Copying this from Postcrossing.com today. (The link will take you to their main page, but I'm not sure you can access their Blog if you're not a member and logged in.)
We’re celebrating this milestone almost exactly 2 years after the last big milestone (70 million), so it looks like our trajectory is still very stable, with an average of 5 million postcards per year.
Calculating the area of all these postcards, we know that they would be enough to carpet the Vatican with postcards two times and a half, or the area of the Forbidden City in Beijing over 1.5 times! Also, assuming each postcard weighs about 5 grams (0.17 ounces), all these postcards would weigh as much as 67 fully grown African elephants!
📯 📮💌
I've been a member of Postcrossing since May 2013. The main reason for me to join was that I inherited a lot of stamps still usable for the purpose back then. My dad was a stamp collector all his life. In his old age he lost control of the actual "collecting", but still kept subscribing to all new issues. Going through the mountains of paperwork in his study after he died, I kept finding stamp booklets here, there and everywhere...
I decided to use most of those for the purpose for which they were made, and that's how I came to join Postcrossing. (Which I had been introduced to via another blogger - Graham's brother John, for those of you who knew him!) And after I ran out of "free" stamps I have continued anyway; but because of postage rising to ridiculous heights in later years, I have gradually cut back a lot on my participation compared to earlier. (16 cards sent, and 16 received, in 2024.) I still love the basic idea of this international project, though, so I'm happy to still draw attention to it on my blog every now and then.
My last previous post about it was on World Postcard Day, 1 October 2024. Since then, I have received these below - from California, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Germany.
I stopped because I just cannot find any postcards around here at all! You have to actually order them from Amazon! Seems they were a big thing in the fifties, but maybe have gone out of style now because of e-mail and cell phones? Is must be easier to buy them there.
ReplyDeleteGinny, postcards from my own town are getting hard to find here too. The tourist office had some free ones for a while, that was great - but now they don't even sell any. I have bought other kinds of cards either online, or cheap at spring/autumn markets, or on holiday travels. And the book shop in town sells a limited selection with illustrations from children's books. Recently I haven't bought any new ones as I send less now and still have quite a few "in stock".
ReplyDeletethat is a LOT OF POST CARDS. wow! I know how much you and others enjoy it, to bad they are not making them anymore, they uses to be in every store, but that was before we could aim the cell phone at where ever we were and post it for all to see or text to a single person.. the cards were a way to say, look where I am, or where I was. now we know as soon as you do it... it was perfect for your inherited stamps
ReplyDeletePostcrossing really is a fantastic project, and your journey from inheriting a collection to becoming an active participant is inspiring. Despite the rising costs, your commitment to keeping the spirit of the project alive by sending and receiving postcards is commendable. It's lovely to hear that you still enjoy it and share your experiences on your blog.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great project and no doubt brings a lot of joy to many people, but it is not for me. Much as I love receiving any kind of snail mail (unless they are bills!), I find it hard to hand-write, and as you say, postage has gone up considerably - also, postal services in this country are becoming more and more unreliable. I know it's a downward spiral - the less we use such services, the less staff is organised for them, and they become even less reliable and more expensive...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, sounds like alot of fun, it's not often mail comes in the letterbox anymore
ReplyDeleteI've come across this on other blogs and thought it interesting and a great way to communicate.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, CJ (my brother) was very much into Postcrossing at one time anyway. He used to communicate with me by postcard too and I have many hundreds of them. I've recently been deciding what to do with them because none of them contain important messages. I assume people still collect post cards.
ReplyDelete