Blaise Tapp: Despite the cost I’ll still be sending cards this Christmas
While my organisational skills have always left a lot to be desired, this year I’ve surpassed myself by writing my first Christmas cards a week before December starts.
Although my smugness levels are now at peak Simon Cowell, me being so on top of my festive correspondence is less to do with turning over a new leaf and more down to the soaring cost of sending season’s greetings. In case you’ve not felt the need to post anything in the past few months, the cost of a first class stamp now sits at a whopping £1.65, which is roughly double what it cost a couple of years ago.
That means, only those with a supercar parked on the drive are likely to be among those who will be sticking with the fastest way to get a card to great aunty Dot this year while the rest of us will be making do with the much slower second class, hence why I’m writing mine now, long before we’re bombarded with The Pogues and Wizzard on the wireless.
Even second class mail isn’t especially cheap as, at 85p a time, it is now the same price a first class stamp was in 2022.
We can’t escape the fact that the UK is now among one of the most expensive countries to buy a stamp. In fact, one analyst with too much time on their hands worked out that, given how much cheaper a stamp is in Portugal, if you had more than 70 cards, it would be worth your while financially to get a cheap flight to Lisbon and post from there. A bit extreme, yes, but you get the point.
There are those who believe that this dramatic price hike, which Royal Mail says is down to ‘urgent’ financial challenges and a decline in the volume of letters, spells the beginning of the end of the Christmas card.
However, I will resist the urge to tell my friends, loved ones and lapsed acquaintances that I’ll make a donation to the local dog’s home this Christmas, in lieu of sending them a card, because I genuinely enjoy writing and receiving them.
Some see the sending of cards as a pointless, outdated custom, especially when a post on Facebook or Instagram is so much quicker, not to mention cheaper, to do but sitting down and writing a short note to someone with whom I have a connection, always serves as a reminder of what’s important in life. Even if it is becoming ridiculously expensive to do.