It’s an Aerogram!

Do you remember aerograms?  Aerograms were a single sheet of paper with gummed edges that had to be folded and sealed.   No enclosures were permitted, and you could not even use tape to seal them.  The cost was less than sending an airmail letter.   

In 1985, aerograms came franked with 36¢ postage.  It cost more than sending a postcard via airmail (33¢) but less than an airmail letter (44¢). The cost difference today seems quite insignificant even considering it was nearly 40 years ago.  But when you’re a student, you’ll always do something to save a few cents. 

 

You could fill the aerogram with as much writing as you could fit — write small or better yet, use a typewriter.  The rule was you just couldn’t put anything inside an aerogram. 

 

In the 1990s, as more people started having access to email, the aerogram was destined to become obsolete.  The U.S. Postal Service discontinued them in 2006.  In Britain they lasted until 2012. Very few countries offer them anymore. Australia still has them for sale. 

At a recent San Francisco Correspondence Co-op meeting I found these unused aerograms on the swap table. I knew I had to take them to do a series of mail art. I wonder if some of my recipients will even know what aerograms are.

  

Remember the Aerogram

The latest mail art I received from R.F. Côté  came enclosed in an unused aerogram.   Aerograms were typically sold by postal services with pre-printed, or franked postage.  This Canadian one cost a mere 15¢ at the time it was sold, I assume back in the 1970s.  Reg had to add some additional 21^st Century postage to guarantee I would receive it.

The trick with aerograms is they were made of thin, airmail paper and had to be folded and sealed by the sender.  No enclosures were permitted.  Their light weight meant they cost about 30% less to send than an airmail letter.  

In most countries they were purchased directly at the post office with the pre-printed postage. You could also find ones at office supply stores where you would then need to affix a postage stamp.

With an aerogram, once the writer had filled the page, they were finished.  If you typed, you could cram a lot into that letter.  Back in the 1980s they were an affordable way I and my college-aged friends would communicate.  As email became popular in the 1990s the use of aerograms started to wane.  The US Postal Service offered them until 2006, but I can’t imagine the sold many in that final decade.