Back in the day, everyone used to either collect or use postcards. Letters were the main way for people to communicate with others. Nowadays, it’s almost like a joke. This is especially true when you consider all the bad press that the post office gets, coupled with the fact that you can instantly send a message to someone across the other side of the world. Back in the day, about 20 million postcards were sold annually. That number is now down by about 75%, and this decline is just accelerating.
With apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp, what’s the point of sending a physical letter anymore? The only thing that made postcards unique is the fact they came with various photos of beautiful locations on them. With technology, it’s fairly easy to get photos of anywhere you like, whenever you want them, which makes the whole postcard thing obsolete.
Millennials Expect Companies to Make Charitable Donations
An interesting piece of data that has recently surfaced, is that a majority of millennials claim that they expect the brands and companies that they purchase from to make donations to various charities. It seems that today’s generation has a strong moral sense, just like our previous generation. The only difference is that this compass is aimed outside, mostly focusing on society-level changes, rather than on a set of personal values and how each individual can help the community.
This becomes quite clear when we see the top brands in the world, like Microsoft, Google, and Starbucks, and see that many of them prioritize values such as inclusion, equality, environmentalism, and more, almost using them as advertisements.
They Absolutely Love Buying Mobile Phones
Let’s face it, millennials are absolutely addicted to their phones. Phone sales have peaked in recent years, with some millennials forking their last few dollars (sometimes even going in debt) just to buy the brand new iPhone. In the past, these devices used to be about simple communication and practical necessity. Nowadays, many millennials treat their phones as status symbols, showing just how sophisticated they are for having the latest Android or iPhone.
There has been a small resurgence of classic phones in recent years, with companies like Motorola trying to revive their dead flip-phone model, this time with a touch screen. Phone technology has stagnated recently, with the biggest improvements usually being around cameras and social media fluidity. However, we do expect to see a very different set of mobile phones in the next few years.
Napkin Sales Are Rapidly Declining
Back in the days when family dinners were still a thing, families used to need a large amount of napkins due to the mess associated with such meals. You’d have many napkins scattered across the table, usually one or two for each guest, and another pack of them in the middle of the table. In today’s modern age of fast food, and much more streamlined eating, people don’t really buy napkins anymore, because they simply don’t use them.
Millennials are much more prone to just using their shirt or a towel to clean their food leftovers. There was an important consumer studies report that made this fact extremely clear. Less than two decades ago, about 60% of households reported they buy napkins. Today, that number is just about 40%.
Millennials Hate Business Suits
Almost every adult who has worked in the corporate sector used to wear suits in the ‘80s and ‘90s. You would walk across the streets of Manhattan and be surrounded by men and women everywhere wearing business attire. Nowadays, we have a much more laid-back style of work in various businesses, especially tech companies, which cause most millennials to go to work in either casual or even beach attire.
There’s only a handful of industries that still require the classic business attire. These are mostly professions where optics are just as important as performance. We still have people in law and finance wearing suits, but almost every other industry has ditched these in favor of more casual T-shirts and denim jeans. If you take a look at some of the younger billionaires in the US and Europe, you’ll notice that most of them dress like your average college student.