Postcards
 

We recently just started to send postcards again, hadn't done so in a long time, thought it was old fashioned. What surprises us is that the postcards seem to mean so much to people, I mean we get calls and emails thanking us for the postcards! The thing is half the time we're only sending the little postcards you find in the hotel room desk drawer, nothing special. Do yous get the same reaction when you send postcards?

My oldest niece asked me several years ago to send postcards to her young kids because they don't get any mail. I try to buy cards that are appealing to kids although sometimes I've used the ones from the hotel room. They love the cards, and I'm their favorite aunt (for other reasons, too, but this is one). As my other nieces' kids get old enough to appreciate cards, I send them postcards to them too.

I also send postcards to my invalid aunt. It's a quick way to stay in touch, and she loves seeing all the places I get to travel to.

I send them to my grandparents whenever I travel; one would think I sent them a million bucks each time.

Where do you stay? I would like to find postcards in my hotel rooms.

I've also found that many people react very favorably to postcards, and really any such physical mail (e.g., letters, packages).

Just be careful with expanding the group. I now have a few family members and friends who get impatient if they don't receive a postcard from me for a few weeks. If you travel a lot, it can make for a lot of writing (though well worth the effort).

I send postcards, and I echo what others have said about people being grateful - I usually pick out special ones - skyscrapers for a friend who likes those, castles for another friend who is really into history and haunted places, that sort of thing. I hate writing them out, because I never know what to say, but they still appreciate it even if I just say 'Hi, got into XYZ today, really tired, but saw this and thought you would like it...'

I think it means a lot to people to know you took the time out of a trip to think of them.

About 70 per trip
 

I send about 70 postcards from each major trip...perhaps once a year, and otherwise send about 10 or 12 for noteworthy but more minor trips.

The basic reason it is worth it for me is that I get to tell people that I am traveling and they are not.

And, they also like receiving them.

My niece is in kindergarten this year and the teacher asked family members to mail postcards into the class and they will lookup each city and read the postcard to the class. I have sent a postcard to her from every city I have been to including connecting airports. I can't wait to see the stack she brings home from school in about a month. :D

I'll also occasionally send postcards to other family members and friends and they all seem to appreciate it a lot!

I send postcards to a good friend of mine. I'll sit down and give a trip overview over 10 or so postcards. She enjoys seeing the sights on the cards and reading about my trip and I enjoy writing about it. One odd thing that I've noticed over the trips is one universal constant. Cards don't get there at the same time. On a recent trip to Ireland I sent all 10 cards at the same time in the same post box. They arrived over a 4 day span. Always wondered why...I mean a couple of days would be one thing....but 4?

I am a huge fan of postcards, both to receive and to send, and especially if they are sent from an unusual destination with a stamp from that destination.
Sometimes, I may be back home and sharing pictures before the postcards arrive, but everyone who receives the postcards still seems to enjoy them.

Once, a friend receive my postcard from Mexico a month after it was sent; he was completely baffled as neither the date I wrote on the card nor the postmark were easily distinguishable.

I wish more people would send postcards (and old-fashioned letters too).

Some people who receive my postcards claim that they have retained every one and keep them in a special box.

I also tend to select postcards carefully and would never send a hotel postcard except in an emergency. Typically I would consider it inappropriate to send someone a winter scene when I visited an area in the summer, etc. I do try to match up interests whenever possible, so a friend who likes trains might get a postcard on that subject.

I send postcards to my kids in college. They like to see some in the mail beside bills.

I was totally shocked at how many people are asking if we sent them a postcard (unfortunatly, the answer was no). Lots of them were people with kids who are collecting, etc. Next time, postcards to be sure.

Ditto :-) And even with the latest price increase, it's a pretty inexpensive way to brighten their week.

My kids loved postcards when they were little, but mostly ignored them as they hit high school. The one living in a college dorm rolls her eyes and says "Muh-therrrrrr" when she gets them now, but I am pretty sure she likes getting real mail.

When we travel 'for fun' we always send my nieces (and nephew) a postcard or two. They're between ages three and six and love 'getting mail.'

I have one friend I've always sent postcards to - not every trip, mostly just from vacations. She lives in the US midwest and is unlikely to ever do much travelling (funding, or the lack thereof), and says she loves getting to see different places in the world and know that someone she knows has been there.

But I really like the idea of sending them to kids -- I don't have any (kids, that is), but I bet some of my friends' kids would enjoy, thanks for the tip!

I have always made an effort to send postcards to everyone in my family when I go on a trip, as well as one to myself. I keep the ones I send to me as a souvenir and then I also know if they should have arrived at the recipients yet. I had one grandparent that died recently that had always traveled a lot in her younger years that loved to receive them and then have a discussion about the trip next time I visited. It might be an hour or two out of each trip (I spend some time to write a meaningful note to each person) but well worth it.

Quite frequently when I go to visit them they still have the cards sitting out somewhere and it becomes a discussion point. I believe it shows a lot more attention when you've gone to the effort to select a card, find a stamp, write a note, and send it back to them.

I've even gotten stories about going through the process of sending a postcard -- in Argentina right after the currency crisis it took the main post office in Buenos Aires 15 minutes to figure out how much the stamps should be to send a card to the US because of the fluctuations in exchange rates. They gave me so many stamps it took up the whole upper right corner of the postcard to get all of them on there.

I usually send postcards from major trips (European holiday etc) & they go to a lot of people. Otherwise, just occasionally. I 'cheat' a bit in that I normally mail them from the US when I return because on those type of trips it's a lot of folk, and postage is cheaper from the US. I've never had anyone notice the postmark wasn't from overeas. I also 'cheat' a bit on some of them by basically writing the same thing; I figure most aren't going to be comparing postcards.

BTW - I've gotten the same response. People like receiving them.

Cheers.

I always try to send postcards when I travel. One of my friends told me she likes to use them as part of a geography lesson as she home schools her son.

And yes, one of the reasons I do send postcards is to brag about where I've been...

Postcard pix
 

Sending cards is a great idea - especially if you are OK with the liklihood of their delivery well after you are back home.

Picture post cards are what I collect on trips. I don't carry a camera. In a good tourist trap you may get 5 or 10 for $1. They are always better pictures of the main attractions that I could possibly take myself.

Several years ago I did a 10 week RTW trip. My grandmother was living in a nursing home at the time and I visited her several times a week and I thought she might miss my visits, so I got a world map and marked all of the places I would be visiting. I then sent a postcard from each major stop on my trip, which meant my grandmother received a postcard every couple of days.

When I returned home, I visited my grandmother to find that the staff at the home had put the map up on the wall and had also mounted all of the postcards on the wall with a piece of bright coloured string linking each postcard to the correct place on the map.

The staff told me there was great excitement from my grandmother when she received each postcard.

I send many postcards, and make it part of my travel routine. I keep a list of addresses just for postcards, which I print on a single sheet of paper (small font). Then, I select 10-20 from the list (depends on the length of my trip which determines my free time) and they are the lucky recipients. Some are always on the list, like my grandmother, since she really enjoys receiving them and she's close family.

I integrate this into the "fun" of my trip. First I scout out various postcard sellers, and then have fun trying to bargain them down since I'm buying so many at once. Next, I scout around to find the post office and buy the proper stamps, which can also be an adventure in itself.

Next, I write the addresses and stamp all the postcards, but I don't write the content. Since postcards are small, I tuck a few into whatever book I'm carrying around that day (I travel very light if I'm just touring around), and find a nice cafe to sit in and watch people go by, while writing a few postcards at each place.

I must say that people really enjoy receiving my postcards, even if my handwriting isn't the best and I don't write such great prose. So few people receive anything other than bills and junk mail in the post these days, so to get something physical from a person is highly valued and remembered it seems.

Justin

If anyone is travelling in Brussels, there is a free art exhibit on at the Place St Géry that includes make-your-own postcards with dozens of rubber stamps of Brussels landmarks. I made about six myself and mailed them to friends and family...

... of course, I got home before they did... still waiting, actually.

Italian Difficulties
 

The Italian post office is quite notorious for their inefficiency.

On one trip, I received 3 different quotes for postcard rates to the U.S.

All cards appear to have been delivered, even those where the postage applied was substandard.

When I was living overseas away from my parents, I always make it a point to send one to the family back in Singapore. Just so I keep them informed of my whereabouts (sometimes I travel without telling them), and also to let them know what I've seen around the city.

Now, I am back home and don't send postcards anymore to my parents, I now send postcards to my friends whom I cannot meet due to the distance (different countries, different continents) to keep in touch.

Writing and receiving post cards is fun. What annoys me all the time -and that is the reason why I abandoned it- is chasing after stamps. You get postcards everywhere at any time but post offices etc. are hidden, closed or crowded. I just need to find an office at downtown Chicago (a friend's father died suddenly) and could not get any stamp so far... :td:

I send them to my nieces and nephew from my travels. It helps stoke their interest in travel and makes me seem like a really cool aunt

Most hotels will sell stamps at the front desk

I use

www.postcrossing.com

Its a fun way to get my grandfather some new stamps from around the world.

The one time I made an effort of writing few postcards, the postmans van was stolen that day and most of the cards I wrote were in it:rolleyes:!!

That was the last time I wrote a postcard...

I have a set of people (friends and family) who I always send postcards to (at least once a year from some trip). rarely, i will send cards to colleagues or other staff. Most of the time, people love getting these cards.

As someone mentioned above, it could be difficult to find a postoffice in a foreign country.

Got one tip from a recent trip: In Spain, the Tobacco shops sell stamps. And they are in every street corner! Open late too!

Aha, will try... Thanks!

Yup, that should work in Italy as well.

Wirelessly posted (beckoa\'s PWP wonderous poster: BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.304 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

I do the same for many folks when on a trip... I'd typically send off 15-20 cards, sometimes more then once and I'll tend to cheat w/ content as well :p

It can be a bit tedious to write that many...

Fun way to stay in touch with family, friends & other FTers ;)

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Sure was weird to buy them there... Thankfully my friend I was visiting knew the trick ;) (writing postcards on the train seems like a good idea, but rocks a bit too much :( )

Fun to send my first int'l postcards ^

I send postcards and love receiving them too.

Although people may not mention spotting that cards have been posted from back home, I bet they notice. I certainly do and TBH, it devalues the experience. It is worth going the extra mile to find stamps and sometimes it adds to the adventure. Amongst the hardest places I have been to find stamps (i.e. the ones where they are only sold from the single main post office which is never open): Mozambique, Cambodia, Lebanon, Turkey.

Postcards are fun. I try to send out a dozen or so whenever I go on a trip. Since I am lazy I print out the addresses on labels and then I just have to stick them on the postcard and write a small note.

If you ever climb Mount Fuji, be sure to bring some postcards to send. There is a post office at the summit. There is also a large assortment of ink stamps to decorate the cards with at the post office.

For a really special memory, you can mail home a physical object that says something about the location. Not in any packaging, but rather put the address and the stamps on the object itself. For example, when I was in Tonga I sent home a can of corned beef (one of their main food sources). Just wrote the address on top of the cylinder, then put the stamps all the way around on the sides. Also sent it registered mail. Be prepared to spend about 15 minutes convincing the post office staff that you really can send it through the mail.

Our mail carrier showed up one day with a bewildered look on his face and a bunch of forms to sign, saying everyone in the post office had been standing around trying to figure out what this thing was and where it came from. (This is a part of the country where most people have never owned a passport.)

I got the idea from someone who had on a shelf a large coconut which was sent through military mail about 30 years ago by his dad.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Ri9fUkM176s/TL...U/IMG_2397.JPG

As far as I know, people haven't mentioned noticing the postcard's stamp was from the US or if they did, they didn't care enough to mention it. They did care enough to say they enjoyed receiving it. :) To you it devalues the experience. To others they're happy that I thought enough of them to pick out a postcard, write & send it. To each their own on what's important. Shrug...

And my guess is I send out more postcards than the average person (40-80 at a time when I do send them), so with the exchange rate of Euro/GBP/US, it's more expensive for me to mail them from Europe or UK. If I mailed them from overseas the number of people receiving them would drop significantly. In the US I can basically send 4/$1. So I pay the extra to buy the postcards overseas w/ exchange rate, but save on the postage by sending them from the US. Works for me & so far no complaints from family & friends.

Cheers.

Postcards getting hard to find?
 

Yes, I realize I am resurrecting a very old thread. But I have noticed in the last couple of years that I do not see postcards displayed when traveling like I used to. Even when actively looking for them, sometimes they are just not to be found. I still mail some, but also like to get them more to commemorate where I have been and what I saw. I have my pictures, but the postcard versions are often better. I was there on a cloudy, rainy day, but the postcard shows blue skies and sunshine with no annoying people in the foreground :D. Or the cathedral/castle/abbey is undergoing restoration with lots of scaffolding but the postcard shows the attraction without the clutter. A view from above is also nice for a large site (but hard to get without access to a helicopter or balloon)..

I found this from 2019, and that was before the world shut down. I am sure that also contributed to a further decline in postcard production and availability.
"Just a few decades ago, more than 20 million postcards were sold each year around the world, but now it has decreased by almost 75% to just 5 million. Many publishers are closing or decreasing their production to respond to the decline in demand."

It seems like another relic of travel days gone by is slowly fading away. I think that most people now would rather just message/email/text an image from their phone. However, I am not most people.

I still find and buy postcards during travel, as my older uncle doesn’t use internet. I definitely struggle to actually write and mail him a postcard; finally mailed one last week from Palm Springs that I bought in December. Now to mail one from Kuau’i from February…

I have NOT yet struggled to buy a postcard which probably means that I’m in the areas catering to tourists :-)

mostly I whine about the cost. I’m stuck in the 5/10/20 for a dollar era and now they can cost $0.50 apiece !!!!