# Did You Get A Lot Of (Snail) Mail As A Child? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215 "2022-08-06T22:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215/21 "2022-08-07T15:56:19Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Mom and I would go through these book catalogs they sent me home from school with and we’d order a few. I remember the Scholastic book orders quite fondly, but those came through the school, not through the mail. Other than that, the main mail I remember getting as a child was magazines, which were always fun to receive. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215/22 "2022-08-07T15:57:16Z")
Yeah I remember getting those through school as well (when the child support checks were coming in). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215/23 "2022-08-07T16:12:37Z")
I don’t think it was a lot. I didn’t order books through the mail because they got delivered through school. I got some sort of monthly package from National Geographic as a birthday gift from one of my uncles and maybe a magazine or two. The only people who would have given me birthday cards/checks lived close enough to give them to me in person. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215/24 "2022-08-07T16:15:41Z")
As an aside, when I was in university I sent a letter to the government of Vanuatu asking what their bond rates were (on a whim). They sent me a financial statement of some sort. It was kind of neat receiving mail from the govt of Vanuatu! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215/25 "2022-08-07T22:50:51Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > If you fast forward ahead a few years, then I did get a quite a lot. Off and on, I had subscriptions to Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Baseball Digest and a bunch more. I’d also get catalogs about card collecting and Strat O Matic baseball. I was usually bored to tears during summer breaks so at least I had a lot to read OMG, I can’t believe I forgot QSR cards from amateur radio and shortwave listening. Got my novice license at around age 12-13 since my dad was also a ham. Got into shortwave listening around the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-a-lot-of-snail-mail-as-a-child/969215.md?page=1)