Just How Expensive Is a Card & Stamp?

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Already irritated and a bit hurt by receiving for the second year running a ghastly, overblown Christmas Card-by-database from one couple, I have now had one from a second couple.

These are via an English company whose over-blown website tells us its owner, an artist, established it after creating an illustrated e-card for a friend.

You don't buy individual cards but subscribe, at £24 for 1 year or 36 for 2.

This, we are assured, is,

Value for Money: For the price of three or four traditional paper cards you can send an unlimited number of ecards for a whole year.

I can see that might match your normal spending on cards in total, but where the heck was she buying cards, costing at least £6 each?

We are also assured, it offers a

Touch of Class:Your friends and family will love the artistry and humour of [these cards].

Not if said friends find them just run-of-the-mill supermarket-style prettyness complete with gimmicky animation, chosen by the company not the sender, giving the impression of Christmas-by-database. Artistic maybe, but humorous??

I find it lazy, very impersonal and rather thoughtless. The first couple used to buy their cards from the RNLI, too, so that is no longer receiving anything from them.

Also, with postal cards you normally reciprocate with one. This web-site automatically sends you a great big e-mail demanding you reply, irrespective of your having posted a card anyway.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

My wife and I have decided to support the local Hospice with a donation, started this year on annual repeat to direct the money we would have spent on cards and stamps to where we believe it is more useful.

We have told those we normally send cards to of this new arrangement and propose to send them ecards instead in future. The postal service is now so poor that many never get there in time, and some never make it at all. We got one this year on 23rd December, posted 1st class from Poole, Dorset on the 9th

Brian

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

We hand delivered where possible and made arrangements with those farther away that we would send an increased donation to The Salvation Army. Given the economic climate it seemed the SA needs would be more sought after this year.

As regards receiving cards via Royal Mail that is a laugh. We received two piles of cards after Christmas, some we were told were posted on the 10th of December. I don't think there were that many days strikes in this period.

By contrast a package posted in Germany arrived 2 days later.

Regards

Gray,

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

My wife has just asked her friends to save their cards, which she has done for years, she colects them and takes them to the Cobalt Unit at Cheltenham Hospital where theyare recycled. We've reduced our card sending since the cost of stamps have gone up so much and usually send an email greeting with news of whats been going on for those we don't communicate with very often.

I agree with Nigels comments about these ecards, just plain tacky!

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

I've long thought of Christmas Cards, and indeed all such cards, eg birthday, being nothing more than a money grabbing exercise by the card manufacturers and the associated sellers of same. And as such, for a few years now have restricted my card sending to my sister (overseas) and my brother (about 130 miles away). My wife, of course, thinks otherwise, but that's up to her!

However, this year, I've stopped all together, I mean, what's the point when you can't even guarantee that they'll get there on time unless you post a few weeks in advance!

It's a big con.

What makes it worse, is the realization that Christmas is largely a manufactured event anyway, eg when was Christ actually born? Answer – no-one really knows. December 25 just happens to be a convenient date! And I believe actually has pagan overtones. (I look forward to being shot down on that one.)

I must admit that in years gone by as a singer I have enjoyed taking part in Carol Concerts, but even then, some of the carols are misleading. Does anyone really think that Good King Wencelas, as an example, has anything really to do with Christ's birth? I know I don't.

I suppose, in reality I'm rather jaded by the whole Christmas thing, after all, I've had 79 of them. It was ok, well, more than ok really, as a child receiving a pillowcase (stockings were a bit too small) full of toys, and then doing something similar for my own children, but now?

Yes, Christmas has lost it's sparkle for me.

Tootle Pip,

Peter G. Shaw

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I've actually received – and sent – nearly as many real cards as normal, approaching 30. Two less by deaths, about 8 or 10 by hand, rest posted.

Cost of a stamp?

Shall we stop and think rather than demanding something for nothing..? It only seems costly when we post a lot in a very short time, such as Christmas cards. To be honest I am not sure of the price of a 2nd class letter stamp but for what it buys, it is remarkably cheap. It is the same whether you are posting across town or from Penzance to Lerwick..

Whilst I accept it is not perfect and strikes hardly help, had Royal Mail been handed to TNT or some other overseas industrial courier as wanted by one past Prime Minister you'd not expect to do that, you can bet more than a First-Class Stamp it would cost a lot more. Other threads on here also suggest you'd probably find the cards a soggy mess in the front garden! The presents too – if not left for you to try to trace, and collect from a warehouse 50 miles away.

Rowland Hill's first universal service initially cost 1d a stamp. I wonder how expensive that was, pro-rata, at the time.

Anyway how much more than normal through the year, do you spend on the event anyway – food, gifts, drink…?

''''

As for feeling jaded, well, yes I can understand that.

The origins of the Christmas we know are the Jesus story imprinted on Northern European pagan turn-of-year celebrations, a heady stein of 19C German merry-making and the Dutch, Saint Nicholas (my Anglicising, and he wore green not red). Sadly now crushed under far too much meretricious, gimmick-ridden, pseudo-sentimental American supermarket / show-biz / "Santa Claus" tripe.

I think it was neatly summed up by a Punch cartoon published quite some years ago. It depicted a couple struggling home with bulging bags of Christmas stuff. The husband is saying,

"What happened to the magic of Christmas? We weren't paying for it then!"

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I 'received' an ecard once but it seemed like you needed to sign up to an account with them before you could actually get it. Then would no doubt be spammed for ever. I didn't get another one so assume the system tells the originator that you got suckered by them.
it seems if you are going to do this effectively by email why not send a relevant or otherwise picture you have taken, with some text about your year that is personalised to the recipient not just a photocopied letter. (I also object to people calling such letters 'round robins' as they are obviously ignorant of what that is)

Also while I'm grumbling I have always made sure with real paper cards to write my address, email, and phone on it in case they have lost such details.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

My wife has an extensive Christmas card list but if it was up to me I would not bother, I have got to 66 years old without sending a single Christmas card and am unlikely to start.
Mike

[oilcanParticipant @oilcan]

I believe Christmas cards were originally invented to avoid having to write the same seasonal letter to people who you didn't see throughout the year. Now they are handed out to people you see on a daily basis. I am always bemuse when visiting friends to see such cards as 'to my dearest wife…' or 'to my darling husband…' You live in the same house why do you need to exchange cards!!! just wish each other a Merry Christmas and be done with it. 'Bah Humbug' moment over, Scrooge will now retire to his shed…

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Nigel

I am sure that I know which E-Card website to which you are referring, the content is ghastly, I wouldn’t want to be associated with its content. I am seriously considering just sending friends and family an e-Mail, as already stated you can include your own photos if need be making it much more relevant. I am sure that the postal disputes this year have made a lot of customers think twice over wether it is worth using Royal Mail, I for one will be seeing where I can cut out using it in future. Dave W

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by Brian Wood on 03/01/2023 11:09:08:

My wife and I have decided to support the local Hospice with a donation, started this year on annual repeat to direct the money we would have spent on cards and stamps to where we believe it is more useful Brian

Mmm! I'm sure you are a genuine person and will do it but most people, according to a recent survey, 78% who say they are giving to charity actually never do.

I prefer to send fewer cards, better ones, and give them the personal touch. A nice personal card can bring joy to a lonely person.

As for emails – they mean nothing and are a waste of time IMHO.

Why so negative – this thread takes baah-Humbug and Scrooge to a new level methinks.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I am with you Brian W. A few cards to close family and what we would have spent on the others goes to charity. The problem of giving to charity is that they seem to spend your money on trying to get more money out of you by sending you more cards and calendars, sticky address labels and biros. I DON'T want any of these. STOP IT NOW.

Unfortunately, if I gave cash, the charity can't recoup the tax paid or over here, I can't recoup the tax paid. Our cheques have our address on them, so you can't donate anonymously . If I say STOPIT, it seems to bring even more junk mail. What is to be done ??

Bob

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Before the horrendous price rises in postage stamps,if you failed to get a card from a distant relative or old friends who you never see and just make the annual contact with,you assumed they were departed from this world if no card arrived,now you are not certain what their status is,have they departed or are they fed up with xmas and the affordability when on a pension.

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

@ Peter G. Shaw,

Well said, I'm with you.

Just had a power cut whilst typing this reply. (Brown out).

Wrong sort of mild weather? It is 10.5° C

Bear…………

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

At the risk of being shot down in flames by those who seem to have an in-built (built-in?) dislike of electronic communications – except, of course, this forum – I know, and use, the website you are referring to. Just to clarify a couple of points, you don't have to sign up to anything to view your card and secondly, the site does NOT choose the card for you – you select from what is probably a larger array than most non-specialist shops carry, and you can personalise the greeting and message to whatever you fancy. Presumably those criticising haven't actually looked at the range available? Or even seen those sent to them, if they refuse to be 'suckered in' to actually viewing them?

Comes in handy when sending to friends and relatives around the world, and of course is not limited to just Christmas.

(I'm not sure how you define a great big email, they all look the same size on my screen )

Rob

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

I do send money to two charities supporting people with the conditions that I have lost two close friends to, but the main reason I don't send physical cards is the many years spent in early January cutting up cards so that my wife, an early years teacher, could use them in school. To realise just how short a life that a card has and how 75% is recycled immediately seemed to make the whole thing pointless to me.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 03/01/2023 19:11:14

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Ooh what a curmurgeonly lot we be!

Jacquie Lawson is the name.

As Grindstone Cowboy says, (if citing the same!) her site does not charge the recipient, only the sender. I found its approach and art-work tacky, but far worse, the whole premise very impersonal.

I don't begrudge sending cards, and most people who exchange Christmas cards like to display them as part of the decorations. I have though, reduced the number of humorous ones selected as personally relevant in some way to the recipient, because they tend to be among the more expensive ones. (The cards, not the people…)

Many are now from the RNLI shop – I am a registered supporter of it – and I was surprised this year to receive several in turn from different people. Otherwise I just buy the low-cost boxes.

I like the idea of a genuinely personal message with own photograph though.

One couple have long distributed an engaging letter / card, by post, written in their inimitable humour and folded so as to be a Christmas card with a drawing or a photo that is usually of a church or detail of one, of architectural interest. Both are practicing Christians, he an architectural historian, she an Anglican priest. Those I do appreciate because they are physical communications and are their own handiwork.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 03/01/2023 19:10:54:

[…]

To realise just how short a life that a card has and how 75% is recycled immediately seemed to make the whole thing pointless to me.

.

I had intended to stay out of this discussion, but Nick’s comment prompts me to share this:

.

[ click should enlarge the image ]

.

The marketing team at Cancer Research must be really struggling to maintain the appropriate balance between the need to sell stuff and the need to be perceived as championing sustainability !

To me it’s a flop … what do others think ?

MichaelG.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 03/01/2023 20:20:17:

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 03/01/2023 19:10:54:

[…]

To realise just how short a life that a card has and how 75% is recycled immediately seemed to make the whole thing pointless to me.

.

I had intended to stay out of this discussion, but Nick’s comment prompts me to share this:

.

[ click should enlarge the image ]

.

The marketing team at Cancer Research must be really struggling to maintain the appropriate balance between the need to sell stuff and the need to be perceived as championing sustainability !

To me it’s a flop … what do others think ?

MichaelG.

But, but, but all the coal burned to power the servers to send the emails and ecards….

I think you guys are the last generation that still mails paper Christmas cards, or even sends ecards. Most of my friends (aged 60ish) seem to have given up since we are now in constant touch with each other by email, facebook, text messages and unlimited free phone calls worldwide. I haven't mailed a card in some years, after receiving fewer and fewer in return . This year I got two cards – one from the real estate agent who sold us the house 17 years ago and is still hoping to sell it on again, the other from a friend. Plenty of Christmas wishes and new year celebrations on Facebook though. Still, it's not the same is it.

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Well you will have to forgive me/us for swimming against the anti Jacqui Lawson tidal flow.

Normally we would send around 80 Christmas cards to family and friends. Then we have as a result birthday and anniversary cards that we send to many of the same people, a few Sympathy cards (these are increasing now) and the occasional Congrats cards. The cost by using traditional cards and the postal service will undoubtedly consume many of our hard earned pounds.

So we decided a few years ago to send the JL electronic cards. These all get delivered to the recipient(s) on the day that we choose. They are a bit of fun with the choice of both serious and light hearted content. They are not meant to be works of art but to each one you can, and we do, add a personal message to suit the recipients and the occasion. They are animated, musical and entertaining. At least the recipient will, from our experience, read the message, watch the animated images and listen to the music. This means that they do more than simply look to see who sent a card. Without exception every one of our friends and relatives enjoys receiving the JL cards. They even have a facility to send a note of thanks when received.

So many positives and at a known fixed cost or around £30 year. Many/most of our family and friends have now adopted the JL electronic cards rather than going through all that faff with traditional cards.

I find it amusing that some on here can extol the virtues of modern technology using 3D printers and CNC machines but struggle with the concept of computerised Christmas cards

I hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a happy and prosperous New Year.

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

I still send proper cards, as much of my family lives in different parts of the country, and we don't use social media as such. I have always been in the habit of adding a short, personalised greeting of some sort ( 'hope you are keeping well, and the dog's skin complaint has been cured blah, blah' sort of thing ) more to give an impression I am thinking about what I am doing. more than anything else. With just a few exceptions, the majority of cards I get are just signed 'from X & X' which to me is more of an automated response ( i.e. bit of a pain to do, but needs to be done). Is it a generational thing, or am I being a bit oversensitive? Can't make my mind up on that one.

Am seriously thinking of not bothering next year, but sending a round-robin sort of email

Grumpy pensioner

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Mike –

With respect I don't think the comparison with using CAD/CAM methods really works.

After all, our talking about digital greetings cards on an internet chat-site suggests they pose us no technical challenge even if our most sophisticated machine-tool is a Drummond lathe. Such as "card" is only an e-post wrapped in artistic floss provided.

I appreciate some people will genuinely find the cost of posting about twenty cards unwelcome even if using the budget-range cards from the discount shops.

That 20 is my approximate postal count, probably over-estimated. The rest of about 30 were hand-deliveries to a couple of neighbours; enclosed with presents, and within my caving-club whose HQ is 60 miles from home.

I think the main feeling against the electronic ones may be similar to mine – that they seem somehow a lot more impersonal than a card, even a card handwritten with just Fred and Freda from John and Jane xx under the printed solicitation. Bland maybe, but at least showing a bit more effort than merely typing an address-book. You have physically to buy a card and stamp, to hand-write it, to go out and post it. I do add extra notes where appropriate.

The Lawson pattern may cut costs for senders but seems as insincere to me as a physical card with printed "signature" from a commercial organisation. Receiving an e-card of that form suggests your friend or relative thinks wishing you Happy Christmas a duty, a chore. It's not helped by the web-site sending you an automatic reply-demand as if from the DVLA. I find them rather hurtful.

In that regard, others' suggested home-made "e-cards" with ones' own photographs do also show consideration, in fact taking some effort to demonstrate actually caring about the recipient.

.

I feel this all the more so if I were to send a card to someone fairly recently bereaved, or very ill. In those cases I seek cards with a scenic or indeed religious picture, but blank inside so I can write a more thoughtful message. I have occasionally found cards already printed "Thinking of you", but they are unusual and anyway the situation demand a bit more thought. It's certainly not the place for greetings-by-database.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

You don't have to be religious to enjoy Christmas !

It probably has only very tenuous links to religion anyway nowadays; it is a festival, and an occasion. Send each other real cards, decorate your house, walk to a cosy pub, have some time together. Try not to get too caught-up in the commercialisation. Individual cards can cost several pounds each, which is too much, but Charity shops usually sell packs of Christmas cards at very reasonable prices.

I don't really 'get' why people drive miles on Christmas Day to see relatives they never normally visit, or vice versa, and I was always very p*ssed off that I had to work on Christmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day to fly people to other countries for similar reasons. I treat Christmas as a time to bunker down at home, with good books, jigsaws, chocolate, fine wine, and cosy togetherness with my nearest and dearest. I ring the bells at the Cathedral and enjoy the occasion.

One of the most magical Christmases I remember was staying with friends and walking a mile or so to a lovely local pub in the deep snow, and having a great evening. Then walking back through deserted, snowy streets. Absolutely magical.

[Author]

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