Where to start? 365 days is a lot of letter writing time. I haven't really got hard numbers for the amount of letters I sent, but I average around 85 a month which gives a ball park of a little over 1000 pieces of mail. So that's just one (admittedly fairly prolific) member at work. As of 12:01AM on January 1, 2013, we have 3,407 members in the Letter Writers Alliance. If half of them are half as active as I am in their letter writing, that's still 850,000 letters sent by members last year. DID YOU SEE THAT NUMBER?
Let's be even more pessimistic. Let's suppose that only a quarter of our members are a quarter as busy writing letters as I am. That's around 212,500 letters sent last year by members. GOOD LORD THAT'S A LOT OF LETTERS. In U.S.P.S. First Class stamps, that's $95,625.00
Feel free to leave your End of Year numbers in the comments. There were a couple left on our "2013" post which inspired me to make these calculations. Thanks for writing so many letters. Now go write more!
724 cards/letters/postcards sent in 2012 (includes 100 Christmas cards). Thanks to your correspondence log, I'm able to know exactly who/what stationery I used/when sent :)
Posted by: Lisa | January 30, 2013 at 09:19 AM
1,075 cards/letters/postcards/packages sent in 2012. 786 received. Letter Writers Unite . . . wait, don't do that. If we are all next to each other, we won't write the letters. Letter Writers . . . scatter, but stay in touch!
Posted by: Tamra Orr | January 30, 2013 at 11:32 AM
Wow, that's a lot of mail!!! Not sure of my actual numbers, but last year I mailed wedding invitations and tons of thank-yous in addition to all of my regular mail. I'd like to think it was a lot :)
Posted by: Cindy | January 30, 2013 at 12:34 PM
I just started keeping track of my mail this January, so I'll have a report by the end of next year!
Go LWA Members for helping keep the USPS in business! ;)
Posted by: Ciara Kay | January 30, 2013 at 01:00 PM
1,883 which includes 336 postcards sent via Postcrossing (I also send the postcards for my two grandchildren, who are only 5 and 3). I send an awful lot of postcards because of Orphaned Postcard Project, too. I'm going to say only about 800 of the grand total were actual letters/notecards.
I keep less detailed track of my postage, but a quick look at my banking shows I used my card for $1,558.22 worth of postage last year. I don't even want to think about how much I spend on stationery, pens and ink.
Posted by: PostMuse | January 30, 2013 at 01:18 PM
Wow, I just realized how small my numbers seem compared to other members and I consider myself active in sending mail. I sent 145 letters last year...that doesn't include postcards or packages or non-personal mail items. I've got some catching up to do I guess.
Posted by: David Solomon | January 30, 2013 at 04:05 PM
That is a lot of mail. I'm not sure how much I sent in 2012, and I've only been a member since November 2012 so I didn't really pay much attention to what I mailed before then. I know I sent about 25 Christmas cards though.
One of my goals for 2013 is to write more letters, so I'll definitely be keeping track this year.
Posted by: Nicolle | January 30, 2013 at 04:41 PM
I was a bit limited on funds last year due to moving across the country but I managed to send out a total of 206 postcards (101 international, 105 within the US) & 116 letters (37 international & 79 within the US).
Posted by: Tara | January 30, 2013 at 06:32 PM
I track my outgoing, but not my incoming. I sent 1141 pieces of all mail last year, which includes letters, postcards, and packages (though far fewer of the latter). :)
Will you guys be totaling up the numbers left in the comments here?
Posted by: Melissa of craftgasm | January 30, 2013 at 11:41 PM
Well, I'm not certain how useful a total would be. After all, this is just 9 members so far...
Posted by: Donovan | January 31, 2013 at 10:03 AM
I'm thinking I did 10/week: 52 weeks/year: 520/for 2012. Maybe somewhat less, maybe somewhat more. I did keep track of every outgoing and incoming earlier in the year, through the awesome LWA correspondence log. I photographed a few. But I gave all that up as too "keeping score" because really I gave myself over to the frivolous joy of sending and receiving without thought of "did I get one from x, and should I send one to y".
Posted by: Phyllis | January 31, 2013 at 10:54 PM
I started keeping a log of letters last February and I've counted 256 pieces of mail. I didn't separate postcards from letters or mailart. I also didn't keep track of postcards I sent whilst on a three week cross country roadtrip. I sent a lot but I don't think it was enough to put me over the 300 mark. 300 seems a good goal for 2013.
Posted by: JJalltheway | February 01, 2013 at 07:48 PM