Most Americans haven’t sent or received a personal letter in more than five years: poll

The majority of Americans polled in a new CBS News survey said they haven’t sent a handwritten letter in the mail in over five years.

Thirty-seven percent of the 1,717 respondents in the poll, conducted Sept. 14-20, said it had been at least half a decade since they wrote a personal letter.

The second-highest percentage of people polled, 31 percent, fell into the category of 12 months or less of not sending such letters. Sixteen percent of respondents said that it had been between one and five years since they’d mailed a personal letter, while 15 percent said they never had, according to poll results published by CBS News.

The percentages were essentially the same as when respondents were asked when the last time was that they had received a letter, with 35 percent saying it was either over five years ago or within the past year.

Older and younger people responded similarly when asked when they had written personal letters in recent years, however, those aged 18-44 were far more likely to have never sent a letter than their counterparts. 

Women were also found to be more recent letter writers.

The CBS News survey, conducted by YouGov, has a margin of error of 2.7 points.