It's been a bit rocky for me with Postcrossing lately as I had both a recipient and a sender be very rude to me. To be honest I have considered quitting because it just seemed like a lot of aggravation for nothing.
Some senders on Postcrossing send the same card to all the people that they pull. In my opinion, it's cheating. I could buy 100 copies of the same card and send them to everybody, but I wouldn't be sending people things they've requested. I would receive nice cards, but wouldn't have the satisfaction of knowing that I sent a great card that matched a person's profile's wish. Or, I could print whatever I like on paper, for example, label paper, and try and pass that off as a postcard. Then I don't even have to buy a postcard, I can just send some badly copied photo from my archives. I can send hundreds of them at very little cost to me.
These five postcards are real postcards. One of them has been sent to other Postcrossers multiple times, but they are all lovely. Which one do you like best?
This card comes from Poland. Robert sent it and said that it is from a collection called "Moments of Colour". He says that his hometown is on the north-west of Poland, near the Baltic Sea.
I like the idea of the colour, but sad to say I loathe fried eggs and never eat them!
Spatzl
I didn't know but Spatzl is a nickname in German that means "little Sparrow" or "darling".
Bea sent this card to me and wrote that she is soon off to the Caribbean. She wishes me and my family love and also apologises for her bad English. Her bad English is better than my non-existant German, so I think she's fine!
I love dragonflies and this was a particularly gorgeous one. The wings are iridescent, as is the Mer-lion symbol in the corner.
This card has been sent to many postcrossers by the sender.
My next card is an ad card I believe. It may be for an Italian film festival, I'm not sure. My Finnish isn't as good as my German!
Tarjanneli sent this card. She didn't write anything about herself unfortunately. She wrote that Claudia Cardinale and Jacques Perrin are in the photo, and sent her best wishes.
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| Girl With a Suitcase |
A little research tells me that this is a scene from a film called Girl with a Suitcase from 1961.
A lovely card and right up my alley!
My next card comes from Canada, although it is a New York view! The sender thought I'd be tired of looking at Canada, but in all honesty, I'm not!
The sender describes herself as 21, vegan, and queer. She's going to visit Scotland to visit her girlfriend soon.
I advised her to wrap up warmly! This time of year Scotland in can be very cold and damp.
It is a very nice card, and I really do want to go to New York City some day.
Well, there you are, five great cards. Which one do you like best?I'm not sure I can pick a favourite here. I love movie cards, but I love the stamps on the Singapore card. Hmm, decisions, decisions!
Come back soon for more lovely cards!
11 comments:
I like the Spatzl card the best of this bunch.
Hi Helen,
I have been reading your adventures with Postcrossing on your blog. I joined 3 months ago and got the first
address to send to but I had been so rushed off my feet since then I didn't get a chance to send it.
When I logged into my account today I saw it was expired, which was a shame but I still wrote
off a postcard to send it anyway, because it's for a bunch of school children in the Netherlands
and I didn't want to let them down more than I already have. I had a look on the website FAQ but
I couldn't seem to see anything that says I can input when I have sent a card.
Is it entirely up to them receiving it and registering it, to show if I have sent it or not?
I don't know anyone else who does Postcrossing so I'm a tad confused
about it. I have written out 4 more postcards tonight though, but they seem to be mostly
Europe addresses coming through for me, Russia, Germany and Belarus. I did get one from China.
I love getting mail so I do hope I get some back! :)
I hope that you don't have any more bad experiences with postcrossing. I love reading your posts
with the postcards and seeing the pictures although I don't have much time to comment lately.
Kelly xxx
Thanks Crafty Tokyo Mama!
I like it too, it just isn't my favourite :-)
Hi Kelly,
Your card has expired, but if it arrives (and they register it) within a year (of you asking for the address) you'll get credit for the card, so not to worry!
You actually can't input a card. What you can do is upload a picture of the card if you have one. The only way you get credit for it is when the receiver registers it. I'm afraid that it is up to the receiver to register it. Most people are really good about doing it, so don't worry. Sad to say, schools can be a bit bad about registering cards, but hopefully you'll be okay. If it's been more than 4 weeks after you sent it without being registered, I'd send them a quick email through postcrossing.
Not sure how the Australian mail is, but from Japan, the Netherlands, Finland and usually Germany are super fast. I've had cards be registered after only 4 days...Sad to say, Russia and China are really long timers! Belarus is somewhere in the middle. If you can print out the Chinese or Cyrillic alphabet tags though it and glue them on your card, it does help a little.
I generally get 5 or 6 postcards a week now. It's usually really nice!
I did have a couple of bad experiences recently, but overall, it has been so much fun that I'll get over it soon!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I don't mind :-)
Hi Helen,
Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it! I understand more about it now. I posted my cards on Saturday morning and I hope they get there soon. Australian postal service isn't the best, especially at Christmas time. I wish it was as convenient (and cheap) as Japan. I bought quite a lot of pre-paid postcards but I see that people like to get the stamps, so next time I'll buy some stamps to put on normal postcards. It's so exciting! Looking forward to what comes back to me! :)
Good luck Kelly, I hope you enjoy this. Yes, some people are crazy about the stamps. I used to collect stamps which is why I sometimes feature the really gorgeous ones that I receive here on my blog. (I don't collect anymore, but appreciate the little works of art that they are!)
I think when people realize you are new at Postcrossing they'll understand the prepaid ones. We have those in Canada too.
DH and I spend a little bit more than we have to get really nice stamps...for some reason Japanese international stamps aren't nearly as nice as the domestic ones! Most countries are the opposite!
I also went off Postcrossing and quit. Far too risky having your address sent to just about anybody over the internet!
Bossy Thing, I went over to your blog and read your piece. I understand what you said, but I have to say that I've never had those kind of problems. I also think that because I live where I do, I'm unlikely to have them either. I never put out my full birthday, and I don't do swaps as a general rule of thumb.
I'm sorry that Postcrossing wasn't for you, but please don't try to ruin it for those of us who enjoy it.
I hate to say it but I've given up on Postcrossing too. It started out well but I found that I was only getting postcards from the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Belarus and China. Always those same countries. I guess those countries have a higher population of users but it just got to be a bit boring for me. I joined because I thought it would be exciting to get postcards from all around the world but it seemed very limited. I haven't cancelled my account yet but I haven't sent any more cards.
I still enjoy reading your posts about postcrossing though. :) I was pleased to learn about Gotochi cards from you, and when I go to Japan in 10 days time I will be going to every post office I can as we travel around Hokkaido.
Interesting. You do have to be patient...I was well over 100 cards sent and received before I got my first one from Canada! I get a lot from Finland, Germany and Belarus too, but I have received cards from Turkey, Nepal, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and India too. It depends on how many PostCrossers there are in a country.
You can check your settings and set your account to not sending to the same country over and over. That way, you'll only ever have one card travelling to one country. Before my husband changed his setting he was having all of his cards sent to Russia and that took forever! No option about where incoming ones come from though.
I like trying to make a connection to another person somewhere in the world...the postcards are important, but I'm more interested in the connections.
Just so you know, the post offices in Hokkaido will only have the Hokkaido cards...and perhaps the postbox ones. I've never seen a post office that has cards from another prefecture.
Have fun up north...dress warmly though, they still have snow up there!
Hi,
I have registered for postcrossing, and i have purchased local scenic postcards. Not alot of choice is available. I understand not everyone is interested in the same things so should i be finding cards that suit their individual interests. Three of my recipients says they are happy to receive anything. Can you make a postcard. Should i use envelopes. I did get different denominaions in the stamps. I am unsure of what to write on the card. Cheers, Robyn
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