I’ve been using Postcrossing for five months now, and have sent and received just under 50 cards. Every time I find a new card in my PO Box it brings a smile to my face, and I’m enjoying the service even more than I thought I would.
I’ve received cards from 25 countries, although a third came from only three of them (Germany, Russia and China). I’ve sent cards to Australia and South America but not received any from either. I’ve neither sent nor received cards to Africa.
The cards themselves run the gamut from typical scenic shots to art, animals, seasonal or pop culture. Sometimes people don’t write much at all, sometimes they write a lot. Occasionally even the simplest messages bring a smile:
Most users are older women, but I did get a card from a child (complete with art!):
Some users are so experienced they have massively streamlined their work via stamps or stickers. Here’s an extreme example of a card featuring only printed stickers and no actual writing:
The variety of stamps is astonishing. Most users seem as interested in the stamps as the card themselves and take the extra effort to use interesting postage. I particularly like the unusually-shaped stamps that often come from EU countries.
Here’s an example of a card from Malaysia that included the non-postage parts from the stamp sheet. They are so big there wasn’t much space for anything else:
So of almost fifty cards which is my favorite? That’s a difficult question but I sat down and had a look and arrived at this one from Moscow:
It’s tiny – like a normal card cut in half! – and is styled to look like a Polaroid. I’ve never seen a card like this so it gets extra points for originality. Given how many I get from Russia I wonder how long before I get another tiny card?
(Of course the very best card in these five months is one I sent myself on which I drew an astonishing Freddy Mercury since the recipient mentioned she was a Queen superfan. She hasn’t received it yet…)
If you’re reading this and wondering when you’ll next have the fun of a postcard in your very own mailbox then the future looks bright! In only two days we’re off on a vacation, and you can look forward to my usual postcards in your mailbox very soon 🙂
