When was the last time you bought stamps?

What would she have said if she paid £6 for her fish and chips? In my younger days they cost 1/3d. This is what inflation does – distorts our view of worth. Perhaps all goods should be priced in a new currency – actual cost divided by average wage.

There is a benefit of inflation as you get older. When you remember the cost of things in your earlier years – houses, petrol, cigarettes, cars – you do think harder about what you are asked to pay now. Whereas those younger people without this legacy take them more in their stride. I suspect it has always been so – my grandparents used to remark on the cost of stuff compared to that in their youth.

. . . . the more so if you have an authoritative-looking letterhead. I don’t mind if the correspondence continues by e-mail because by then I’ve broken through the ice.

I have always wondered whether 1st class stamps keep their first class status when new ones have been issued at a higher price.

I fully agree with the ridiculous new rules on letter and large letter. If a letter or greetings card goes through a letterbox it should be the same price.

Not only are first and second class ‘postage labels’ valid indefinitely for that class of postage whatever happens to prices over time, but old postage stamps can be used in multiples to make up the current values. I am still using up some stamps that have halfpenny values so the new rates from 27 March will make life easier for me as I can use a 50p stamp plus two seven pence-halfpenny stamps to make up a first class postage value. I shall use two 26p stamps [the Charles & Diana wedding special issue!] and a four-penny one for the second class items.

Don’t hold on to the old stamps for too long. I don’t think Penny Blacks are valid for postage these days, and if they were you would need so many they would cover the addressee’s name.

That’s right. I don’t use the pre-decimal stamps for that reason – I would have to use a large letter envelope and put even more stamps on! I inherited an enormous number of postage stamps from someone who did a bit of dealing but managed to buy far more than he sold. He also had a huge collection of stamps from all over the world. I gave it to a local children’s hospice charity who have contacts in the philatelic world so hopefully they got a good price for the stamps in the collection. I kept all the useable UK stamps and am gradually getting through them.

What appals me more than postage prices is the exorbitant cost of greetings cards. £2.95 is typical for a one-fold flimsy card and a thin envelope [and not even a message half the time!]. The decline in quality of cards is no doubt linked to the trend away from sending them. People blame the postage but its the cost of the card that’s killing the trade.

I make greetings cards using photo-print paper on my Canon printer. Much more fun than going through rack upon rack of naff expensive rubbish.

Yes, and much nicer to receive than cards with a big M&S or Tesco logo on the back which we receive so many of. A friend of ours does home-made cards using his beautiful line drawings of country churches. We like them so much we keep them on display for years.

A friend always produces photo print Christmas and birthday cards. Thanks to the lack of snow in recent years, some of the Christmas photos are a few years old.

The cards I like most and tend to hold on to are hand-made ones made by children.

A fellow member of a society is 104 years old and has decided to pass on all his pen & ink drawings for us to use. Maybe we could use them for cards that are more interesting than the mass produced type.

If they are that good Wavechange why not go the commercial route ? frame prints of them and sell them as limited editions , it seems to work in TV advertising . The society could benefit immensely especially if it is a charitable one .

Thanks Duncan. I suspect that we might already have the best of the drawings, which I scanned back in 1993 to put in a guide book, but it will be interesting to find out if there are drawings that might be used as you suggest. What appealed most about the drawings was that most of them focused on recognisable local scenes. I have just learned that the same chap has produced watercolours and they were deposited at the museum in the town not far from where I now live. Meanwhile back with stamps….

Franking machines have largely killed off stamps. At work we used to receive letters and small packages bearing a wonderful collection of stamps from round the world and several of my colleagues collected them for good causes. No doubt there will be people who collect franking marks but I don’t think they have the same charm.

I buy my greeting cards at Card Factory – they have good quality cards at very reasonable prices .

I am glad that the fad for electronic greeting cards seems to have passed. I rarely bothered to look at them.

I totally agree. E-greetings cards are terrible, and when I receive one, I wonder to whom the web site will have sold my e-mail address. I share your pleasure that they have gone out of fashion.

So far the only ones I have received have been from friends. This year it was only one and the daft thing is that the person who sent it had already sent a nice card. I share your concern about the irresponsible behaviour of (some) companies passing on email addresses.

I was actually thinking of a straight text or email when I mentioned electronic greetings.

I am guilty of sending singing E-greetings cards as well as postal ones to a couple of people I knew would enjoy them but that hasn’t been for some years and before we knew our details were being sold. They used to be free but cost around £5 the last time I looked which is why I no longer send them and they are no longer fashionable.

But searching for an example, I see they are now on YouTube. There used to be one of funny elderly gentlemen that sung this one but here are some frogs instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17vrFT6L1n0

Jackie Lawson does the best E-cards I’ve ever seen. The music with them is rather effective and the total cost is around the £20.00 per annum mark for as many cards as you want. It’s a cottage industry, indeed, but just browsing the cards is quite pleasurable.

That’s what I thought to start with but when a member of a charity sent Jacquie Lawson ecards others followed, rather like a chain letter. Because of the fixed subscription they started appearing on a regular basis during the year.

I know someone who actually has a franking machine! And I used to know someone who took her cards into the office to frank. Some people’s penny-pinching really takes the biscuit.

Sometimes when people do that it’s petty theft too. 🙁

Yes – Frank was far too nice to complain.

When we send letters abroad we print the franking directly onto the envelope from the Post office site.

It depends whether they pay or not. Staff made use of our franking machine and were charged by the company.

You could have a point Johnno , this has been brought up by others here where you are limited in your reply due to “contoured ” information gathering just to force a point across , sadly Which isn’t alone , I kept on getting pestered by another well know public help organisation to join their energy club to change from a big provider , my problem ? -I had already done so but that option wasn’t available but I kept getting emails to “change ” – 5 at the last look . Not everybody falls into boxes no matter who thinks what but it appears to weaken the point being made if they think the reply will be diffused.

No one has to do these pointless polls.

Thanks for that, Michael. I agree that it is important to compare like with like. There’s no need to cancel your subscription, just register on Which? Conversation, join in the debates and keep us informed.