Online retailers such as eBay and Amazon may have breathed new life into postal services around the world, but one stalwart of the mail is disappearing rapidly.
Research carried out with 2,000 adults in the UK has found that just under half (46%) have never sent a postcard and only 16% still regularly post a message home to friends, colleagues or family.
Just 55% of people have received one over the course of the past 12 months.
But does this mean travellers are avoiding that connection with folk back home? On the contrary, inevitably, with three out of five travellers using mobile SMS to keep in touch.
Around 40% will call back to the UK when travellers, while a third will use Facebook to post messages and upload pictures and other content.
Emailing features in the activities of 29% of travellers, the poll found.
Just 1% of those questioned in the study shunned any form of contact back home, while over a quarter will communicate several times a day.
So what is the problem with postcards (apart from the rise of mobile)?
Snail mail is living up to its name, with 38% claiming the process was too long to get messages home and 36% suggesting that finding a place to purchase stamps and a post box was a negative factor.
Ironically, given that many people post content on Facebook and Twitter that can be seen by anyone, one in ten claim their reason for snubbing the humble postcard is because they are "worried about the postman reading their holiday musings".
The poll was commissioned by mobile network provider O2.
NB:Postcard image Shutterstock.