Number of New Year postcards nationwide 33% lower than in 2024

Is it really surprising when they keep putting the price of stamps up?

rate hikes and frankly gimmicks. Nearly everyone tosses them and frankly a daily email or weekly email written with some care is much more valuable. When is the last time you wrote a proper letter in email form with paragraphs and full sentences etc. If you do that at least twice a year and customized to each person it would mean a lot more. The only one who benefits from postcards are the post office and stationary shops. People are just getting smarter with their money.

We sent 40 to our closest people. Previously it was 100. I used an excellent printer. ¥100 each including postage.

It was bound to happen. That tradition is a royal pain in the posterior

I didnt get any postcards....a silent victim of the down turn

I got two, so I suppose I have to run out and buy a couple to send back. I had forgotten about the increase in postage. That sucks.

The postage for New Year postcards for 2025 has increased by 22 yen, from 63 yen to 85 yen.

maybe had they LOWERED the postage, maybe to 50 yen, they would have at least come out even. My wife decided not to send New Year postcards this year and when I asked why, she said, "the post office raised price so YADA!! I can make my own digital cards and send them on LINE app for free!"

We sent 40 actual New Year Cards and others will be sent by LINE which many people now use.

Fewer cards sent leads to a price increase in stamps.

A price increase in stamps leads to fewer card sets being sent.

It's a visual cycle.

People saying to lower the cost don't understand the market.

Didn’t send this year and never have. Sent a few Christmas cards as usual all abroad except to my son and partner of course.

Most people I know send their New Year’s greetings by LINE. I can’t even remember the last time I sent any New Year postcards. The custom of exchanging cards is rapidly disappearing and no one will be doing so in ten years time.

One of the main reasons is, is not the increase of the shipping cost (22 extra Yen is fine), but the very high increase in price of the card itself, which sky rocket for some reason. If previously you could have bought one for a couple of hundreds Yens (the nice ones, with some 3D designs), now those cards can cost more than a thousand Yen, which is ridiculous.

So yeah, people tend to avoid wasting money on something expensive, that is going to be tossed away after being received.

One of the main reasons is, is not the increase of the shipping cost (22 extra Yen is fine), but the very high increase in price of the card itself

There are extremely cheap options available for the cards themselves. You can order them with a wide variety of patterns printed or buy them blank to print yourself making the 85 yen of posting fee the most expensive part.

リッチ - I completely agree

I can't say I was ever bothered about ready made "gimu" ones sent as an obligation but I liked getting custom ones from other parents showing what they'd been up to with their kids. It was always last minute for us, but we'd try to make something representative myself. We'd make an effort to try and get a group shot of our family somewhere nice in readiness for it.

My missus files them away, so we still have ones from the past in an easy to see format, which we don't for stuff sent to us digitally.

Kohakuebisu

Good point that about having something physical for memories..

ffs

You said you stopped "socializing" 30 years ago. So who would post New Year cards to? I guess your wife sends them to her family and friends.

Sorry everyone my cards will be a bit late this year. I got the flu.

Wallace

Didnt say I sent New Year cards just Christmas ones to my family and friends I’ve known for decades back in Blighty. Missus sent a few New Year cards and received a few though.

I think it’s quite a nice tradition that helps bind the social fabric. When I was growing up in the US many years ago my mother and her friends had a similar habit with Christmas cards.

This year we’ve only received about a dozen cards whereas a few years back it was close to 100. It does require some effort (thank you wife) but it keeps people connected and reminds them of who is important in their life. In another year or two I believe my wife will go with the flow and break the tradition.

I reduced myself to close family members and reply to the one I get, but writing once a year a quick postcard is not a pain in the ass.

It has more value for everyone rather than an email than will be deleted at some stages.

Letters and postcard are part of memories, not emails.

Didou above...I didnt get any emails either..."Oh lonesome me ..."

It's a failed business for a number of reasons. 1) It's outdated -- a whole lot easier to send/receive greetings via Line or other SNS, and equally as meaningful. 2) it's a failed business model -- you can't expect that if you add 10% to the postage cost you'll get 10% more than you did last year. Often times increases in cost give people the reason they need to stop doing something. So, that 10% increase resulted in part at least to a 33% reduction in sales, meaning an overall loss. I remember Toho Cinemas was toying with the idea of dropping the cost of movies to ¥1000 for all tickets. If they had done that, I would have gone weekly to see a flick, or at least twice monthly. Instead, they jacked up prices to ¥2000 or so. Now I go once every three years or so, if that. I'm but one example of what MANY people feel and do. If even hundreds do that the net loss is exponential, despite calculating a "profit" based on previous sales plus the added cost. Like with post cards, they don't take into account that people aren't automatically going to buy them if they jack up costs. 3) continuous reports of corruption, abuse of power, and waste of tax money on top of everything else. 4) People aren't as into the "obligatory" culture as they once were.

I would not be sad to see this practice cease to exist in its paper form. Send them if you want to, not because you "have to".

So people voted with their wallets. Looks like the total turnover this year was lower than the last, despite the price increase.

@Albert,

The market doesn't seem to welcome price increases either, as statistics show.

I know nothing about the 年賀状 price hike (apart from the amount stated in the article), but it wasn't a smart move from the business perspective.