Postcrossing Blog

It’s been 15 years today since Paulo flipped the switch to turn Postcrossing on — 15 years! 🎉 Can you believe that?! We’re a little incredulous ourselves… but immensely happy and grateful for the opportunity to come on this journey that has delivered millions of postcards around the world. Who could have imagined such an unlikely adventure?!

Awhile back, we asked you guys to upload a selfie with your mailbox to our anniversary wall, and almost 1000 of you accepted the challenge and showed us your happy mailboxes. It’s such a joy to browse the gallery now, and see your smiles and the places where all the postcards land! Mailboxes and mail slots seem to come in all shapes, sizes and materials, and quite a few of you even receive your mail directly from your mail carrier’s hands at your doorstep or on your local post office. So much color and diversity of mailboxes and ways of receiving mail!

We wanted to do a little surprise with these nice photos, so we put together a video filled with smiles to share with you all:

Sorry that we couldn’t put all of the photos in without making the video too long — we tried to include as many as we could. You can see all the photos on the 15 Years of Happy Mailboxes page, and the submissions will be open until the end of the month.

A big thank you to every single one of you out there, sending postcards to strangers across the world and helping make this planet a happier place — you are the stars of this celebration! 🤩 Join us in a little celebratory dance and enjoy this special day!

Before I get all weepy, let me just share some more good news: we have been working with Brazil Post on a new Postcrossing-themed stamp that is being released today! It’s a beautiful stamp by São Paulo’s illustrator Daniel Lourenço, showing 2 people connected through postcards. It’s a big, beautiful stamp (click the image to see a bigger version), and we have no doubt Brazilian postcards will look extra nice with it.

We’re so proud of the Postcrossing community in Brazil, whose persistence and dedication to their hobby resulted in this gorgeous stamp coming to life. Sadly, they cannot yet get together to celebrate the stamp launch right now… but there will be an online launch event (on Instagram and Youtube), and we’re certain postcrossers will make up for lost time when it is safe to meet in person again. Enjoy your new stamp, and we look forward to seeing it on many future postcards from Brazil 🇧🇷!

PS – Postcrossers in China 🇨🇳, if you can’t see the video above, try here.

Although we’ve never met Luzia (aka Luziaceleste) in person, we know she’s a generous postcrosser. Sometimes, she’ll send postcards in advance to participants in meetings across the world… just to say hi and share a bit of the joy of Postcrossing! How nice is that? 😊 To discover more about Luzia, we asked her our usual round of questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

It happened in seconds. A work colleague, next table to mine, mentioned he intended to join the project. I checked it out and registered before him!

Reason is simple: I have been always fascinated by mailing postcards. Every travel in my life has these moments where I shop, write and go after nice stamps before mail them. It a sort of proof that I’ve been on the place, and besides, sharing the experience with dear people is wonderful.

Postcrossing took me a step forward: exchanging postcards is also the exchange of culture and individual points of view.

In the very beginning, I used to send one postcard at a time. After asking for the direction and reading the profile, I searched the best postcard and then sent it. Soon, I realised that storing postcards would be handy, and I slowly asked for more addresses. Now I have two collections: the received postcards and the blank postcards to send. I am constantly being hooked by Postcrossing. Frankly, this an endless world. The more you get into, the more possibilities you discover: decoration, swaps, collections. If you wonder how this is true, go to Postcrossing Forum! I made many virtual friends there, that are not that 'virtual’ after all, as postcards are very physical stuff.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I love the Tea Ceremony. Have been practicing for decades. It helps me to understand Japanese aesthetics and ethical views. It is very handy for postcards too: space for writing is minimal comparing to letters. Getting the most out of a few words is an art. And a goal.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I store postcards in boxes — not in albums. I love the contact with them, having them on my hands. Periodically, I rearrange the classification. With the growing in my collection, I see sense in ordering them in more refined ways. For instance, the 'heart-themed’ postcards are under sub-classification of 'Nature oriented’. Blank postcard are also stored in boxes according to the theme, to help me find the best postcard. I have no idea how many of each one I store… I don’t mind the figure, I enjoy the fun and the possibilities.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

Some people are enthusiastic when they see my postcards arriving and also the joy I have in sending them. A cousin, a niece, a friend and some people felt motivated… but quit after a while. Attendants in the Post Office are very curious, but language in a barrier in Brazil.

I like to support newbies, to ease their steps, helping them to cope with the difficulties we face at the start. Unfortunately, Brazil is a country with a lack of production of decent postcards, picturing the local scenario.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The matching point! I love sending a postcard that I know the person will be pleased to receive. It is surprising when we get something that took someone’s time and effort… This is the magic!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

What a difficult task. It is so unfair to all the other postcards… Let’s say that a good sample of nice postcard I got are:

A tasty, fresh and inspiring heart

A mailbox, on a very peculiar street. This postcard came from a swap with Japan via the forum’s 'stamp related postcard tag’.

A special eye chart!

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

The postcard I got from Tuvalu was a touching one for me. Thinking that the country is in danger talks deeply to my heart.

Of course, we also value the rare… but, I do value every postcard. From time to time, there is a huge number of postcrossers in one country and I send to and get from this country more than others. Still remember when Finland was a frequent country! This is a good opportunity to see personal differences. How people communicate, what they are able to express in their profiles or in the postcards. Every person is a single person, and even further, every postcard is unique.

Have you met any other members in real life?

I dream with meetups. And yes, there was a mini international meetup here some time ago. I was glad to join martinha, vbformig and andreaeiko for a nice chat. Now, we are doing efforts to do more local meetings with postcrossers. Let’s see!

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I live in a crowded business city, so, every opportunity I have to escape, here I am, ready to get into Nature. Travelling is for me the best way to learn about others, through food, drinks and cultural production (in this order, please) and learn more about myself through relaxing and enjoying life. Travelling is also related to postcards… but this is no longer travel dependent, hahaha!

Hello everybody, olá! You’ll never believe where we are!

Oh, well… the title kind of gave that one away, didn’t it? Anyway, that’s right – we’re in Brazil, the country that hosted the very exciting World Cup this summer! People here sure love football, but there’s so much more to this country, and we were really eager to explore it all with our host Felipe (aka felipeduarte).

Felipe lives in the state of Pará, in the Amazon region. He showed us his postcard collection and we could see all Brazil in postcards and get an appetizer of what our time here would look like!

The capital of Pará is Belém, also known as “Metropolis of the Amazon”. It is a very interesting city, where over 1.500.000 people live. Being so close to the Equator, the city has a tropical rainforest climate, with temperatures averaging 25°C (77°F) year round!

We visited one of the most beautiful churches in Belém, the Basilica of Our Lady of Nazareth. The interiors, decorated with marble and gold, were just incredible!

Every October since 1793, a huge procession in celebration Mary takes place in Belém – it is named Círio de Nazaré and gathers more than two million people, the biggest catholic event in Brazil! Here are some photos that Felipe showed us:

Really impressive! After that, we went to the great República Square, where one of the most relevant landmarks in Belém is located: Paz Theatre. Voted as one of the wonders of Brazil, this large theatre was built in 1878, during the Amazon rubber boom. During those days (and up until 1912), Belém was called “Paris in America” due to its richnesses and prosperity.

By lunch time, we headed over to Ver-o-peso (literally, “see-the-weight”) market, the most representative landmark in Pará. It is the biggest outdoors market in Latin America! You can see it on one of Felipe’s postcards:

Fresh fish is sold on the Iron Market (the blue one, with towers) and there are also lots of tents, where you can find anything, from food to clothes, herbs and essences, regional or international. It’s a very culturally rich place!

Well… all this native fruit is making us hungry, it’s time to try the Brazilian cuisine! The base of day-to-day food is rice and beans, and of course meat and chicken, with some regional variations. The people from Pará really appreciate a native fruit named açaí berry, which is now widely used by athletes as an energy drink. It is a purple seed that is drank as a dense liquid. And of course, we had to try a brigadeiro, a very typical chocolate bonbon. So, so good — and just the perfect size!

After getting to know a little about the city, we decided to explore one of the nature parks in the area, the Mangal das Garças (Herons’ Mangal).

It’s a really incredible place to see nature and observe several species of animals and plants. The red bird is named guará (or scarlet ibis) and the white ones are garças (herons). They roam around freely in the park.

This tower is the Belém Lighthouse, which is 47 metres tall and has quite an unusual architecture for a lighthouse, don’t you think? We went up to the observation platform… the view from up there is breathtaking!

It’s said that it rains everyday in there. And look at those dark clouds… it must be coming! Quick, let’s step indoors and learn something about the region’s culture and handicrafts.

The indigenous marajoara pottery and natural rubber animal figures were quite intriguing. We also learnt that Belém was founded in 1616 and is now eagerly waiting to celebrate its fourth centenary! We visited the place where the city started: a citadel named Feliz Lusitânia.

On top in left, an old canon in Forte do Castelo, a portuguese fortress. On the right side, the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Finally, we went to the Belém Central Post office to send a postcard home.

We saw there the machines used by the Post in the past: Morse code devices, scales and writing machines, but we loved the postboxes the best!

On the left, the old Brazilian ones, used in the early 1900s and on the right, the current ones, that have a very unusual shape.

And that’s it for this amazing trip! Off we go into our padded envelope again…

… but not without first heartily recommending this lovely country to everyone! Our experience in Brazil was fantastic, what an amazing country. And of course — a big thank you to our host Felipe for his hospitality! :)

See you soon everyone!

Natan (aka nboliveira) is one of the top (and earliest) users in Brasil. He likes travelling (both in real life and through the postcards he receives) and marvelling at the collection of stamps on his local philately shop.
Here is what he had to say:

What is your name, age and location?

My name is Natanael but everybody calls me Natan. I’m 44 years old and I live in the capital of Brasil, the city of Brasília which has an unique modernist architecture designed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. It’s a planned city inaugurated 60 years ago and an Unesco World Heritage Site for its architecture. I work at a telecom and recently started studying Law to be a lawyer in the future.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I’ve exchanged postcards since I was a child but when the internet was invented, I thought this hobby was over. In 2005 I read in the newspaper Estadão.com about the project of Paulo Magalhães from Portugal and his idea of sharing an old hobby using that new technology. I registered immediately but I didntt expect it to work out because I didn’t know that many people who would like to receive postcard this old fashioned way. Since then, six years have passed and I’m very proud to be one of veteran members of Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like listening to music especially lounge, bossa nova, and songs from the 80's, watching movies at home and going out with friends. Another passion is travelling, knowing different places and, of course, buy postcards from these places. Friends who travel with me already know – if I disappear, just ask where is the nearest store of postcards is! :)

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

The post office where i usually send postcards is also a philatelic store and I like go there because I can choose stamps from their huge collection and talk a little with Aurea, a friendly postal worker who is also passionate for postcards and stamps.

I keep my postcards in boxes like this. It’s not too organized but i like it bcause I can see postcards randomly and not for specific or preferred countries.

I also like to use some of my favourites to change the picture in my mobile phone.

And I put some on the table of my living room to show to my friends and family when they come home to visit me. You may notice that these postcards are in general of famous people and historical places… it’s a sure way to hook visitors and start a conversation about Postcrossing!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

On my favourites, you can see that I really like sunsets and nature scenes, perhaps because I was born in a city of the Amazon region in Brazil. So guess I have a strong relation with nature. About my favourites, I should say that each postcard received is special on its singular message, images and stamps. But I’ll show three of them.

First, on the left, there is one that came from France (FR-65979) and I like it because for me represents the real spirit of Postcrossing: a world that share a hobby without frontiers of cultures, religion, language, social condition or politics. The second, came from Finland (FI-1130539) with an amazing sunset that I like so much. At last, one from China (CN-27229), I like this for its spiritual significance.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The best part is the happiness I feel when I open my mailbox. I always smile of joy :) I specially love it when i see that someone saw my favorites and sent a postcard that I like. I always try to do the same because I know that in another part of world there will be another postcrosser with a smile on his/her face because of the postcard I sent.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Receive postcards from countries like Iran, Pakistan and Brunei with isolated regimes has surprised me. On the other hand that’s good because I noticed that Postcrossing is an universal way of communication.

We have mentioned before how Postcrossing as a school project can be a great idea. Teachers all over the world are discovering how to use Postcrossing as an educational tool. English, geography, culture – there’s so much one can learn through postcards!

Adriana Salim is one of those teachers and we are happy to be able to share with you all how her experience has been.

I am an English teacher at a public school in Petrópolis, RJ, Brazil. I teach classes to teenagers who keep me busy trying to get them interested and motivated. The dean of the school where I work found out about Postcrossing and here we are, the students and I, involved in sending and receiving cards.

I surely couldn’t have run into something more helpful! Everybody waits anxiously for the mail and the school mailbox is checked every single day. Isn’t it fun to learn English this way? Each student is a single user. They write and receive their own cards. Our enthusiasm has also hooked the Biology teacher who has joined Postcrossing with his own kids at home.

We have many projects at the school: theater, dance, environment protection, reading and Postcrossing! Some of the students take part in more than one project.

Before Postcrossing, the students used to swap cards among themselves to practice their English skills. Nowadays we realise that it’s much more fun to write real postcards with Postcrossing.

This is where we have our Postcrossing meetings once a week.

Our postcards are mailed to the school address. The mail is always brought by the same mailman. We go to the main post office downtown for stamps. We usually post our cards once a week at a smaller facility. The students keep their own cards at home in albums or on a wallboard. Now and then we display all the received cards at school.

This is our mailman delivering some mail and the school mailbox.

This is the board we keep the cards sent to the group as a whole.

This is the main post office where we buy stamps.

We once had a picture of the cards exhibition we prepared to celebrate the 18th anniversary of our school on the first page of Petrópolis newspaper.

As part of that commemoration a school postcard was created and is now available to be send by the students.

Thank you Adriana for sharing this with us!

Have other stories on how Postcrossing is being used on education? Then let us know! We love to hear about them.