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?

Yes. If the post office want to re-ignite thus, they need to introduce a special Christmas card rate, and do a big design competition .

Partly, but I think the cost of the cards themselves plays a part in it.

I still send them to people I don't see any more. I know there's a COL crisis, but I can still afford a quid to second a second class stamped card to someone once a year to show them I care and even though they're too far away to meet up, this doesn't mean: "Out of sight, out of mind"

Yes the costs of a stamp has killed my lifelong sending of Christmas Cards. And I won't be replacing them with anything either.

I think it's a bit sad considering all non-glittery cards and envelopes can be recycled leaving just the 'thought' which counts.

Started getting ridiculous at 50p and just went rampant from there.

I'm sure many of my Christmas cards ended up at different people's houses in the past as keeping up to date with addresses can be a challenge at times. Another good reason to knock it all on the head.

I kept thinking about this thread.

I think Facebook killed handwriting.

Including Christmas cards.

It wasn't the cost of a stamp. Yes the price went up disproportionately to income over the years, but the amount people spend on Christmas has also. The cost of sending cards is a much smaller percentage of overall Christmas spending than it ever was.

It's sad. Handwriting is one of the oldest forms of human communication, and the most enduring. And social media, tech, digital, AI, is killing it. People don't even seem to value handwritten things.

It feels like it's leading to fewer real connections with people, if people focus on using social media + digital apps for communications, where they sanitizes what they say out of fear of it being broadcast to the whole world, and it's less valued by recipients as it takes zero effort.

Sorry not sorry for the rant, if anyone out there is reading it.

I agree. People refuse to spend £40 on posting 25 cards. Yet are happy to spend £75 a head (before drinks) for eating Christmas dinner at a pub with 9 others. So the cost of this meal with drinks is probably £900.

Plus people don't update the names on their cards. My late GM (died earlier this year) used to get cards from certain people addressed to her and my late GF who died in 2009.

It was difficult for GM or my aunt to explain that GF died in 2009 to those who included his name on the card. My GM was ok with it. Many others would get very upset over it.

I know of others who have lost their OH and still get their name on cards,

My DM has a list of people she sends out cards accessible so she can cross off names when people have died as sometimes you forget people who died at the beginning of the year.

Another thing is ...I found out the other day that if you put a 2nd class stamp on a letter, then decide you need it to go 1st class, you can't add stamps to make up the difference, you have to add another 2nd class stamp.
What a rip off

So two second class stamps = first class?

Are we still allowed to cut around the stamp and use it on a new envelope?

Yes, but not sure about resticking

I suppose not much use when you’re sending a birthday card and can’t just waste the envelope!

Exactly

Ours are part of the decor, up until 12th night then used by DD for crafting so not wasted.

We don’t post as many but with school and village and work we probably get and give about 40. Usually post about 15.

Of course it has!

It’s been dying out for years. We send to some friends and family, generally the older ones. It’s probably about 10 years since the days when we’d have received so many that not all were displayed. DC is 19 now, I can remember him smiling up from his bouncy chair while I wrote a ton of Christmas cards each with a photo of him. I can’t say I miss the hassle writing lots of cards involved.

It has been slowly dying out - before fir mainly environmental and people just not caring as much with the ease of email/whatsapp etc.
I love sending Xmas cards but jeez I am trimming back my list!

I like making cards but I have taken a photo of it and WhatsApped the recipient with a Christmas greeting 😀. A bit Bullseye "look what you could have had" - if stamps weren't so expensive.

This has made me laugh. Do you just make the one card and use it for different people?

I'd be really disappointed if someone did this to me.

No, different cards. I spend as much time deciding who "gets" cards than I do sending them.

I once forgot to bring in a colleague's birthday card and realised they wouldn't be in the next day to give it to them in time for their birthday. I WhatsApped the card on their birthday and gave it to them when back in work.

I post one to my mum's oldest friend but that's it. Parents and DBs family get one handed to them, and I give one to DD even though she lives with me. Everyone else gets a WhatsApp message 😂

Our local small post office within the "corner" shop has posted on their FB page this morning that first class stamps are increasing to £1.65. Not a chance I am paying that for a stamp.

It's worth buying a stock of stamps now - they will still be valid for years (literally) after the price increase. I have loads left from a stock I bought in 2020, when the prices were much lower.

If I posted as many cards to family as I used to, the postage would cost double the cost of Christmas dinner!

I post to elderly relatives only now. And a younger relative with dementia last year, since she might have been upset otherwise. The rest get fb greetings and texts.

I really miss cards though. They were a tangible sign that people considered me/us and it enhanced the buildup to Christmas too.

People say this every year & yet they are already in lots of shops. Personal preference.