What if you could send a postcard today, and schedule the date in which it should arrive? Wouldn’t that be handy for birthday postcards and other such messages? Well, there’s a place in the Netherlands where you can do this – and eat cake while doing it too! Your postcards get put on a “date slot” in a giant calendar wall, ready to be mailed when the day comes… it’s genius! :)
We invited Tiny Klever, the owner of this magical postcard-café to tell us more about it. Here’s her story:
“Dude!” the 12-year old boy said to his friend. The friend apparently made some ‘childish’ remark when the two of them were looking for postcards. They were quick to choose, however, and bought five.
“Are they the youngest customers you ever had?” one of my regulars, a 69-year old retired university lecturer drinking his second fat free cappuccino, asked.
“Without parents, definitely.” I said.Francobolli is a place where you, while drinking coffee or tea, can choose a postcard (we have 300 to 400 different kinds for you to choose from), write it, and have it send on any day you want. The Postcard Café, one of my English guests once called it.
Often children come with their parents and a lot of them already know that when visiting Francobolli they get to choose a card, they may write and send it. To thank grandma for staying over, to congratulate friends with their birthday or to send it to one of their siblings who is not present. As one of the mothers asks her eldest boy when they are having Sunday brunch with us: “Who deserves a postcard today?”
(Viggo (on the right) sends a card to his grandparents, thanking them for staying over and letting him eat a lot of junk food.
Photo: Martine de Clercq)There are students from fraternity houses who spend one afternoon every half-year writing birthday cards to all of their friends. They barely have time to drink their fresh mint tea or eat their sandwich. See them scribbling away, iPad at the ready, discussing which card fits whom, checking addresses and making sure they get the dates right. Because all these cards need to be put in the right slot in the calendar wall, in order for them to be delivered on exactly the right date.
The calendar wall with written postcards to be delivered. Photo: Elizabeth van Hasselt.
There are so many reasons people send postcards… because a card reminds you of someone, just for the fun of it, to say thank you, to wish someone good night, to remind yourself of the promise you made (quit smoking, have more fun, you name it). A Taiwanese woman came in every day for a few weeks, ordered a latte macchiato and a carrot cake and wrote a postcard (every day!!) to the ex-prime minister of Taiwan, who is currently serving time in jail. She did not know whether her cards would arrive and surely wasn’t expecting an answer to her writings… Intriguing, don’t you think?
So, whenever you are in the neighborhood, come and have a drink. Combine it with one of our delicious home made pies or a freshly made sandwiches and write a card to your loved ones. Or just come to have a look; you’re most welcome!
Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? I mean, just look at that wall!
Francobolli is on Apothekersdijk 38 in Leiden (Netherlands), right by the canal. Next time you’re in town, don’t miss it! :)
39 comments so far
I wish I was living closer to this apparently absolutely marvelous place :/ :) :)!!
Wow thats something amazing...
I wish i can visit this Cafe :)
lovely place. Pity, I'm too far away.
How do they figure out when to send it for the correct arrival? This is very neat.
4 hours by car! I need to convince my parents to a trip when i have summer vacation :)
I want to go here! This is brilliant! Now to find a cafe owner here and convince them to do this.
OMG it's just around the corner from my house... well ok it's a 10 minute ride on my bike, but I never knew about this place.... going to see it tomorrow definitely
@chrissy1979: If we lived that close, we'd probably be there all the time! :D
omg! this is just awesome! we need something like this around my house! I'd live in there!
Just 4 and a half hour away... off we go! Maybe the next time we are visiting The Netherlands. ;-)
Such a nice idea, i would love to visit this cafe and take time to write my cards.
The next time when I visit the Netherlands this is the place I just have to go to.
Wonderful idea.
An amazing cafe! :)
What an amazing idea!
Next time I go to Leiden I will definitely visit Francobolli and probably stay there forever! (^-^)
Great initiative; great postcard wall anyway!
Realisation of their goal (delivering a postcard on the exact date) is a bit tricky though. . .
PostNL - as our national postal service is called nowadays - has to be cooperative, because they don't always deliver on the day you may expect when reading their terms of delivery!
They are not as reliable as they used to be a decade ago. :-(
Besides that, the frequency to deliver mail has changed since January 1st this year, so now we don't get mail on Mondays anymore.
But when in Leiden, I'll sure look for this café and have a nice cuppa!
oh, I definitely want to go there! :-)
It is such a lovely idea.... My dream is to have a coffee-house, but my new dream to have it with such a postcard bord..... AMAZING
My hometown! I love to go for a coffee and to write some cards there...
Lovely. I hope to visit this cafe someday))
A fantastic café! I feel like catching the next 'plane over and spend days just writing postcards to everyone I know. That would be a lot of cards, and a lot of coffee and cake to enjoy.
A lovely idea...
I would like to be at this awesome postcard café
If I ever get to visit the Netherlands, this is the place to see!
Lovely, go to see it this summer.
What a great idea. I think I might buy some postcards and make some postcards and send some to them to add to the collection they use for customers to send out! Thanks for sharing this with the Postcrossing community! The Wilkinson Family, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
That looks great! Well, outsourcing my keeping an eye on my birthday calendar throughout the year and posting my cards in time is perhaps not my cup of tea...but I would love to see their date slot for Dec 24, must have bath tub size, hu? Thanks for sharing this story :)
I love this postcard cafe idea. So, my first postcard was just received yesterday, from SA to Russia, and it took 37 days, which is way to long, but I'm so glad that it finally arrived, now for those other four. Happy Crossings.
When I was there in May 2013 I wrote and posted several cards. One was special to me because it was a birthday card for myself to arrive at my home for my birthday in January. I had estimated the average time cards take from the Netherlands to my hometown in Germany and yes, I got my birthday greeting the day before my birthday which I had written seven months earlier.
I loved the café with the friendly atmosphere and the new experience of the speacial mail service.
well that looks so cool and well i like the shelfs thats a good idea i wish they have this in every country well depends on the atomsphere and stuff anyways thats a great idean and thanks for sharing this!!! happy postcrosing!! :)
This idea would be fun in an office mailroom for family birthday cards and letters.
OMG, must plan another trip to NL soon!!!! :D
Great idea!! We need this in the USA!!
Great place for a postcrossing meeting! Guess the box of the next day will be full as we postcrossers sent out cards asap :-)
What an awesome idea! All i want to do is visit....we have nothing like that in South Africa....in fact, we can hardly find any decent postcards! I have ended up asking relatives to send me batches of cards so that i can send nice ones. So....this cafe is on my "bucket list" and hopefully i can pop in one day for a cup of coffee and a whole truck load of cards! Keep up the excellent work...communication is essential, and not just emails or texts!
Oh, how wonderful! I'd just looooove to go there!!! :-) What a fantastic idea!!!
Brilliant idea!
Great idea! I love the wall!!
I would love to visit a place like that!
Oh, I dreamed the cafe like that for long years!
There is similar cafe in the city of Georgetown, Malaysia! I have been there and I was able to send my future self a birthday card!
Such cafes are are humble, you can sit there and design your own postcards and enjoy the simplicity of writing to someone - the most sincere feelings of all! :)
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