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Blog > World Postcard Day 2023 wrap-up

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Friends, wasn’t World Postcard Day the most glorious celebration? The amount of postcards, meetings, posts on the forum, and mentions on social media was dizzying — it felt like being inside a whirlwind of excitement, shared by people all around the world! 😍

Three children look at a postcard

I feel like words are not enough to convey all the excitement… but let’s make an effort to document the day, and let’s start with children! Kosovo Post organized an activity at a school in Mitrovica, where they explained postcards to students, how to fill them in with the required information, where to write the address, where to put the postage stamps, etc., and also gave postcards to the pupils to mail to their friends from other classrooms. For many, this was probably their first contact with postcards, which is brilliant! We hope many of them will go on to become postcard and letter writers in the future.

Also, the Musée de La Poste in France had a special event for children, featuring not just postcards but also storytelling, music, dancing and poetry! This was part of the events surrounding their current exhibition “Nouvelles du paradis”, which will continue until March 18, 2024. If you’ll be around Paris until then, don’t miss it! In Portugal, the team from the Communications Museum walked the streets of Lisbon, offering postage-paid postcards to passersby, worth a free entry to the museum!

A group of people sits in the steps in front of a museum

Dozens of meetups took place all around the world! From Chattanooga to Vilnius, Lahti to Veliky Novgorod, Bangalore to Jakarta! We enjoyed seeing the photos pop up on the forum — as well as photos of people writing or mailing their postcards, and all the tasty ravioli and other stamp-shaped food!

Remember when we put a limit in place for the day to try to reduce the number of postcards requested on October 1st (and thus relieve a bit of the pressure on Postcrossing’s algorithm)? Well, that plan backfired spectacularly! 😂 Maybe we unintentionally made it sound like the slots were special since they were limited…? Human psychology can be a mystery sometimes. The end result was that everyone seems to have interpreted this limit as a challenge, and we had the day with the most requested postcards ever in Postcrossing, just shy of 89,000 postcards! In total and across all the timezones, close to 98,000 postcards were sent and are now slowly making their way across the world. A stressful but very happy day indeed!

Thank you to every and each of you who sent out a postcard on October 1st and made this day the most exciting day of the year! We’re grateful for the enthusiastic way in which the Postcrossing community continues to embrace the event and has thus created something special that people look forward to every year.

World Post Day logo

And before we forget, today is World Post Day! The theme of 2023's event is “Together for Trust: Collaborating for a safe and connected future”. In the traditional speech for the occasion, UPU’s Director General Mr. Masahiko Metoki emphasized the historical and current significance of post offices as trustworthy hubs for diverse services, ranging from communication and commerce to finance. Recognizing the longstanding trust communities place in postal services, the statement points out that despite their vast reach, nearly 100,000 post offices globally lack proper internet access. To address this issue, the UPU’s connect.post initiative aims to provide every post office with internet access by 2030, with the goal of ensuring digital inclusion and enhancing the range of services, especially for underserved communities. Sounds like a great project!

Happy World Post Day everyone!

55 comments so far

humanus, Korea (South)

Thank you for all the effort and enthusiasm around world in the very special day!.

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wifetoalineman, United States of America

The best day for all the postcrossers ♥️❤️❣️💕💞😍🥰

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Lox, Germany

Thanks for organizing all the fun!

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lburr_2000, United States of America

Thank you for the wrap-up! I had 10 WPD postcards, but sent 9 out before October 1st, and saved one to draw on the first! I love watching all the different ones coming in.

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nuritunctas, Türkiye

Thanks for organizing all the fun!!

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firnsdwa, United States of America

World Post Card Day is the best idea ever! I mailed out 10 postcards to friends before October first then mailed out nine more either on the actual day or a few days after. Can’t wait to receive some back!

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Yulke, Russia

That was great, thank you!!

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mounten, Italy

What a day it was. I sent out 10 poscards and already got back 2 lovely.😍😍

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jennnnnnnnifer, United States of America

I believe a couple of my WPD cards have already been registered!

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jacsonhartmann, Brazil

It's wonderful to see this tradition being perpetuated. The world needs it!

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at61, Italy

I took up the "World Postcard Day" challenge, sending two postcards on October 1st, which are now on their way to their destination...
I'm really happy to have been an active part of this party, hurray!

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vingoul, India

It was a fabulous day!! Awesome to see Bangalore being mentioned in the blog above. It was a great meetup and as the host, the participants loved the place and card design too (Tanishque thanks for the design!) ... Reshma, thanks for sharing the picture on the thread and getting us on the map err.. blog. :D

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NZSunshine, New Zealand

I had 3 slots left for sending postcards and eagerly used 2 of them before realising that even though it was October 1st here in New Zealand for some reason at 8am they came up as being sent September 30th. That meant my last slot had to be saved for later that evening to catch the October 1st time zone. Isn't it strange how time zones work? I felt like a time traveler without a TARDIS!

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Aguaroble, Lesotho

This is wonderful, so many people all around the world united by postcards... Seems so utopian!

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PtiSchti, Netherlands

Thnxxx to World Postcard Day I started Postcrossing again after a year of absence 😊

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PamF, United States of America

Lovely to be part of an international exchange. We need more of these kinds of things.

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mysweetlife63, United States of America

Wow!
What a staggering number! It actually made me quite emotional to think of so many people sending in unity of spirit, so many little rectangles of friendship - or paper handshakes!
As always, I thank you, the Postcrossing Team, for all you do each day to allow us to be "Postcrossers."

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Asya_Revenko, Russia

It was great! Thank you to everyone involved! This was my first participation!

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Leslyn, United States of America

Such a wonderful feeling being a part of this global community of postcard lovers.

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AllSerene, United Kingdom

Thanks for keeping the algorithm working well, I really enjoyed writing my cards - I hope you were left with some time to allow you to write some of your own!

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iliovasilema, Greece

It was much fun to send postcards on WPD after having such a long pause ;))❤️❤️

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doryfera, Canada

When I dropped off my 10 cards at my local sub-post office and asked to buy more stamps, the postmistress became quite interested. After I explained about Postcrossing and WPD, she said, “Wait here!” , went into a back room and returned with a large-format international-prepaid postcard. Which she then offered to me for free! When I offered to pay, she told me that someone had given it to her but she’d never used it, so she wanted to gift it in turn. I was so surprised and touched. The power of World Postcard Day worked this miracle!

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Flippie, Canada

Thank you! everyone......

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Ramya, United States of America

For the first time ever I took a plane to attend a Postcrossing Meetup this year and it was of course on World Postcard Day! I had moved out of state so I was able to reconnect (in person) with a group I'd been meeting with since 2015 through 2020. What a wonderful time I had meeting new friends as well. Postcrossing is celebrated at my desk each day but it was wonderful to fly to celebrate with others!

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sacdalton, United States of America

Continued thanks for all your do to provide this wonderful platform for mailers across the world.

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jjmedusa, United States of America

I was happy to participate on World Postcard Day on October 1st and one of my postcards has already been registered, so I got the special badge. Yay! :)

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CorgiGirl, United States of America

Thank you for all of your hard work to make the 4th Annual World Postcard Day a huge success. I am amazed at the number of postcard addresses requested.

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suyogg, India

It was a lovely day and my third WPD! Had a great time with fellow postcrossers in my home city of Bengaluru and sent out over a hundreds cards across the world..Now waiting for the magical number of 3 to appear on the badge on my profile..

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sunflak, United States of America

Thank you Ana, Paolo, and the rest of the Postcrossing team! This amazing event wouldn’t be nearly as wonderful without you. You do all the WORK while the rest of us are writing, decorating, and having all the FUN! It was my first WPD and I look forward to many more. 📬

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ROHITHKAMATH, India

As a part of data analysis can you even make a table on how many cards were sent on WPD'23 country wise?

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Hanlio, South Africa

Thanks for creating an eventful day like this!!

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MerlinM, Germany

Thank you very much for making my WPD a special day! I had have so much fun. This was what I actually needed to get happy again.

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Catlin, Germany

THANKYOUFOR YOUR ENTHUSIASM POSTING YOUR WPD POSTCROSSING RESULTS:
WHEN I DO FIND H O W TO REGISTER FIRST OCTOBER POSTCARDS DUE TO WPD I SUERLY BE SAME HAPPY (NEW HERE)

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beesknees, United States of America

Congratulations. Great job keeping up with all the requests

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Iain0154, Canada

It was my first time celebrating World Postcard Day, I loved the celebration of postcards. 8 shared some of my blank "official WPD cards I printed, and shared them with 3 other Postcrossers to send out. I was able to send 28 cards myself, and to shepherd a total of 44 cards in this day! Thank you for all the organizing and good vibes!

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StoryDragon, Netherlands

Oh, I wholly forgot to share on the forum about the postcards I sent on WPD! (And I did want to, so maybe later this week I'll write something.)

I deliberately requested only one address.
And I sent quite some postcards to relatives and friends.

Thank you for the attention you give to World Postcard Day!

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Buffalowinters, United States of America

I only requested 2 addresses that day as I was worried the servers would be overwhelmed but it seems Postcrossing had all their ducks in a row.
Thank you for all that you do for us so we can enjoy our time sending postcards.

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betslets, United States of America

I enjoyed hearing that your "limitation plan" backfired. Ha! I've tried to help out each year by only sending a conservative number of cards through Postcrossing, especially on World Postcard Day, but it also appears that more people attempted to do the same. And, many took advantage of sending the "limited" maximum number of ten (even when they only planned to send a few). However, 2023 World Postcard Day was a great success, thanks to all who participated. And it's interesting for me that two of the Postcrossing postcards I sent out in the world for October 1 were registered within the week, while one postcard I had sent in May was only registered recently.

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helene_bijouix, Russia

It was an amazing day! It's so great to be a part of this for the second year. Postcrossing forever!

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nlee56, United States of America

Well I didn't contribute much to the total sent....only one because I had no slots available to send due to some very slow cards or cards not being registered. Totally understandable. However, I was so excited that in the wee hours of October 1st, someone came through and opened up a spot. I was so happy to send out my very first WPD card. I love Postcrossing and all the people who run it!!

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DominikaJane, Czech Republic

Wonderful day ♥ Thank you postcrossers and all love to you ♥ So great to be part of this community :)

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IndonesiaRaya, Indonesia

I'm so excited that i sent 77 swap cards and 10 official with friends from 44 countries, for World Postcard Day
and 9 cards to 6 countries for World Post Day.

Postcrossers less aware to World Post Day, and they also already sent too many cards on Oct 1 😃

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GiotaKostas, Greece

happy postcrossing day , postcrossers!!!!!!!!!!!

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JessieUy, Malaysia

It’s the second year I sent cards for WPD. Last year I sent 2 cards to get the WPD badge as I was just a newcomer. This year I managed to send 5 WPD cards to get the badge. It’s wonderful to be one of the thousands of members of postcrossing community sending postcards from across the miles. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

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Ching6767, China

We had a meet-up in Xiamen China on September 30 , and I sent the cards on October 1 !! 🤗

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Nique, Canada

I ❤ reading everything meiadeleite writes! Her English just flows so easily, I feel it's her 1st language?

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orange_memo, United States of America

It was a great day indeed, participated in the first meet-up in Santa Ana-Cali and sent out 10 postcards and a few of them were already registered ! Thank you to everyone involved!

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Demmi, Romania

The best day for all the Postcrossers! ❤️
Happy World Pstcrossing Day to all #WPD2023

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Bees-and-Butterflies, France

It was my first WPD and I really enjoyed it. One of my cards has already been registered so I have my first badge. Thanks to everyone invovled in the organisation and all the postcrossers who took part.

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AMDGIHS2019, United States of America

Glad to be part of it!

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heidiblooms, United States of America

It was such a wonderful day! Loved writing my 10 Postcrossing postcards and even more for friends and family. Waiting for them to all be registered is almost as exciting!

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kaila123, United States of America

Whew!!! that was fun!! I sent 10 cards out on here and another 15 to friends, I had been saving up stamps just for that!!! It has been so exciting, and its even more fun to start receiving them. Thank you so much!!

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teamug, Germany

It was a lovely day and I was happy to get some "rare" WPD designed cards from England to send out. Was amazed, when I received a WPD meetup card from Nepal today!!!!! But that was not the only one. Quite a few "officially sent" and friends' cards arrived at my box. Loved the different ideas people had for the card designs.

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mihneaR, Romania

Hugs to all from Romania! for both occasion (1 and 9 October) from Romania were sent about 500 postcards (!!) from which a lot via postcrossing! So - let's bring a smile to everyone who receive a postcard, be an active part of this amazing project named POSTCROSSING! <3

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Marie_Trebic, Czech Republic

I was very happy to participate in these two events. Two WPD cards, out of eight, are already registered.

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