Birthday cards and handwritten letters will no longer be delivered at the weekends from October 21 onwards.

Isle of Man Post Office announced the move to weekday-only deliveries was a ’response to reducing customer demand’ and will save £500,000 a year.

How will this affect the public? We asked island residents when they last posted a letter.

’I don’t write letters and I’ve never sent one,’ Alex Buzan, 28, from Douglas, said.

His friend Alex Radu, 22, from Douglas, said the same.

’I would send a letter if I knew how. I think letter writing has more meaning to it. When you got one in the post you enjoy opening it.

’Nowadays you’re just sending an online message and when you get one you might read it,’ Mr Radu said.

Both men are from Romania where sending letters was a main form of communication until about 2005, Mr Buzan said. He added: ’Romania wasn’t as evolved as the rest of the world. Now the Post Office there I think has died.’

Judith Oates, 77, of Ballamodha, sends cards often having recently sent one to her grandson through the post.

She said: ’What hasn’t done the Post Office any favours is social media. Letters are just not getting posted anymore.’

Her friend Rosie Clare, 76, from Castletown, said: ’I send a lot of cards and thank you cards. It’s nice to get a card in the post because it’s more personal.

’As long as they don’t scrap the postal system, I don’t care [about the cut].’

Judith continued: ’The only issue is that when you send a birthday card it won’t arrive in time if it’s during the weekend. At our age it doesn’t matter, but for a child it’s disappointing.

’It’s all about sending birthday messages on Facebook. I think that’s a cop out.’

Peel resident Chris Gregory, 39, decided last week to send more letters than online messages.

’I’ve started doing it with a couple of people. It’s all handwritten, nothing is typed up,’ he said.

’It takes away all that pressure of having a constant bombardment of instant communication and having to reply right away. The relationship between the parties has been more personal through letter sending.

’My grandparents, who met in the Netherlands, kept in touch just through letters during the Second World War. We’ve still got them.’

He has concerns that if there are further cuts it may lead to the island losing a part of its history and culture.

His question in regards to the cut is: ’What effect is that going to have on people’s jobs there?’

Joanne Creedon, 35, from Peel, is a solicitor. She said: ’I write letters for work and post about 10 letters a day. They’re documents that cannot be sent by email. Personally I don’t send letters through the post. I send emails and online messages because it’s instant and you know it’s being delivered.’

Darren Hands, 29, of Onchan, doesn’t write letters.

He said: ’The number of people using the postal service is on the decline, but we still need it to get stuff delivered. Technology has made a big difference. It helps people with disabilities communicate using FaceTime and Facebook Messenger.’