No need to buy a stamp.

It will hardly come as a surprise to you but people aren’t sending as many postcards from holidays as they used to.

Back in 1997 about 70% of people in the UK who went on holiday sent a postcard home to family or friends. That figure has now fallen to 28%.

There are two main reasons for the reduction.

The first is the impact of the selfie generation and the increase in social media. People are posting pictures of themselves on sites such as Facebook or Instagram instead of sending a postcard. After all, why send a postcard of a generic view of the place you’re visiting when you can post a nice selfie of you on holiday on social media.

The second reason for the reduction is the change in the holiday habits of a lot of people. The rise of low cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryan Air has meant that people are taking more shorter breaks rather than an annual 2-week holiday.

If you’re on a short break of a few days why bother sending a postcard from a short break as you’ll be home before the post card arrives.

Unsurprisingly there have been some corporate casualties as a result.

J Salmon is Britain’s oldest publisher of postcards.

Actually, I should rephrase that and say that J Salmon was Britain’s oldest publisher of postcards as it recently stopped producing postcards.

The company has been run by the same family since 1800 but recently stopped producing postcards due to lack of demand.

At the moment the company is still trading and is selling diaries and calendars.

I wish them well but when you think about it, people stopped sending postcards because they could take photos on their phone and post them on social media.

The question is how many people keep their diaries and calendars on their phone?

Will diaries and calendars go the same way as postcards?