Thank you cards the latest U.S. casualty

NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The handwritten thank you card -- something first lady Jackie Kennedy raised to an art form in the 1960s -- is nearly a lost art in the United States.

While 70 percent of people in a 2001 Emily Post Institute survey said sending thank you cards is appropriate, few do so today.

The trend reflects short attention spans, busy lives and the rise of electronic communications to make the United States a pretty ungrateful nation, USA Today reported.

Even electronic thank you cards do not cut the mustard, etiquette experts told the newspaper.

The trend prompted Anna-Marie Ganje of Minneapolis to include thank you notes in Christmas gifts she sent to her nieces and nephews plus a handwritten note.

"If I do not hear a reply from you on receipt of this package, do not expect another gift" ever, she told the newspaper.

Ganje said she had not received a single response and does not expect to get any.