The Round Robin annual letter

I received my first two on returning home from the festive period away visiting family. One was from someone I hadn't heard from in months.... and she had lots and lots to say (with reasons why she was unable to reply earlier) but did scribble neatly something meant specifially for me, and the other was from someone who had corresponded recently. The latter was more of a letter from my penpal's family, and I think it may have been written by the partner of my penpal.

My mother receives round robins from a family friend who did live in the same street but moved overseas. She has received these for the last 20+ years, and so we've been annually updated about about their lives.

While this type of letter, is good for those who do not correspond very often and the same words are meant to be sent to many people, it is not really the best form of letter for regular (well, annually is regular) more frequent correspondence. I haven't sent, I don't think, this form of letter as I believe in tailoring my correspondence to the recipient. Having said that, I do not object to receiving this type of correspondence, if, like the first one mentioned, can add on a bit just for me (the recipient).