General Chat

So I usually send around 65 cards
The postage is horrendous now so it's a bit prohibitive

I can hand deliver close famiiy but others need posting

Hubby passed away late October 2015 so Xmas wasn't really on the radar for xmas 2015 so I made a donation then to the hospice where he passed away as it's a charity with some NHS support did the same for Xmas 2016

have done the same this year and made a thread on Facebook telling family and friends

But I do have to send cards for those not on Facebook just in case they think she hasn't sent a card so has she popped her clogs too


;-)

Dear Shirley and Joan

Hello

I love sending cards but the postage is way over the top.

What I really dislike is folk who just type something like "Merry Xmas", etc to all on their different social media profiles. They make no effort to send any cards at all
and then expect YOU to send them a card.

Cheeky beggars!

Take gentle care
Best wishes
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

We send out well over 100 cards a year, mostly to overseas ............ and we only have 1st class postage so no possible way to reduce that cost..

We used to add a letter to each card .... the cost of the cards plus postage got prohibitive. Plus add on the 10 calendars that we send to close family, all overseas

Last year we just sent out the letter, plus the calendars. That saved around £100+

This year, I have been going through the address list to find out how many email addresses we have ............. those people will get an email with letter attached.

We'll still have around 90 or so to mail, plus the calendars

It is the only contact we have with most people, but ................ the cost of the equivalent of £300 or more is getting too much.

Apart from a few family cards, I use this site. It is done by subscription, currently £9.00 for one year and £13.00 for two. For that you can send as many cards as you like - so both cards and postage are virtually free.

Nearly as personal as a proper card, and a great deal kinder on the pocket. :-) :-)

https://www.jacquielawson.com/

I also use Jacqui Lawrence for a lot of cards that I send ......... BUT you cannot send the letter that we send as an update every year.

We have stopped buying paper Christmas cards .......

......... we always used to buy UNICEF cards, on the principle that we were helping a charity. But they have got so expensive, especially when the postage is added on.

Shirley,

When you send out the cards that you have to send this year,why not put a note on each one saying that this is the last card you are sending and that from next year you will give a donation to charity instead. Tell them that not getting a card from you doesn't mean you have popped your clogs,but that someone (family member) will hopefully let them know when you do!!

This year I have sent out around 35 cards in England and 8 abroad. Just worked out that I have spent around £40 on postage. Luckily I have bought a book of stamps on odd occasions throughout the year so it's only the ones going abroad that needed to be weighed that I have had to fork out for just lately. I would stop sending them but I like to receive cards myself so I can't really.

Kath. x

That sounds a good idea Kath .I will that for some of them but I do keep in touch with some old work colleagues who my family don't know

Would certainly cut the list down a bit more

I make my cards and love sending them to people. I buy a book or two of stamps every so often, I didn't have to buy any specially for the cards this year. I also use J Lawson. Sylvis, I get a catch up letter from some friends via JL in one of the note cards. Quite a long letter.

Oh I also make contributions to a charity at christmas, as well as sending cards. I'll do it while I can afford it.

A free site I use to send xmas, birthday or whatever celebration u want is
123.greetings.com .
Although I posted some 40 cards yesterday costing £22.oo roughly and then 9 smallish parcels and one large which cost £23.oo so all together £45.00.

however the last 2 years I haven't sent gifts just vouchers but this year decided to buy nieces and nephews things they wanted which I know they will love.
The e-cards are ok for the odd one or 2 but after 30 days you cant view them anymore, unlike keeping a real card etc...

Florence
in the hebrides

I do used Jacqui Lawerence and 123 greetings but they are no use if someone isn't an internet user

Some of my contacts are really elderly and only correspond by post so I send a card just to keep in touch

But don't get me wrong it's not costing me less it's just I prefer now to donate to the hospice who looked after my hubby rather than give the post office what I think is an exorbitant cost of postage

To me they have priced themselves out

Well, at one time when Mum and Dad were alive, we would 'compete' over the number of cards we received -over 100- and usually sent.. That's obviously changed over the years, with many older friends and relatives dying but with new-made friends and new-found rellies being added. I even get a letter each year from American friends' cat, telling me what the family has been doing. It's the only link with some people who aren't on the internet so I love getting cards and news. I got a message several years ago from an old pal, saying she wouldn't be sending anymore cards but giving to charity. She only lives a mile away but I never see her as she and her hubby go away a lot. We have known each other since 1971. I still get a birthday card and her birthday is next week so I send a card and pop a small Christmas card in too but I can never get her on the phone so know nothing of the way her life is going.

When you think of the distance a 2nd class stamp can take a card or letter for 56p I think it's quite good value although it does mount up if you send lots. For someone living alone, it can bring cheer to have happy mail to open instead of just bills and they can re-read the cards if they feel a bit low.

Lizxx

Liz, I wish I had a like button to press. That is how I feel about cards. I think, on the whole we get good value from the post office, most of the time it gets to people in a couple of days. I guess we were spoilt in the days before it was privatised, now, like any other business it has to make a profit. The sad thing is it is use it or lose it and some people would be lost if the service got trimmed any more because of loss of use.

Is the 56p second class what you pay to send an overseas card?

If so, it is one heck of a difference from the approximately £1.25 that we have to pay

We don't have the option of second class.

Sylvia, it is 56p second class within UK. I don't know how much it will be this year but last year a card with one sheet of letter paper in cost £1.80 to US :-0

Fewer cards to send this year :-(

It costs us the equivalent of about 70p ($1.20) to send a card and 1 sheet of letter paper to the US ........... as long as it is a very thin card.

Sylvia, First class post up to 100g is 65p and second class 56p. To send an item up to 20g to Europe is £1.17 or first class up to 100g is £1.57. To send the same worldwide is £1.40 or £2.27.

Lizxx

Liz .............

We only have 1 level of postage, and Canada Post prices in smaller weight amounts

our weights are ............

Canada,
0-30gm 85c
30-50gm $1.20
50-100gm $1.80 (=~£1.00)

US
0-30gm $1.20
30-50gm $1.80
50-100gm $2.95 (=~£1.70)

Overseas
0-30gm $2.50
30-50gm $3.60
50-100gm $5.90 (=~£3.40)

I've done a rough conversion only for the higher weight, so you can compare it more easily with your 0-100gm range.

Your costs are higher than ours then, Sylvia

Once upon a time you could buy stamps at a reduced rate at Superdrug but that got stopped. Pity as it was very useful.

Lizxx

I never send cards. I think it stemmed from my work place which always encouraged a small donation to charity rather than a card to every staff member.

I no longer work at the same place but have continued to make a donation to charity rather than buy/ send cards. In the last few years more of my friends have decided to do the same.

I do think it is good value for money. Sending a card south for less than a pound or pay £300 plus to fly down in person!

Many of my old friends only contact me via card/letter at xmas. I get to read their news and they mine and yes elderly people may not have the internet.

My grandparents always sent over 100 cards and received as many. So I ve always sent around 80-90. This year I written 85 but not all have been sent as I do work people too.

I also cut the cards and recycle them for tags for the future, comes in handy that.

My cards are bought from charities such as the RNLI,RNIB and local charities here. So altho I send cards, I'm still donating to good causes.

Florence
in the hebrides :-)