A Lament On The Disappearance Of The Hand Written Letter (But It Hasn't!)

[HDoug]

I recently wrote a friend from high school I tracked down after 50 years! We all write cards and letters, right?

Nice article on the NY Time lamenting its disappearance, though...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/books/art-of-writing-letters.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

[TheDutchGuy]

We all write cards and letters, right?

 

Well I sure do. Several, each week. Postage isn’t getting any cheaper over here so the stamps are adding up, but hey, I haven’t ordered a coffee somewhere since March, so that’s OK.

[A Smug Dill]

Not I. I haven't sent a Christmas or birthday card in years. Apart from wedding-related stuff — place cards and thank-you cards for my own wedding, and a congratulations card that was just a glorified folder/holder for a gift of cash (as politely requested) at a friend's wedding, last year — the only other times I can recall writing in "greeting cards" in recent years were for someone at the office (usually not even a close professional or personal acquaintance of mine) left the employ of my then-employer.

 

Most "letters" — in the form of long-hand correspondence with several paragraphs per article — I send these days are formal enquiries and complaints to corporations, government departments or service agencies, and I don't personally believe a handwritten letter has more impact and/or attracts more (favourable or conciliatory) responses from the staff of the recipient entities; hitting them hard and fast more than once a day in correspondence in email over a particular issue seems to be more effective in that regard. If anything, a hard-arse attitude, legalistic language, and photos from my trusty camera to either expose and focus on physical flaws or provide evidence of "wrongdoing" in breach of rules and standards, seem to more effective means.

 

I tend to write customer feedback by hand (and with a fountain pen, of course, as long as the "official" feedback forms can take ink properly) after staying at a hotel or when I'm on an ocean liner cruise; but these days the opportunities to do so are few and rare.

 

Even when I (sincerely) thanked the staff at the venue of my wedding reception and also where my guests stayed overnight, an email — pledging a reasonable tip and asking for it to be added to my final invoice, as well as expressing my thanks and also relaying appreciate remarks from my guests — seemed to be better received, because (as the Customer Service Manager there told me in reply) she could immediately forward that email to the General Manager of the hotel as well as the head office of that chain. Easier to send and forward, easier to quote and/or file for future staff performance reviews, and no scanning and attachment required.

 

So, these days when I'm about to send someone an article of interpersonal or customer-supplier communication, first I ask myself, "In what way would seeing my handwriting help? What are they going to do with it, and how? Does my handwriting help me get my outcome, or allow them some leverage to get their desired outcomes (from their bosses, immediately or later on, for example), over a bunch of ASCII characters rendered on a screen or a printout?

[Mongoosey]

Arcade Fire did a lovely song I feel captures the lament of its disappearance:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRFkxOM90UA

[kazoolaw]

I recently wrote a friend from high school I tracked down after 50 years! We all write cards and letters, right?

 

Nice article on the NY Time lamenting its disappearance, though...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/books/art-of-writing-letters.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

 

I think that letter writing will survive into the future, though greatly diminished. Like some people look for dovetail joints in hand-planed furniture, or collect hand-bound books, there will remain a few who write letters.

[Karmachanic]

Topped up with G Lalo Verge de France paper and envelopes. Arrived yesterday.

[HDoug]

I just sent a letter to an old friend (since the 4th grade with was more than half a century ago) now living in the Philippines. Uh oh! I should have checked this:
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm

The link goes to a USPS link showing which countries they are not delivering to. Philippines on that list.

Doug

[Estycollector]

Over time I have noticed that people love/enjoy getting a note or letter which has caused me to continue sending handwritten correspondance. Now I have nice writing tools which makes the writing a pure joy.

 

I write thank you notes to referral sources and letters to family members. I've used letters instead of birthday or holiday cards. Since late in 2019, I've written probably 100 notes and letters.

[Misfit]

There is a Snail Mail thread here on getting pen pals. Most of mine have come from FPN. I write to two people from pen club, my brother, and just started writing to a person who put her address on an InCoWriMo site. I wrote to her, she wrote back, I answered. So we’ll see on that one. I think I’ve been writing to some people for 5 years now.

[sharonspens]

There is a Snail Mail thread here on getting pen pals. Most of mine have come from FPN. I write to two people from pen club, my brother, and just started writing to a person who put her address on an InCoWriMo site. I wrote to her, she wrote back, I answered. So we’ll see on that one. I think I’ve been writing to some people for 5 years now.

You don't mean me that you are now writing to, do you? hehehehe

 

Sharon in Indiana

[PAKMAN]

As much as I treasure old letters my parents wrote each other or to me, I am horrible about not writing letters to anyone.

[Misfit]

You don't mean me that you are now writing to, do you? hehehehe

 

Sharon in Indiana

Ah, but I have a good reason for my delay, I promise. Sharon, I thought of you when I was in the Hy Vee (based in Iowa) grocery store. They had King Arthur flour in stock. I saw it and thought of you.

 

The wonders of the handwritten letter!

[asnailmailer]

I have already posted 250 + handwritten letters this year, more than this time last year, I guess.

[Madeline]

250+ That's impressive!! I write a lot of letters but I'm still at the starting gate compared to your record.

 

I feel the same way about letters as I do about books. Nothing can quite compare to a handwritten note--the color or shade of ink, the smoothness of the paper, the calligraphic hand of a friend or family member. Much like the typeface of a book, its margins, the edges of its pages, or the scent of its ink and its history. I love the tangible world and its resistance to being transformed into electrons. And yet, here I am, drawing words with those very electrons...

[Paul-in-SF]

I tried to gin up some pen pals, using a service I found online, but it didn't work out. None of my friends at a distance are interested in writing or in fountain pens. The only thing I have sent this year was a hand-written condolence note to a woman acquaintance (she had visited us with my sister, and I had visited her house) on the loss of her husband. I don't send Christmas cards, and only one birthday card.

 

I am not, I think, very good at writing personal letters, because I am so out of practice, and because I never have very much to say for myself. That's probably why the pen pals thing didn't work out. So in my case it's more about my personality than it is about anyone's preference for electronic vs. paper communications.

[brokenclay]

If you'd like to try again, you can check out the Snail Mail thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/2314-snail-mail-writing-list/

 

I've had the pleasure of acquiring several pen pals via that thread.

[Paul-in-SF]

If you'd like to try again, you can check out the Snail Mail thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/2314-snail-mail-writing-list/

 

I've had the pleasure of acquiring several pen pals via that thread.

Thank you, that looks interesting. I will have to try to be interesting enough to inspire responses! Personal growth, at my time of life!

 

And done. Now to wait for a nibble.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Paul-in-SF

[goodpens]

Arcade Fire did a lovely song I feel captures the lament of its disappearance:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRFkxOM90UA

Thank you for this!

Perfect.

 

Partial lyrics:

It seems strange

How we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still

Is how something so small can keep you alive

We used to wait

We used to waste hours just walkin around

We used to wait

All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

[asnailmailer]

I tried to gin up some pen pals, using a service I found online, but it didn't work out. None of my friends at a distance are interested in writing or in fountain pens. The only thing I have sent this year was a hand-written condolence note to a woman acquaintance (she had visited us with my sister, and I had visited her house) on the loss of her husband. I don't send Christmas cards, and only one birthday card.

 

I am not, I think, very good at writing personal letters, because I am so out of practice, and because I never have very much to say for myself. That's probably why the pen pals thing didn't work out. So in my case it's more about my personality than it is about anyone's preference for electronic vs. paper communications.

 

Apart from the actual art of writing (my handwriting is not the neatest), for me, the art of a letter is the art of conversation (or many conversations, just delayed with response). There is a little snail mail forum I know very well, and there, there is something different, something different to write about in letters.

 

It took me a while to find my style, and what I wanted out of letters. One size does not fit all. What works for me might not work for others.

[ParramattaPaul]

My life is so boring that I gave up letter writing in the 1970s. I never had anything noteworthy to say.