Postcrossing Blog

Come meet Dorthe, who lives in Aalborg, Denmark. She likes perusing random shops for postcards wherever she goes… don’t we all? :)

Here is what she had to say:

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

I saw an article or interview where someone mentioned bookcrossing. But after reading a little more the word Postcrossing caught my eye. After checking the Postcrossing website I forgot all about bookcrossing.

I sent my first five cards and when the first cards started to arrive I was hooked. Luckily the first cards was from Europe and did’t have long to travel, so I didn’t have to wait a long time. The first cards were from well known countries like: France, Finland and the Netherlands. But my 6th card came from Moldova, and that surprised me a bit. Here was a chance to get to know some countries that I knew very little about.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Not sure if it is a hobby, but I can’t visit a new city without trying to locate where I can buy some postcards. Usually I find cards in bookstores or at the postoffice here in Denmark, but sometimes I find a random store and is lucky. Most cards up here are the usual touristcards, the artmuseum have some artcards, but other than that there isn’t much to choose from.

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

Our last postoffice here in Aalborg, a very beautiful old building. I buy most of my stamps online though (the selection is better there).

My – not so interesting – mailbox is right in the middle.

I keep my cards in albums. When I started Postcrossing I had several countries in one album, but now I have several albums with just one country, and Germany and USA has 2 albums each.

Cards to be sent out are in boxes like this, they fit perfectly to the “normal” size postcards.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Of course I like receiving cards, but the sending process is just as important. I get a little bit disappointed when I get an address and the profile is blank. I like to read the profiles and look through my cards to see if I can find the perfect match. Sometimes I can’t and I have to take a chance, but if there are some info it is easier to choose.

I only use real stamps (the stickers kind is all we have now). They can be small artworks or show a part of the history, and I know most postcrossers like this.

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

I have a lot of favorite cards, it depends on so many things. Cards I thought was a bit strange at one time, can be a favorite now, and some I started collecting can be a bit forgotten until I look in the albums again. A favorite can also be if there is a good story to why the card is chosen or if I can relate to it somehow.

I am not really into cards with animals, but this card (FI-114108) was the second i got, and I am pretty sure I had the same look on my face as the boy, when the mailman didn’t have any cards for me at the beginning.

The German Chronikcard (DE-903878) is a newer favorite of mine. Most of them are from Germany, but I have one from the Netherlands and one from Russia too.

FI-1218777 is an example of my autumn favorites, I love the beautiful colors. Together with NL-86067 it also shows close-ups/strange angles. I like seeing things a bit different.

Multiples has almost been epidemic this last year. The cards came out of nowhere (well almost) and I have seen them on several wishlists. RU-969229 with trees are one of the best I have so far. The last card: EE-117167 from St. Petersburg, with the beautiful bridge in sunset. I am still waiting for that beautiful sky when I am taking pictures.

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

I am not sure if anyone has started postcrossing, but I have told several people about it. Especially when I am in a new shop and buys 30–40 cards at one time. The salesperson often looks at me like I am crazy (I probably am a bit!), but when I start telling about postcrossing, they often says it is a great idea.

I think my father is a bit interested too. When he and my mother plans their holidays, he always check with me if there are any interesting sites he should buy cards from to me. They have helped me a lot with my Unesco-site collection.

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

Yes. I have learned the location of many countries since I started postcrossing. I knew most countries in Europe, but the exact location was not always my strong side. And countries like Kazakhstan, Northern Mariana Islands, Åland Islands and Azerbaijan was probably not countries I ever thought of sending or getting mail from.

I have also been surprised over traveltimes. The only card I ever received from my own country (the sender doesn’t live in Denmark anymore) should travel 55 km. It took 4 days! I have also received a card from USA, it was sent on a Friday, stamped in the afternoon. It was in my mailbox Monday morning. It wasn’t even from one of the major cities like New York or Los Angeles.

Have you met any other members in real life?

I have met with Gogge1 and Christa several times. We try to have a minimeeting once or twice a year in different cities (so we can stock up on cards).

And at the meeting in Copenhagen, September 24th 2011, I had a chance to meet several International postcrossers and Danes too. It was some fun days together with Lotty, Levisia, Christa, dollart, Gogge1, Gforp, IreneK, Mikis, Giorgis, Miss Maple. I think we were a few more, but I cannot recall the names.

If you’ve ever been to the U.K., you may have seen bright red cylindrical objects around town. These pillar boxes are the U.S. equivalent of the free-standing blue arch-like mailboxes (and should not be confused with pillarboxes, which are the black bars that appear to the sides of a movie image that wasn’t formatted for widescreen). Although they’re more common in the U.K. or in former nations of the British empire, versions of this special red post box can also be found in other countries, such as Japan or Portugal.

Pillar boxes started to appear in 1852, twelve years after the first adhesive postage stamp was introduced. Before then, citizens would have to take their outgoing mail to the nearest letter receiving house or post office and personally deliver it to the postmaster after purchasing a stamp. Although they were initially proposed in 1840 by Sir Rowland Hill (who thought they would “add greatly to the public convenience”), it wasn’t until 1852 that the first pillar boxes were erected in the Channel Islands. It was a successful trial, which later spread with their implementation accross the mainland.

The boxes varied slightly from one area to the next, as each District Surveyor gave their own specifications for the design. You can find the most unique-looking ones that were made early on, when they included things like octagonal pillars, fluted columns, vertical slits instead of horizontal ones, and different coloring. The construction of pillar boxes was standardized in 1905, generally made of cast iron and in a cylindrical shape.

There are three distinct parts of a pillar box: the cap, which sits on the carcass and is bolted down from the inside, the door, which is hinged and displays the Royal Cypher of the reigning monarch, and the carcass, the main body that produced down below ground level, giving stability to the pillar box. Over 150 designs and varieties of pillar boxes, and their cousins, wall boxes (mail receptacles that are set into a walls), have emerged, though not all have survived.

Next time you’re in the UK, or any other country that sports these postal beauties, look a little closer and see if you can guess what time period it was erected (check out this page for some clues on the Royal cyphers)!

For a more in depth look into the history of these boxes, check out “Well adapted for a purpose…”, a really neat post from the British Postal Museum’s blog.

Happy pillar box spotting! :)

Eight years ago, Paulo launched Postcrossing to fix the problem of his empty mailbox. He recruited his friends, which told their friends, and they told their friends… and what do you know – it seems like lots of other people had the same eagerness to fill their mailboxes with postcards from around the world! :)

Today, on Postcrossing’s birthday’s, we would like to thank each and every single postcrosser out there, for your enthusiasm and continued support throughout these 8 years! This postcard revolution wouldn’t be possible without you.

Marichie, atb and UnaHora in Spain also sent us this fantastic video and Agger and auszra1 in Lithuania wrote a Postcrossing song!

We couldn’t pick a single best entry… or even three… so a lot of people are going to receive a little something from Postcrossing’s HQ! Turtles, heymma, Frogglin, kelpie, nomadic_gypsy, kugusch & linabella and Marichie, atb & UnaHora – keep an eye on your mailboxes!

Happy Postcrossing! Have a piece of your favourite cake today! :)

As you might have noticed, Postcrossing’s eight birthday is coming up soon… which means, it’s time for our annual birthday party… and a little contest! :)

Eight candles by Tim Ellis on Flickr.

This year, we thought we’d hand over the reins to YOU!

Your mission, if you wish to accept it, is to make something that celebrates Postcrossing. Bake a Postcrossing cake, knit a scarf in the project’s colours, skywrite the website’s name in the sky… surprise us! Big or small, anything goes – the limit is your imagination! :)

You have until Saturday 13th 11:59pm (GMT) to send us a photo of your masterpiece to 8birthday@postcrossing.com. We’ll publish the results in a week – and of course, there will be surprise gifts to the best ones!

As an example, have a look at the delicious cookies our friend Cecília baked some time ago:

Neat, right? :) So now it’s your turn… rally up your friends, roll up your sleeves and make something! We cannot wait to see what you come up with!

We’ve just received another photo-filled report from the Little Mail Carriers, all the way from Galway! Read on their adventures in Ireland from their most recent host, ned44440, who did a wonderful job showing them around! :)

We arrived in Galway, Ireland on 20th May 2013 and settled in quite quickly. We enjoyed a few days rest and then got busy with our exploring. As our host works for the Post Office we got to meet some staff who were too shy to appear on camera. We saw how to prepare the payroll for such a large organisation but we can’t pass on any details as it is all confidential… It was exciting to see how it is done, though! During this first week we also saw some lovely green postboxes and some postal vehicles.

We were excited to learn that our host had planned a few trips for us! She first took us to County Roscommon with a lovely group known as TARA (or the Tirellan Active Retired Association). We travelled on a bus and visited the Strokestown House & Famine Museum, and then travelled on to the Dr. Douglas Hyde Interpretative Centre.

Strokestown House was both lovely and sad. It told the story of The Great Irish famine of the 1840′s which is now regarded as the single greatest social disaster of 19th century Europe. Between 1845 and 1850, when blight devastated the potato crop, in excess of two million people – almost one-quarter of the entire population – either died or emigrated.

Dr Douglas Hyde was the very first President of the Irish Republic!

Our next adventure was to visit Dublin to attend a Postcrossing Meet-Up and what a wonderful time we had. There were many postcards to be signed (and bought!!). One of the first things we did was visit the Postal History Museum in the General Post Office (GPO). Did you know that the GPO in Dublin played a significent role during the 1916 Rising which led to Irish independence? You can learn more at www.anpost.ie/heritage.

Our host said that while she always enjoys visiting the museum she is a little upset that a lot of the items in the museum are things she actually used during her earlier working life – makes her feel old. We saw a lot of the stamps issued by the Post Office down through the years, mail bags, sorting frames, telephone exchanges and many other interesting items.

At the meeting we met chrissybaby, fisherman, icspi and jr11577. We had a great day out in Dublin but were exhausted after it.

“Could this trip get any better?” we thought… and it did! Even though we were preparing for our onward trip we found two things we just had to stay put for. The first was a Post Office function… now, how could we resist that?

We discovered that one of our hosts colleagues, Marie, intends to drive a Post Office articulated truck in convoy with other Irish and British CWU members as part of the CWU (Communication Worker’s Union) Humanitarian Aid. Each year, members of the CWU both in Ireland and the UK fill trucks full of necessary items and drive the aid to exactly where it needs to go – a personal delivery with a difference. The trucks are filled with donations from many local businesses together with goods purchased with money gathered at fund-raising events. This year the trucks will head to Moldova. Marie is the first Irish female to drive one of the trucks. She held a table-quiz and raised a substantial amount of money. We had such fun but we didn’t win (truth be told, our quiz team-mates weren’t great but don’t say we said that!).

Here we are with Marie. Also in the pic are Jarlath, Geraldine, Brian and Damien.

Last (but definitely not) least, we found our way to the Titanic Centre in Belfast. What a truly awesome experience!! One definitely not to be missed if you ever get the chance. We first visited the Nomadic, which was the tender ship to the Titanic in Cherbourg. The harbour in Cherbourg was too shallow for the Titanic to berth at the docks so passengers were ferried out to her via the Nomadic. First and Second Class was opulent but Third Class (steerage)… not so opulent.

Here we are standing on the helm of the Nomadic with the Titanic Centre in the background.

And this is how the Nomadic looked like!

We then visited the magificent Titanic Centre. Here we learned the full story of the RMS Titanic from the day she was first thought of up to and including her discovery at the bottom of the sea, and also about the personal stories behind it.

Did you know that the Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship (hence the abbreviation RMS)? Her mail room had the capacity to carry 3,423 sacks of mail each containing up to 2,000 items of mail. Queenstown in County Cork in Ireland was Titanic’s last port of call before she set sail for America. It was called the saddest place as it was the main port of emigration from Ireland in south of the country. Most people who left Ireland in those days were never expected to return home again. It was never more true than on this occasion!

But it wasn’t until we visited Titanic’s Dock & Pump-House that we got a true measure of the size of the Titanic. We were able to descend right down to the bottom of the drydock.

We saw the keel blocks on which she sat while in the drydock being fitted out for her maiden voyage. We can but imagine what it was like for the workers who built the Titanic. This is an experience that will never leave us.

We travelled back to Galway on Tuesday and took Wednesday as our day of rest before our onward journey to our next big adventure. What an amazing world we live in!

Thank you ned44440 for taking them with you on these fantastic expeditions! On they go…