Has the custom of sending Christmas cards become less popular over the last decade?
And if so, in which countries?
And what are the reasons?
It seems like there has been a decrease in Christmas card fervor over the past decade or so. Am I wrong?
Both for families and for businesses, it used to be a big issue. It used to be a major social faux pas to forget somebody, and suddenly realize that they sent you a card, so you have to reciprocate.
But recently I get the feeling that people are far less concerned
I don’t mind anecdotal data, but hard facts would be nice too.
(I almost put this post in IMHO phrased as “are you sending fewer cards now?”.
But I’m really more interested in a GQ style thread, even though there may not be a hard factual answer. )
I do not send xmas cards. My business used to receive dozens, if not a hundred or so cards from clients each year. The number goes down each year. Looking at the wall where we hang them, I see 27, ten of which are from vendors/businesses.
It was? I’ve never sent Christmas cards. I think the tradition is stupid. Have I left a string of offended friends/relatives behind me over the past 15 years?
For my business, I send a card to each person I worked with over the last year. Usually about 20-25 cards.
We haven’t sent personal Christmas cards for ten years or more. What a chore, and I’d like to save a tree or two. It’s been interesting to watch our number of cards received go down; I guess people still do that thing of not sending cards to people who don’t send them one, or didn’t send one that last X years, or whatever. So we’re dropping off lists. Good!
In my experience, the decline has been pretty steady since the '50s. We used to receive easily over 100 each year, some of them beautifully hand-made. And yes, non-reciprocation was a real faux-pas, in spite of the fact that we were Jewish.
Now, all I get every year is a letter from someone in Italy, addressed to a guy who had moved out of this house in 1958.
Do the letters have something to do with a found wallet?
I imagine a decline in cards is tied to the increase in telecommunications, both in telephone and email. Does the post office have stats on volume per month?
Well, nowadays, what with e-mail, cheaper long distance/cell phone service, and easier travel, it’s easier to keep in touch with people who don’t live nearby. In the Olden Days[sup]TM[/sup], the yearly Christmas card was sometimes the way you kept a connection with people you didn’t want to completely lose touch with: the people you went to school with, your more distant relatives, the people you used to hang out with before they or you moved away, etc.
Well, since I live in Colombia now, I don’t send any cards to family and friends in the US. I just send email cards and that is what I receive also. But, they are nice and don’t cost anything.
We sent out around 80 this year. I’m guessing a big part of the decline is the expense. Cards and envelopes aren’t as cheap as they used to be. And the postage, ugh. Thirty bucks to mail cards that most of them will probably just glance at and throw away? What’s the point?
Anecdotal advice from an Australian postal worker is that volumes of Christmas cards from individuals (not businesses) are very slightly down on ten years ago. Volume of Christmas cards from the United Kingdom is massive and seems to be getting bigger each year. The Brits seem to like them their Xmas cards.
