Pre-printed labels for Christmas Cards?

[Audrey Quest]

What is the consensus on this?
 
There was one person who I was planning on trimming from the list this year.  (There are people who live 2000 miles away that I see more often.)  But, we received a card from them today.
 
It was personally signed by someone in the family for the family, but the address was a computer printed label.
 
They are probably just putting all the cards in a pile, signing them and stuffing the envelopes and then sticking the address on them.

What do you think?   

Hubby thinks we should send one anyway b/c the husband of the family is a prof at our son's college and they might run into each other from time to time.  We probably will.
 
So, two questions:
protocol for trimming the list
how do we feel about computer printed address labels

[majorboredom]

For my personal Christmas cards (all ten of them) I write out the addresses. 

At work, where I alone am responsible for over 300 cards?  You better believe I use pre-printed labels. 

I think there are worse things, but if their list is small and they still use them, I'd probably be a little miffed.

[jimithing]

I didn't realize that this was a faux pas.  I see nothing wrong with a preprinted address label.  I could honestly care less. All I care about is that I don't get a preprinted card, with a signature.

[allygmail]

I use pre-printed labels - if that is tacky, that is one faux pas I am willing to keep.     I'm also using Yoda stamps b/c I liked them more than the Christmas ones this year.

[gjcva1]

my handwriting really stinks, so thank the Gods for labels where i can type in addresses and print labels.  i also do pre-printed return address labels.  i have very little strength in my hands (early arthrites, i think), so if i had to hand address our  Christmas cards, including the return address, there would be very few cards sent.  

OP, they signed the card by hand.  maybe they have some of the same issues that i do?

[LissaR1]

The post office wishes I would use pre-printed labels, because my handwriting also stinks!  With the increase in technology at the post office, I imagine that preprinted labels matter more to your mail people than your recipients!

[Audrey Quest]

I didn't mean to imply that it was tacky and certainly in a business situation I would expect printed labels.
 
The card I was posting about is the only one I have received that is not addressed by hand.
 
We really don't socialize with those folks anymore--for various and sundry reasons. I have pared my list down a lot and added a few new people whom I am close to now.
 
I just kind of got the impression from the computerized address label that they are just sending out the same Christmas list they always have and that there is no need to pare it down because not much work goes into it one way or the other.
 
I remember when pre-printed signatures were the thing to do.  One would order their cards early so that they could be specially printed for them.  But, then they were hand addressed.
 
I guess the thing is that if you are sending cards out to your friends to wish them well, why wouldn't you hand address them unless you are an especially busy person.
 
In years past when I had a job that made me especially busy during this season and I had 3 young children at home, there were years where we did not send out cards at all.
 
We may have computer addressed them a few times but it was more due to my being busy and hubby wanting to use new technology.
 
From reading the comics I get the sense that some people don't even mail Christmas cards but send them via email.  Haven't gotten any of those yet.

What criteria do you use as to who gets a card and who doesn't?  And who gets chopped from the list?

[Brentwood]

In the case you describe, Ckimoo, it would bother me. I'm gathering that the card itself did not have your name written on it, so it sounds to me as if someone just signed a stack of cards and put them in the envelopes and may not even realize who all they were sent to.

I do not mind pre-printed address labels as long as the card INSIDE says something like "Merry Christmas, Cathy!" or otherwise indicates that some thought was put into who is receiving the cards.

[Bijou]

What is the consensus on this?
 
There was one person who I was planning on trimming from the list this year.  (There are people who live 2000 miles away that I see more often.)  But, we received a card from them today.
 
It was personally signed by someone in the family for the family, but the address was a computer printed label.
 
They are probably just putting all the cards in a pile, signing them and stuffing the envelopes and then sticking the address on them.

What do you think?   

Hubby thinks we should send one anyway b/c the husband of the family is a prof at our son's college and they might run into each other from time to time.  We probably will.
 
So, two questions:
protocol for trimming the list
how do we feel about computer printed address labels

If I get a card, I send one.  (except for my uncle and a couple of other people.  I send to them every year, regardless). 
I only send ten or eleven.  Our immediate family and people we see all the time don't send, except for my niece and she really loves the season and all that goes with it.  Almost all, if not all, of the people I send to are out of town.
About computer printed address labels, I don't mind.  Maybe they have trouble writing or have lousy handwriting or something, or have such a huge list it would take them forever. 

[daybarb]

Pre-printed labels don't bother me at all.

[Trisha]

I didn't realize that this was a faux pas.  I see nothing wrong with a preprinted address label.  I could honestly care less. All I care about is that I don't get a preprinted card, with a signature.

I do too, I have horrid handwriting! I do the addresses in red cursive font and the return address in green. I have to admit I did my outer wedding envelops with printed labels too. I didn't know it wasn't acceptable. I did handwrite the interior.
I always put a message inside, I don't just sign.

[rmk1]

So, two questions:
protocol for trimming the list
how do we feel about computer printed address labels

I personally think mechanically addressed envelopes (including labels) for personal correspondence is awful. Labels are for business mass-mailings.

Protocol for trimming the list is too personal of a decision to really give any input on.

[Audrey Quest]

I personally think mechanically addressed envelopes (including labels) for personal correspondence is awful. Labels are for business mass-mailings.

Protocol for trimming the list is too personal of a decision to really give any input on.

But am I obligated to send them a Christmas card just because their computer list still spits us out?
 
I have maybe seen the husband of this family one time in the last 12 months--maybe--I must have run into him at church at some point.  He is a good friend of another friend of mine.
 
I don't think I have seen or spoken to the wife for several years.  Essentially I have trimmed and plumped my list so that we are sending cards mainly out of town except for close friends and some business contacts who are also nominally friends--at least people who I interact with at least 3-4 times a year.
 
But, if someone sends me a card, am I automatically obliged to send them one in return?
 
I think I would feel different if the message had been personal.  It just said "Love, Don, Sally, Gretchen, Buddy and Mark"  and our name and address was printed on a fairly low quality label--there was nothing Christmassy about it--its the type of thing you see on advertisements and junk mail that is sent.
 
I realize that I am making a mountain out of a molehill and I will probably end up sending them a card in return.  But, our relationship with them has kind of run its course, I don't see us getting together in the future and I guess I don't want it to linger on. 

I'll go climb back on my molehill.  (It has 6.02 X 10 ^23 grains of sand in it    )

[Audrey Quest]

While I can understand people wanting to use printed address labels, I think the excuse of it not being legible is kind of lame.  People write letters every day and hand address them.  Are we becoming such a virtual world that no one can write anymore?
 
It's not the easiest thing for me either to hand address my envelopes, but I figure if my list is so big that I need labels then it needs to be pared down because I am just not that close to that many people.
 
If you do a few cards at a time over 2 or 3 weeks, it shouldn't be very hard to address 15-20 cards legibly.
 
I wonder if others like me kind of wonder about sending a card in return when the card sent is kind of impersonal.  So much of the mail that I get has my name computer printed (because it is bills or junk) that is truly is a treat to get something hand-written.  There are exceptions, but when I see my name and address hand-written, I know it is personally for me!  And that is fun!
 
I just wonder what the point is if it is just to buy the cards, print the labels, stuff the Christmas letter in there, scratch a sig and send it off.  Seems like it would be better not to bother at all.
 
At the very least, use some creativity in creating the labels so that they look festive;  not the same thing you use to send out bills.  Different colors, fonts or even a sticker or two makes it a more personal experience especially if you have trouble writing.
 
It's been so long since I have had to write by hand a lot that I am concerned that I will flub most of my envelopes.  I used to have clear crisp writing--this is going to take some effort. 
 
Maybe I'll buy some stickers!

[Aeris]

I never had any idea this was considered a faux pas. I would write a personalized handwritten note inside, and sign it, but everything on the outer envelope is for the post office, in my opinion. The inside part is for the person. If I can use preprinted labels, and return address labels, I've never thought for a nanosecond about it.