The family-owned publisher J. Salmon Ltd., which has been publishing postcards and calendars for nearly 140 years, is slated to close this month.
Operating out of Sevenoaks, Kent, since 1880, Salmon—the oldest postcard and calendar publisher in Britain—announced its plans to “withdraw from publishing” this fall.
“Increasingly challenging trading conditions and changes to the nature and size of the market for its publications have resulted in uncertainty over the viability of its trade,” said brothers Charles and Harry Salmon, who are the fifth generation of Salmons to operate the business, in a statement released in September.
The Salmons said the publishing business is no longer viable owing to the surge of social media, which is being used to share information that formerly would’ve been reserved for the correspondence side of a postcard. The brothers also cited the ongoing trend of shorter vacations as another reason why less people are buying and sending postcards.
The amount of postcards sold each year has fallen to about five million cards—down 15 million cards from 25 years ago. Because of the state of the industry, the Salmons also noted “there are no more members of the family who wish to join the business.”