Traditions and Trivia: Cards

Every year people send one another Christmas cards.

Accroding to Whychristmas.com, “The custom of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a civil servant (Government worker) who was very interested in the new 'Public Post Office' and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.”

Cole began making and selling cards for a shilling (about five to eight cents) and the custom took off.

If Cole had had the idea any earlier, it may have failed, as only the affluent could afford to use the postal service before railways provided a cheaper means of transportation and thus, cheaper postage. 

With railroads in place in England, ‘penny postage’ allowed most of the population to participate in mailing cards to one another, and cards costed half as much as a normal letter.

In 1870, the price of postage dropped to just half a penny, therefore even more people could afford to send letters.

Christmas cards came to America shortly after their introduction in England, but they really didn’t take off until 1915 when the Hall Brothers of Hallmark fame began mass producing Christmas cards.

Now big box stores have two to three aisles of hallmark cards, and the introduction of the internet has allowed for Ecards.

Rising costs of postage, as well as increasing access to social media and text messaging, have caused a decline in the amount of cards sent each year.

Whether this is welcome or missed remains to be seen.