Due to frankly ridiculous rises in postage over the last few years, I've gradually been cutting down a great deal on participation in Postcrossing (anonymous postcard exchange with strangers). But I'm still a member, and 1st October is World Postcard Day, so yesterday and today I've been writing a few cards and letters - both for Postcrossing and to some regular correspondents of mine.
Postcrossing was launched on July 14, 2005. The website platform was built by Paulo Magalhães, a Portuguese software engineer who loved receiving postcards but did not know many people he could exchange them with. So he coded a website on his free time with the goal of connecting him with other people who also enjoyed sending and receiving postcards. What started as a small side project quickly became a worldwide hobby, shared by many postcard enthusiasts. To date, over 57 million postcards have been exchanged through the platform, with thousands more on the way.
https://worldpostcardday.com/history
Statistics from the Postcrossing website, today:
Below are two collages of Postcrossing cards I've received so far in 2024 (and I have sent as many, i.e. about one per month):
When I first started participating (in 2013) it was because I had inherited a lot of still valid and usable stamps, and decided that the best way to use them was to send them out into the world, as that was what they were intended for in the first place... A decision I don't regret - and it was definitely the right time for it, before postage started skyrocketing! (Had I waited a few years longer, I would have needed so many of those old stamps on the back of each card that it would hardly have left room for the address, let alone anything else...)
My total collection of received postcrossing cards is now over 1000 - which is another reason to cool it down a bit now... (From storage point of view, it would have been better to just keep the old stamps! But not half as fun...)
14 comments:
I had never heard of this until today. Such a lovely idea.
We have just recently got rid of a large boxfull of 40 years worth of postcards. Sad, but just taking up space.
As you say, the cost of postage stamps now renders postcard sending a luxury these days.
I like it. But for me, it is almost impossible to find postcards anywhere. So you need to resort to buying them on Amazon.
JayCee, I'm happy this post was read by someone not already familiar with the project - even if you might not be tempted to join :)
Ginny, postcards are becoming harder to find here as well. For my own part, during my most active years in postcrossing, I also managed to collect (buy) enough unwritten cards to probably last me several years yet (as I now don't write as many any more)... I'm still always tempted to buy more when i do happen to find some nice ones, though! ;-)
It is nice that something like postcrossing exists, even though I do not intend to participate. But I like your reminders of it here on your blog, and the cards you have showed us here over the years.
These stamps look like paintings
I never got involved in Postcrossing for many reasons not least of which is the number of letters I write. It was, as you know, one of CJ's interests.
Thanks Meike. I have truly enjoyed partaking and am still a fan of the project, even if I have now cut down a lot.
These are postcards and not stamps - but stamps too are of course little works of art in themselves.
Graham, I'm pretty sure it was from CJ that I first heard about Postcrossing - and that in turn also led to a long-lasting private postcard correspondence between us... 12 years, hundreds of cards... (Which I collected in chronological order in three binders of plastic photo pockets - something I'm glad of now as that makes them easy to return to...)
I was unfamiliar with Postcrossing, but it does seem like fun. I remember those days when physical mail was a bit of a lifeline, and the excitement of receiving an airmail envelope with its decorative border. If I am not mistaken, some countries are now contemplating shutting down postal service altogether in the face of electronic communication and cheaper and more efficient parcel delivery services. I wonder about stamp collectors too now that stamps are of the peel-and-stick variety.
David, in my early childhood there were two deliveries on weekdays + one on Saturdays. Now we're down to deliveries two or three times per week, either Mon-Wed-Fri or Tue-Thu. I was always a letter-writer ever since I was 10 y.o. or so. But for me too it's more emails and other internet communication these days. For one thing it is undeniably quicker... I do hope I won't see postal services abandoned altogether in my lifetime, though. But who knows...
Although I've read your experiences with Postcard crossing, I don't think I've ever read about it anywhere else and didn't know that 1/10 was World Postcard Day. Everytime I walk past a gift shop here, with the racks and racks of postcards, I often wonder if anyone actually buys them anymore. Perhaps being a holiday area means that there is still a demand.
Carol, I'm not surprised if postcards are still easier to find in "touristy" places - even if the tradition of sending tourist postcards has probably also largely been replaced by Facebook greetings and text messages with one's own photos!
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