Not everyone has a cell phone. I don't have a cell phone, so calling long distance does cost me a lot. So I avoid it as much as possible. If someone from out of town emails that they would like to talk, I ask them to call me in a given timeframe so I won't have to pay long distance. And I'm talking single calls costing $30 to $40 and more.

Of course you write letters in cursive. Businesses type boring waste of time letters. Handwriting means you actually care about the person. If you type a letter, they might figure you just sent them a mail merge letter that also went to others.