The popularity of traditional British seaside postcards has diminished significantly due to advancing technology and rising stamp prices. Lynn Sadurskia, a pensioner owning the Little Gems gift shop in Blackpool, reports a sharp decline in postcard sales, corroborated by shop owners in Bridlington and other coastal resorts. The Postcard Traders Association (PTA) confirms that text messaging and telephones have supplanted postcards as a primary communication method but maintains that postcard collecting remains a thriving hobby.

The PTA’s Mark Wingham attributes the decline partly to increased stamp costs, noting that postcard sending has drastically decreased since the Edwardian golden age when the Royal Mail managed 800 million postcards annually. Meanwhile, younger generations, like 19-year-old Lucy from a gift shop near Pleasure Beach, view postcards as obsolete, preferring digital alternatives.

Despite this shift, some shops still stock postcards, mainly for collectors or tourists who frequently wander off with them, seeing them as mere flyers. Darryl, a novelty shop owner, continues to sell postcards among various other items, driven by customer requests, though he admits it’s not a primary product. While fewer postcards are sold, they haven’t completely vanished, maintaining their charm among certain nostalgics and collectors.