The project

The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you'll receive at least one back, from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Why? Because, like the author, there are lots of people who like to receive real mail.
The element of surprise of receiving postcards from different places in the world (many of which you'd probably never have heard of) can turn your mailbox into a box of surprises - and who wouldn't like that?

How does it work?

First, the short version:

1. request an address from the website
2. mail the postcard to the address
3. wait to receive a postcard
4. register the received postcard in the system

The first step is to request an address of another user to who, you must mail a postcard. You will receive the recipient's address and a postcard ID (e.g.: US-78) via email. The postcard ID uniquely identifies your postcard in the system.

You must then mail the postcard with the provided ID clearly written on it. This will allow the recipient to register your postcard on Postcrossing, thereby making you the next person whose address will be issued to the next postcrosser who requests an address to mail a postcard to.

You can have up to 5 postcards traveling at any single time. Every time one of the postcards you sent is registered, you can request another address.

Still have questions? Check out the help section, or the forum.