Today marks the 20th anniversary of Postcrossing: the site where you can send and receive postcards from all over the world! For each postcard you send, you’ll receive one in return – all randomly! The more cards you send, the more you’ll get in return!
I joined Postcrossing almost three years ago after learning about it from my penpals and decided to give it a try since it sounded easy and it was free! After creating an account, you can request an address to send the postcard. Each postcard has a unique ID that you write on the card (i.e. all the ones from UK start with GB), fill out your chosen postcard and send it off! After the recipient receives it, they will register it online using the ID. Then you wait for your card to be sent! It won’t be from the same person you sent to, it will be from another random Postcrosser.
In the few years I have been on Postcrossing, I have sent almost 200 postcards. That isn’t as much compared to others who have been on it for longer! I’ve also unfortunately, have had to cut back on how many official ones I send because of the cost of stamps continuing to rise here in the UK. I haven’t sent any since January and probably won’t send any more until World Postcard Day in October.
However, to satisfy my want for sending postcards, but without the cost of international stamps, I have been joining in on the British Isles Round Robin on the Postcrossing Forum. The forum section of the website has a lot of “games” to join in, find out about meetups around the globe, swap postcards or stamps with others, or even find a penpal! I like doing the round robin because each one is themed, so you try and find a postcard that will match the theme and send one to a few other people.
Meetups are another popular part of Postcrossing. I’ve only been to one in London and there were a lot of people who joined for the day! The meetups can be specifically themed for a celebration (anniversary of meetups, World Postcard Day) or just a time to meet in a unique place and meet like-minded Postcrossers.
My favourite part of Postcrossing overall has to be when someone reads your page and tailors the postcard they’ve chosen specifically for you. I love Pokémon, so I’ve gotten some wonderful Pokémon postcards – someone even sketched Jigglypuff on the envelope! You can tell when someone really puts thought into what they choose for you. I’ve also had lovely comments back on mine of what I’ve chosen for people, telling me that it made their day or that they’ll hold onto it forever.
Now that I’ve talked about the positives of Postcrossing, there are some negatives. You have to be extremely patient with this hobby, especially when starting out. After 60 days, postcards become expired – meaning that another slot for you to request a new address will be available. I’ve had postcards never be delivered and it is sad. Some countries I notice take longer to be delivered, such as Russia and India. People are also busy, so they might not have the time to register your card right away, too!
Another negative is some people being so picky on their account pages, where it feels like a list of demands rather than a suggestion. It isn’t allowed to be demanding as this isn’t a collecting site. I’ve heard of some people also getting postcards written with negative things or when they ask for no religous/political cards they will be sent exactly that. Those people do take away from the fun of it all.
I hope this has gotten you interested in learning more about Postcrossing (and maybe even signing up!). To find out more visit, Postcrossing’s website.
xx Hannah
Idealistic Iowan 