Will paper Christmas cards be completely replaced with e-cards? When?

I doubt it. there’s way more sentiments in a hand delivered card – especially when its embossed or sparkly. My prediction, we will use E cards for the most but then paper cards will come raging back as if it was a “bran new” trend.

No. There’s a lot going for a hand written card – it is both announcement and gift. E-cards are less tangible and less care and love seem to go into them. Plus, I know my grandparents would rather get a nice little card than something in the internet.

No, especially not for a holiday like Christmas which is traditionally accompanied by gifts.

Maybe Easter cards…

not until they’ve eliminated paper completely.

Gifts? But think what you can do with e-cards – send photos and videos of the family, music you can buy from iTunes, e-gift cards, animation,

Certainly it won’t be for our grandparents (who probably don’t have computers even) but I can see it being “the way” for the newer generations. BESIDES,

I anticipate MAJOR CHANGES in the U.S. Post Office. With e-correspondence replacing “snail mail”, I predict the decrease in snail mail will force the Post Office to cut deliveries from 6 days a week to maybe one (and if you need more, you PAY or you pay a third party service). Maybe we’ll have to pick up our OWN snail mail. And look at our savings between the cost of stamps, and envelopes and the gas to go buy them.

What say you?

I say don’t let AstroChuck see that, Mr_M

Why not?

Nooooo! I love my snail mail! I correspond with a number of people through the USPS. People who could easily e-mail me, but we enjoy the luxury of real, tangible letters. Don’t say that kind of thing Mr M!

@Mr_M: He’s a mail carrier :)

And let me propose something daring…centuries ago we’d MAKE the Christmas gifts we’d give out. Then we bought them, now we even e-mail them. People might HAVE to like e-cards!

@poof, I wonder how the horse handlers took it when they did away with the pony express?

i like receiving real christmas cards and i still mail them out. my friends display their christmas cards like christmas decorations. you can’t do that with an ecard.

i have saved most greeting cards that are sentimental.my grandmother saved greeting cards from the 50’s and they’re a real piece of history. i have greeting cards i got when i was a kid and they mean a lot.

Suppose you could print out the e-card on your own printer if you so desired? Then you could display them and save them?

It’s really not the same. I’d like to think that there are enough people who still hold that sentiment who would keep it going.

I think it would be sad if we all forgot how to write by hand and just hid in our computers all day…oh, wait…

I also think that your future wife would be pretty upset by you emailing her an ecard with a gift certificate attached.

Well, I think the day of handwriting WILL soon be over. Hey, with electronic text you can change the font, the font size, the font color…what’s better for old people who need glasses? You can even have the computer READ the text to the person or even TRANSLATE it to a different language. You could be SURE the other person receives it. You can read the text of the card in your own voice or in your child’s voice. Or have a video of the child wishing Grandma a Merry Christmas, accompanied by a picture the child drew. Then make the card print ITSELF out for Granny.

@fire, she’d be even MORE upset if I hand made her something like in the “old days”, but things change. Future generations will no more remember paper cards as we do wax seals on envelopes. Is that a bad thing?

And remember, too, before the “Hallmark Stores” people would MAKE their cards. Then came the Hallmark stores, and now will come e-cards.

No getting a card in the mail is more warming because you know the person spent more time getting it to you so they really went out of their way for you.

So you prefer hand made gifts instead of store bought?

Yes I do enjoy them more. My homemade scarf my wife made me smells like her. It reminds me of her when I wear it.

The greeting card industry show little signs of slowing down.
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As far as the postal service? I’m not sure, I didn’t continue digging; however, sales were strong in our area.

Holiday cards are sent out by many, including businesses. There are people that just truly enjoy the sincerity of a card that someone took the time to send to them. A printed email and hanging it up, just isn’t quite the same for a lot of people.

I’m sure that yes, eventually there will be a difference, but letter writing still happens and the USPS is still functioning. I don’t see either going away, anytime soon. IMO.

One of my best friends has made me some incredible things that i will treasure forever. the time she put into them is priceless to me.

Also, back to the question, every year i get about 40 christmas cards – so the e card has not caught on, i don’t think, for many, for the holidays.

My cousins live in New Mexico and they tell me that they wouldn’t THINK of giving a Christmas gift that was BOUGHT and not HAND MADE.