Postcrossing Blog

“Hannah Brencher’s mother always wrote her letters. So when she felt herself bottom into depression after college, she did what felt natural—she wrote love letters and left them for strangers to find. The act has become a global initiative, The World Needs More Love Letters, which rushes handwritten letters to those in need of a boost.” (source)

I’m sure postcrossers understand better than anyone the difference it makes to get home after a long day and find something special on our mailbox, waiting to cheer us up.

Hannah extended this concept of cheering up strangers via real mail to love letters, which she collects every month, from all corners of the world. The letters are then repacked in bundles and forwarded to people in need of love and encouragement. She explained the inspiration behind The World Needs More Love Letters on this short & sweet TED Talk:

Doesn’t it make you want to write a letter today? Check out her website for more information on how to help!

By the way, if you’re feeling inspired to write more this month, the second edition of the Month of Letters project is just starting – grab your stationery supplies, address book and start penning those letters! :)

Nicole (aka Mondkind), from Hamburg, is a regular at the yearly Postcrossing meetings in Bielefeld. She has a fondness for small knitting and crochet projects… and big books! Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

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

While reading another blog I was aware of Bookcrossing and after looking around for a while, I discovered the Postcrossing website. I was fascinated by the thought of getting mail from all corners of the world and to see places that I did not even know existed. I signed up immediately, and the next day I sent the first five postcards.

When I received my first postcard and read the very kind message, I instantly took a new address and from this moment I knew… I wanted to receive a lot more postcards. I was infected with the Postcrossing virus!

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

One of my favorite postcards is my first one, which came from Riga with kind words on it.

Here are some other postcards I like:

KG-564 is one of the postcards with the smallest postcard ID I have ever received.

RO-30290 shows the famous Dracula castle! I love many other postcards, like for instance JM-722 or ZA-13315.

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

Any postcard is a surprise for me. When I open my mailbox, I never know what is inside, how many cards are there, where are they from, who was picked to write me. But it is always a special surprise when a card comes from a far away country or a country from which I hadn’t received a card so far!

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

This is my mailbox.

This is an album I’ve made for very nice postcards and stamps.

And here’s my postbox, and a wine box where I store my postcards to send!

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

Yes, my son Loris joined Postcrossing, too. I think it’s a good way to improve his English and he likes to get nice postcards.

And perhaps the owner of a lovely small shop – he was surprised because I bought so much of his very nice postcards… I told him about Postcrossing and he was very excited and curious. And perhaps he is now already one of us… :)

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, of course. I’ve attended the international Postcrossing meeting in Bielefeld twice, and several other meetups in Germany. Some here in Hamburg, two times in Berlin… I’ve even organised a mini-meeting in my house!

I am happy because I’ve developed some really great friendships developed through Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I love to read historical novels and detective stories. I have a weakness for thick books. Rebecca Gablé is one of my favourite authors. I enjoy knitting and to crocheting small things. I am too impatient for large projects!

We can probably all agree receiving a postcard in the mail from an exotic faraway place is one of the more exciting things that might happen in a day… but did you know that some decades ago, a pharmaceutical company used this precise notion to come up with one of the most unique marketing schemes of all time? Read on – it’s a good story!

Between the years 1954 and 1968, Abbott Laboratories of Illinois sent out 240,000 postcards every couple of weeks to doctors, nurses, and health facilities all over the world. They manufactured, stamped, and postmarked over 170 unique postcards from 165 different towns in 85 countries. The postcards’ authenticity of origin intrigued the recipients, increasing their overall effectiveness.

Each card began with the salutation, “Dear Doctor, ” except for several versions sent to non-doctors that omitted this greeting and just had the message. The pictures on the cards displayed local scenes portraying the place, culture, or people of the particular country it was mailed from. The entertaining message on the back was written in a friendly tone, and never forgot to plug their prized product—an intravenous anesthetic by the name of Pentothal. This drug, by the way, is still used today not only for its anaesthetic effects, but also in some places for its truth serum properties!

It is a bit of a mystery how this novel idea originated. In an article by Daniel Friedman, one Abbott employee, Dean Carson, was quoted saying, “I just came up with this idea and they said it was fine.” Others speculate it was either the Abbott advertising executive, Tom Bird or Charless Hahn, the Chicago Sun Times stamp editor, who had previously collaborated on a magazine together advertising Abbott products to doctors in Latin America.

Whoever actually invented this genius marketing method back then probably didn’t fully realize the extent of popularity these postcards possess among present-day collectors. In September 2012, a bunch of Dear Doctor postcards were sold on eBay raking in hundreds of dollars for each card—the record price was $298!

Impressive, isn’t it?

By the way, the photos that illustrate this post come from the collection of Tom Fortunato, who graciously allowed us to use them. Tom runs deardoctorpostcards.com, a website for Dear Doctor postcard collectors – check it out!

Today we have another great story of members using Postcrossing in an unusual way – with inspiring results!

The librarians, employees and volunteers of De Bibliotheek Reuver (The Library of Reuver), in the Netherlands, started a Postcrossing-inspired book club! Here’s how it works: they’ve asked every postcrosser that sent them a card to name the title(s) of their favourite book(s). When they receive the card, they search the suggested books and put in a special bookshelf, on top of which the received postcards are also displayed.

They’ve also set up a large map on the wall, where they put a copy of the postcards received, and a small profile of the sender. The postcards are connected to the countries by strings, to help children find out where they are! It looks great!

As visitors of the library walk by, they’re free to choose a book from this shelf and read it, effectively picking up reading tips from all over the world! :)

Ellis (aka TheBusyLibrarian) tells us “Our readers like the book club as it gives them new or at least unexpected titles. They also like the idea that somebody took the time to name their favorite and recommend a really good/interesting book. (..) Old and new titles appear on these favorite lists. Most we have in our collection.”

The Reuver’s Library Postcrossing book club has recently been featured on the De Limburger newspaper – you can read the article (in Dutch) here. They’re also planning to organise a meetup soon, to introduce visitors to Postcrossing, and help them get started. If you’re the area, and would like to help or just get together with other postcrossers, get in touch with TheBusyLibrarian for more details.

Well done Ellis, and everyone at the the Reuver’s Library team! Big thumbs up for this initiative! :)

Sometime ago we had the pleasure to chat with Anke Weckmann, illustrator extraordinaire. She hails from a little town near Hannover, but moved to the UK in 2001 to study illustration in Camberwell College of Art and Kingston University. Since then, she has been working as a freelance illustrator in London, and her work has been featured all kinds of products, from magazines to makeup packaging, wallets to water bottles… and of course, stationery!

Anke’s quirky style features charming big headed characters and lots of nature elements. She tells us that her illustrations are drawn in ink/black pen on paper and usually coloured digitally… but where does she draw inspiration from? Read her answers to our interview below to find out!

How did you get started doing stationery design?

I’ve been commissioned to do greeting cards, postcards, files, mouse mats, notebooks, stickers etc through various companies. This is how a lot of stationery products ended up in my online shop.The only things I produced/printed myself are small notepads and greeting cards.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere. I’m not always sure where it comes from. Generally I’m very interested in shapes and colour pallettes. At the moment I’m very interested in tribes, vegetables and silence.

If you could define your style in 3 words, what would they be?

Shapes, Colours, Characters

Are you a letter/postcard writer yourself?

I used to be! When I was about 11 I had more than ten penpals and for a long time I was always writing letters and cards. Now I rarely write anymore, which is sad! But it’s mostly because my hand and arm get very tired from drawing for long hours, so I try to rest it whenever I can. I still love getting mail though. And I quite enjoy packing my shop orders and including little cards and such.

Can you show us a picture of your studio or workspace?

Thank you Anke!

You can find Anke’s postcards, greeting cards and other products at ankeweckmann.etsy.com, or through Red Cap Cards. Don’t forget to check out Anke’s blog – we’re especially fond of her Learning French illustration series! :)