In 2024, eight-year-old English schoolgirl Georgia from Ipswich had enough. While shopping for her school uniform, she searched and searched through her local Sainsbury’s store for a pair of pants for the one simple feature boys’ pants had that girls’ pants lacked: pockets.
“They didn’t have real pockets; they just had fake ones and then we went in the boys’ and they had pockets and I thought it was unfair, so I bought boys’ trousers,” Georgia told the BBC. While she ultimately found pants she wanted in the boys’ section, she refused to do so without giving the store a piece of her mind.
She wrote a handwritten letter of complaint to the giant store chain to express her frustration. “Me and my mummy went shopping for trousers for school and we noticed there weren’t any pockets in the girls’ trousers,” said the letter. “Girls need to carry things, too! When will this change?”
While she received a letter back from Sainsbury’s saying her feedback would be considered, Georgia didn’t think that was enough. She got 56 of her classmates, including some boys, to sign a petition requesting that girls’ pants have the same pockets as the ones made for boys. She didn’t receive a response.
This year, Georgia was pleasantly surprised to find that when she and her mother went shopping for school uniforms, the girls’ trousers had wrist-deep pockets stitched in. Sainsbury hadn’t confirmed whether Georgia’s letter or petition had any influence on whether the trousers’ manufacturer made this decision, but ultimately Georgia got what she wanted.
While there is convenience in writing out an email complaint or airing grievances in the comments section of a business’ website or social media, it can also be conveniently ignored. This can be due to the business’ customer service or social media representative just scrolling past it or it getting lost in a sea of comments and complaints. The convenience works both ways, even sending a neatly-typed formal letter with a typed envelope can get lost in the pile. It’s often how small businesses grab your attention, too.
In contrast, the inconvenience of writing a letter by hand also makes it less easy for a business to outright dismiss it. The handwritten envelope stands out compared to the piles of typed-out junk mail, making it more likely for it to be opened. Handwriting needs to be thoroughly read and deciphered slowly compared to the quick scan of typed-out letters. It shows that a person took time and care into their message since they couldn’t conveniently just delete or spellcheck their grammar. Having handwritten signatures on a petition rather than digital ones will likely make more of an impact on a person or business, too.
Plus, handwriting letters is good for us mentally. It allows you to thoughtfully make your intentions known and boost your memory as well. Even in the age of text and email, handwritten letters were seen as an effective method that caused record turnout in the 2020 Presidential Election.
The next time you have a gripe with a business and want to blow off steam in the heat of the moment, go ahead and shoot an email or a tweet or a comment. But if you want to make some serious changes and have the patience, consider handwriting a letter for way to express your feelings through a tried-and-true human connection. That’s advice you can put in your pocket. Georgia’s pockets, too.
