4 Pros and 4 Cons of Letter Writing

Over the past 3 days, I've talked about sending letters, the benefits of writing letters, and the benefits of wax seal stamps. Today, as the last post on this, I wanted to focus on something a little different, but still related to the topic. 

You may be thinking, "But, HBR, you've already talked about letter writing so much for the past few days. How could you talk about it more?" Well, here's the thing: I've talked about my thoughts on it, the benefits of letter writing, and the benefits of wax seal stamps (mostly aesthetic, but fun too). I haven't really discussed the pros and cons of letter writing.

As a result, here are 4 pros and 4 cons of letter writing.

Pro 1: You can improve your writing, both in how it looks and word choices.

I've noticed that I've been able to improve my word choices, my handwriting, and so much more just through writing letters to friends and family. Since I'm a history major and will be writing for the rest of my life, this has really helped me. Additionally, it will continue to help me for as long as I need. Even if you're not going to do much writing with your future career, it'll still help to some extent.

Pro 2: There's no pressure to have "perfect writing" in how your writing looks and/or the content of your letter(s).

Although letter writing can help you improve your writing, you are only writing to friends and family. As a result, your letters to friends and family don't need to be polished and perfect letters. You're not writing to a president or other celebrity. It's perfectly okay to be completely casual in your letters.

Pro 3: Stamps are relatively cheap, so you can buy a lot in one go.

I've occasionally encountered the problem of running out of stamps. As a result, I needed to take a brief break until I got more stamps. However, stamps are on the cheap side, so it's easy to buy a lot of stamps in one purchase. Once you do this, you don't have to worry about running out of stamps for some time. However, I do recommend keeping tabs on how many more stamp sheets you gave. That way, if you're on your last sheet, you know and you can buy more stamps before you completely run out.

Pro 4: If you have a friend or family member who doesn't have any social media and isn't great with technology, it'll lift their spirits to receive a letter.

If this is the case, writing that friend or family member a letter may be the best way to connect with them. It may be a while before you can actually send them a letter, depending on how long it takes them to send you their address. However, this is a great way to stay in contact with people.

Con 1: It's time-consuming.

It doesn't matter how relaxed or busy your schedule is. Writing letters requires you to sit down and actually writing. You need to set up the envelope - your address, the recipient's address, and the stamp - and then you need to write the letter or card. Additionally, depending on how much you're writing in the card or letter, it could take 30+ minutes. And not everyone has that 30+ minutes to sit down and write a letter.

Con 2: If you hit a really busy point in your schedule, it's highly probable that you'll forget to respond.

This works on both sides of the scale: both for you and for the person you're pen palling with. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: "busy" looks different for every single person. So if you don't get a response in the usual time, just realize they may be a bit busier than normal, which prolongs the time before you get another letter (or vice versa). So this is something to keep in mind.

Con 3: It can be hard to stay up-to-date with someone's address, especially if actual letters are few and far between.

I mentioned in the post on September 9 that you should try to keep updated with people's addresses, and you should try to make sure your pen pals have your updated address. However, this can be really difficult to do. So it's perfectly fine to reach out to people to make sure you have the right address.

Con 4: If a friend or family member is not so great about responding to social media messages (text, DMs, etc.), this probably leaks over into how quickly they respond to letters.

If they respond quickly on social media or via text, then they'll probably respond relatively quickly to letters. However, if this isn't the case, they may not respond as quickly to letters. This is another thing to keep in mind, mainly because you may want to write to everyone and anyone whenever you can. However, if you haven't gotten a response in a while, you may not know if one is on the way or not.

Letter writing, while fun, has its pros and its cons. I do highly recommend it as a hobby, whether you pen pal with friends or family or just send out a letter or two every now and then. However, I do suggest considering your personal schedule.

Additionally, it can be awkward to attempt to send out letters. This is especially true in today's climate with Covid still going around. I've handed most of my letters to the mailman/mailwoman who delivers my mail at my house (this is, of course, Mondays through Saturdays). If you have the possibility of removing the need to go to the post office or having to interact with a mailman or mailwoman (i.e. your mailbox is a mailbox and not just a mail slot), then go for that if you'd like to stay safe and send letters. Do what you feel most comfortable with while sending out letters.