The Jersey Shore

I remember when I was a small boy and used to go with my family to the Jersey Shore in the summer. We would visit the boardwalk in Wildwood and Steel Pier in Atlantic City. This was back in the 1960s and 1970s, prior to the Casinos.


The souvenir shops always had neat things for a young fellow like me at the time, but my favorite things were the postcards. The pictures and colors drew me, like a moth is drawn to a flame. There would be pictures of the Margate Elephant effectionally known as Lucy (a hotel built to look like an elephant), and photos of the shore in its heyday.

The Internet Took My Job!

With the advent of the Internet and smart phones combined with applications such as Instagram, Facebook and other social media apps; the sharing of postcards is not what it once was. In England, for example the Telegram reported this past July that purchase of postcards were down 15 million from 26 years ago. Due to this fact, the oldest Postcard Publisher of the same Country closed its doors after being in business for 140 years!


Another study of two-thousand people in Gatwick Airport found that the Brits sent 60% fewer postcards when on vacation over the last 20 years.

The Postcard Business here in the United States is not fairing any better. As Matthew Tobin, former President of the U.S. Souvenir Wholesale Distributors Association stated in an interview with the Providence Journal in 2013 regarding postcard publishing, probably half what it used to be...


Due to the way the United States Postal Service does processes their mail, there is no way to get a proper number on the amount of postcards processed (postcards using postcard stamps are processed as bulk mail). One can surmise, however; that there has been a drop in the use of postcards in the United States as well.

Give A Smile, Send A Postcard!

Last year some time I received a postcard from Hive account@guiltyparties. It is in this apartment somewhere and I wish I could share a picture. It was really nice to receive and really lifted my spirits. I live alone and am always excited to receive real mail. I guess I am old fashioned that way.


Sending a postcard does require a little bit of work. Buying the postcard and stamp to start. Then one must actually use a pen in place of a keyboard to write a short note. Old fashioned as it may be, there is just that special feeling of nostalgia and knowing that we are on someone's mind when we receive a postcard.


I want to thank Hive account@thekittygirl for being the inspiration for this little post.