth doing before a price rise!

Have to be over 75 or live abroad to receive one from me!

I've never sent a card via post.

I used to send them to school friends and work colleagues the first few years of working. But I don't even buy them now.

Very few people I know do. I'm 34.

Just see 1st class stamps will be £1.65 from 6th October! Will need to be more organised with birthday cards from now on although even those seem to be dying out amongst the 20+ age group.

I only send a few now, mostly to elderly relatives. I dislike them and have done for years (and I'm not young, over 60!), I think they're wasteful dust traps.* In fact I think the greetings card industry as a whole is a rip off.
I used to work at a community hub that every year put aside a room where volunteers sold charity Christmas cards. That never came back after covid, sales had dropped massively even before then.
The price of stamps is the final nail in the coffin I think.
*Aware I sound like a right old grinch here!

Let’s hope so.

I wish they would! I get a bollocking from my DM if I don't send cards to relatives. I'm 44!

I love cards for all occasions but yes, I've whittled my Christmas card list right down in the last couple of years, plus give as many out by hand as possible.

A combination of things have killed off Christmas cards:

• the move to digital communication has de-normalised sending land mail
• sustainability concerns about use of paper
• people who saw sending cards as a chore seizing on the sustainability argument as a water-tight excuse not to send them
• people generally being less inclined to make effort where others are concerned than they were 20 or 40 years ago - the 'me and my immediate family are very important and sod anyone else' mentality.
• the cost of stamps
• waning reliability and trust in the Post Office.

I post about 25 Christmas cards each year to overseas friends and family, and Uk based friend and family who I won’t see during December.

It’s expensive (£50 all in?) but I really value doing it, it gives me huge pleasure and I’d rather forgoe something else and spend this money. I tend to get around 15-20 cards back through the post and another 10-20 hand delivered. These are a central part of my Christmas decorations.

I always write a few personal words in the cards - as much as I can, so it’s not just a signature. It takes me 2 evenings on the sofa to do it, and 5 minutes to post them.

I keep all the cards every year, and store them away with the decs in January, then early December when the decs come down from the loft, I get them out and re-read them. Any card from a loved one which is especially sentimental (eg they passed away) I might keep in my collection of sentimental correspondence. All the others, the kids cut up to be used as name labels for this years’ presents.

I’m in my early forties, very busy with a demanding full time job and kids, but this effort and relatively small expense gives me enormous pleasure, in many ways!

Made me laugh!

I’m similar I now only send cards to those who I know would really miss it if I didn’t - a handful really these days!

I only post Christmas cards to about three people. The rest are hand delivered to neighbours and friends who live within walking distance.

I still send Christmas cards. I consider it part of my Christmas traditions. As I moved aboard, I like to include a personal letter. I get about a third of what I used to these days. People send, emails/WhatsApps wishes - which I am okay about.

What I loathe and detest is the virtue signalling - 'I not sending Christmas cards this year, as I am saving the trees and the environment and I will make a charity donation instead' Facebook message. If you think it's old fashioned, if you feel the price of stamps is prohibitive or you can't be arsed that's okay but those messages are so cringe. Donate to a Christmas charity - you don't have to alert your contact list.

I hardly know anyone who sends Xmas cards and no one under 60, other than primary children sending them to friends at school.

I've always thought they're a waste of time for people you see often and now that it's so easy to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world, cards seem completely pointless. I think it's the ease of keeping in touch now with tech, more than the cost of stamps, which has seen the decline in cards.

One of my friends got out of this by messaging/emailing to say they'd made a charity donation for the same amount as they would spend on cards and postage (was their DM's fave charity so she couldn't complain she didn't want the charity to receive the money).

I like Christmas cards but don’t send many any more. There was a time when people would send them to everyone they knew. But now you can just wish people a happy Christmas on Facebook or WhatsApp in about 20 seconds, instead of buying cards and stamps, writing them, finding all the addresses etc. Stamps are expensive but packs of cards are very cheap, I think the convenience of smartphones/social media is what’s killed Christmas cards off

It has been dying out for ages. We haven’t sent cards for years. We now only receive one or 2 and they’re from elderly people who I would think would definitely be put off by the price of stamps.

I just looked it up £1.35. I honestly thought it would be about 45p!

I post 3 cards early December with 2nd class stamps. I put a card in when I hand deliver gifts to family I see at Christmas

And women wising up that it's not a reflection on them if their husbands family don't get sent cards, and adopting the approach of a lot of men who are not stupid and haven't been groomed to people please.

I don't send DHs cards, if he wants to send them to his relatives, he does it himself

Just see 1st class stamps will be £1.65 from 6th October!

I must admit I hadn’t realised stamps had got quite THAT expensive - but then again, that’s indicative of how rarely I buy them, and I’m guessing I’m far from alone there.

That sort of price won’t help, but I think Christmas cards were already a relic of days gone by for many thanks to texts, WhatsApp, Facebook etc. Why pay money to send a card that might not even arrive in time when you can send a message, hopefully get a reply and actually catch up a bit with people you don’t see very often?

I think most cards end up in the recycling these days anyway. There was a thread here a while back where the OP had photographed a friend’s wedding invitation and thrown it straight into the recycling in front of her (and then had to ask Mumsnet if this was rude!) If people are doing that, they’re not packing Aunty Madge’s Christmas card away to tearfully reminiscence over in decades to come.