Licking the Christmas Card envelopes to close them

Nope, never had a paper knife and never felt the need for one.
Curiosity has got the better of me now - I wonder what percentage of us own and use one.

Don’t any of you have a paper knife?
I don’t use one but if I was worried about my post then I would.
Best tip: if you don’t have a ‘proper’ one then use an ordinary knife, seems to work just as well.

Whiff ?

Oh for goodness sake. I licked all my envelopes. And all the cards etc I have received have lickable flaps. What are the chances of getting Covid off an envelope. How many of you have been to restaurants and cafes and happily had something to eat and drink. You don't know how the crockery etc has been washed and did the person putting food on your plate wear gloves ? Or sneeze or cough? And you worry about envelopes!

Ah ha Witzend perhaps it’s you and me that’s caused the viral upsurge and not the new Covid variant after all ?

Tucking in the flap of an envelope makes a trap package which the post office can reject.

Personally I wouldn’t dream of licking anything other than food.

All the cards I sent were stuck down, all the cards I received were also. Oh dear ?

I licked all mine - over 50.
If anyone has sickened or died as a result of opening my envelopes - all posted on 2nd December - I have yet to hear of it.

I tucked mine in and put a Xmas sticker on it to seal it.

I used sticker for mine but received ones stuck down just used a knife along the top to open Royal Mail is taking so long to deliver them so it would have been like leaving them for a week
I did wonder why senders didn’t consider it when sealing them YUK!

GrandtanteJE65
Love your comment

Never have and never will lick an envelope to seal and try to buy self sealing when sending or I use selotape.
I always have and always will, even before covid, washed my hands after opening my mail.Any ads /circulars pushed through my letterbox go out for recycling without first being opened. If you want to contact me then email or phone (or it can't be that important)

I haven't seen an envelope that needed to be licked for decades, most have a tacky strip to selv-seal.

When we did have the kind you needed to lick I used a sponge, as someone told me when a child that the men making the glue peed in it!

I use a letter opener, or one of my hair-pins for opening letters, so doubt that any virus comes near me.

I think you will be ok with your envelope as they have all been sat in a sack at Royal Mail for days waiting to be sorted if they have been posted . I work in a post office and we are handling hundreds of letters and parcels weekly plus notes and coins and so far none of us have had the virus , just make sure you practice good hand hygiene after opening anything you receive

We've also had unsealed cards arrive with mangled envelopes this year, inevitable if they're going through sorting machines I expect.
We used a kitchen sponge to seal ours, resorting to sellotape if all the gum came off. None of our cards had the self seal strips.
My frugal mother used to save the stickers from the Spastics Society and then seal her cards with them. She was still using them many years after the more PC "Scope" came into being, my children loved the joke when they received them. After she died there were enough left for me to use them on their cards for a couple more years.

I think that this is all overkill. The virus dies quickly when not on a living host and is transmitted by aspiration/saliva in the immediate moment. The risk of contamination is so small so please stop torturing yourself with these sort of worries. It really isn't good for your mental health.

I do the same. Apart from the hygiene aspect, the taste is disgusting, if you lick them

It seems extreme to worry about envelope licking, I don’t open the envelope along licked seam anyway. The risk must be minuscule from catching Covid from licked envelopes if hands are washed afterward opening.

There may be more risk from surfaces from folk constantly touching their masks, then contaminating surfaces, which I have seen supermarket staff and even medics doing often.

If the virus does live on envelopes then all postal workers, both delivery and sorting, would be dropping like flies.

Envelopes licked and all post opened straight away. This is all getting ridiculous!

None of the cards I sent had peel-off strips, especially the ones I make, including the envelopes. I have had covid so assuming I can't be an asymptomatic carrier but out of consideration for others I taped all of my envelopes shut.
I also sell items on eBay, and always wash my hands well and put on a mask before packing up my sales. But I'm with Olive in agreeing I see no reason to wear a mask in a car if I'm the only occupant - really don't understand why people do that.

Situpstraight2

Woodmouse I was just surprised that people are still licking the envelopes, not that I was unable to cope with receiving them!

I would have thought that after 9 months old habits might have changed.

Didn't occur to me. However I was using leftover cards from last year so I am pretty sure they are covid free and safe to lick.

And as for opening - up to the recipient!

Sorry - can’t believe the tosh

I believe all the tosh on here but hey ho!

I've always used a sponge and water to seal envelopes, can't stand the taste of that glue! Happy that stamps no longer need wetting too.