Postcrossing Blog

Meet dotdotPC (aka Liisa) from Helsinki, Finland. She loves reading, gardening… and studying new subjects!
Here is her Spotlight interview:

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

I’m a Bookcrosser and I found links to Postcrossing site from fellow Bookcrossers’ profiles. Once I followed the link and here I am. I’ve always liked postcards, sending them and just handling them. I work at an archive. In last ten years my job description has changed and administration and digital archives take more and more of my time. I don’t get in touch with paper as much as I used to. I think handling paper in form of pretty postcards comforts me. It reminds me of my childhood and of the years of my early career when my duties were less complicated and I could focus on old paper documents and history.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I already mentioned Bookcrossing. Earlier I was very active participating and organizing local meetings and events but other things take more of my time these days. I’m still quite active, but only via the Internet. My profile is here.

During almost all of my Postcrossing years, I’ve been studying after hours. Years after getting my last diploma, I realized that I know nothing of pedagogy and applied for a year’s course at the University. Now I’m studying after hours again. I have also realized that studying is one of my hobbies. I used to be active in some associations earlier, but I don’t have time for them anymore. Last summer I took a course in genealogy. It’s very interesting, but I have time only to assist my sister in her research.

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

For years I used the Helsinki General Post Office. Architecturally, it represents functionalism of 1930s, my favorite style. Unfortunately it’s not open to public anymore, but you can see a photo of it by Joonas Antikainen here.

Now I use another post office, that represents functionalism, only four years younger and not so grand as the old General Post office. Postoffice 00510 Helsinki is close to both my home and my office, so it’s very practical.

I live in the fourth floor of a small block of flats, with no elevator. So far our mailmen and mailwomen have always been very friendly, whenever they have rang our doorbell for oversized letters (usually Bookcrossing books).

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

I don’t feel good about choosing favorites, as I’ve received so many fantastic and lovely postcards. I decided to show a great card about 1920s Roly Polys. I like the picture, it’s a museum postcard and it’s the very first card to arrive in our new (that is present) home in 2008. It made a new flat to feel more like a home, even if we hadn’t even moved in when it arrived.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I like whole process. Sending and receiving postcards gives me similar joy now as they did when I started this hobby and I received less cards per week. Many postcrossers send really great cards and write kind and interesting messages.

Receiving postcards is lovely, but yet my favourite part of the process is getting new addresses and choosing cards for others. I’d like to send an individual card to every person, but it’s getting more and more difficult. So many people wish for city views and landscapes, that I must send similar cards to different postcrossers. I also like making my own collage postcards for those who wish for handmade cards.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I’m passionate about my work. As a former public servant I’m passionate about the principle of publicity in administration. I like to encourage and advise people to use their right to get information about public affairs. There are other things, too, more connected to my spare time. Gardens are one. I’m not a skilled gardener, but I’m very eager to learn, I usually assist my sister in my mom’s lovely garden. Graveyards are another. Where ever we travel, my husband and I try to visit local graveyard, especialy in our own country.

Ever since souvenir picture postcards made their USA debut at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, postcards touting images of cities began sprouting up everywhere. Although several firms manufactured the popular big letter “Greetings from…” USA postcards, one company in particular really made the process their own – Teich Company (pronounced “Tike”).

Based in Chicago, America’s number one printing town, this family of printers created thousands of charming designs showcasing tourist attractions all over America, but hit the jackpot when they invented the processes to create the unique look their big letter designs are known for. Easily identified by their bold colors and bigger-than-life images, Teich’s patented methods of fabrication were so exact and involved (and kept secret by founder Curt Teich), it is almost impossible to perfectly recreate these sought-after collectors items, even with present-day technology.

No town was too small or obscure for Teich to manifest in postcard form; in 1933, Teich began producing their line of “Greetings from…” designs and by 1956 they made around 1,000 individual designs, paying homage to American cities in all 50 states (and to the states themselves).

After the company closed in 1978, their archives were donated to the Lake County Discovery Museum, in Illinois, which now runs a museum with them. The Curt Teich Postcard Archives contains over 350,000 postcards, and the collection is considered the biggest public postcard collection in the world.

BONUS: For all the photoshoppers out there, here are step-by-step instructions for making your very own big letter souvenir postcard! Enjoy!

Over the years, we’ve sometimes felt the need for a set of guidelines that clearly explained what Postcrossing is about. Something that would help set up the expectations for the new members of the project, as well as define some basic ground rules: a sort of dos and don’ts of Postcrossing.

So a few months ago we’ve sharpened our pencils and started collecting all of Postcrossing’s guiding principles in one place, carefully discussing each item. We’ve asked for input from some longtime members of the community and incorporated their feedback. And today, we’re happy to publish them. You can read them on the new Postcrossing Community Guidelines page.

Postcrossing’s guidelines are not new, and include basic things like “Always send a postcard to the addresses you request” or “Register postcards on arrival”. Most of them were implicit and already written on different pages of the website… but because they were spread out, it was hard for members to find them and be aware of them.

We believe that these guidelines will help bring the community closer together, and make the Postcrossing experience a more enjoyable one.

Have fun and happy Postcrossing!

Hawwa (aka Eva) is from Spain, but currently lives in sunny Morocco. She speaks 5 languages besides her native Catalan – and uses them all to write her postcards in Postcrossing! :) Here is what she had to say:

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

A pen friend from Canada informed me about this project. I look for Postcrossing immediately in Internet, and I thought it was an excellent idea to increase my lighthouses collection and improve my language skills. I tried, I became hooked and I discovered soon that Postcrossing is not only a site to collect postcards but a real community.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like writing letters in different languages. Sometimes I even dare to send some mail art! I also run a blog (mailadventures.blogspot.com) about my mail adventures. All of you are very welcome!

Out of the post world, my main hobbies are trekking, writing short stories and travelling (I’ve been to seventeen countries so far).

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

I’ve recently moved, so I will show you my previous post office (in Spain). I’ve sent the majority of my Postcrossing postcards from here:

And the currently post office (in Morocco):

Also my current mailbox (a bit boring, as it is a PO Box).

And the graceful mailbox where I send my postcards from Morocco:

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

I have a lot of favourites. They usually remain some weeks on the wall of my study. But I will show you the three kinds of postcards I really love:

JP-208063: I just love amazing pictures and especially when they let you learn about distant cultures.

DE-632790: because the funny story about the picture written by the sender. I was laughing the whole day!

NO-34163: It is a handmade postcard and I find it very original. I think it also shows a lot about the sender and his country.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

It used to be choosing the right postcard for every recipient. But now where I’m currently living I have a really limited choice. So now my favourite part in the process is finding postcards in my mailbox and searching more information about the place where they were sent from.

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

Yes, I was really surprised to get a postcard from Tuvalu. I hadn’t heard about this country before! Indeed, I’ve discovered a lot of places thanks to Postcrossing. Postcards have inspired some of my last trips.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

Two of my strong passions: languages and lighthouses. My native language is Catalan, but I speak more or less five more languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic). And Postcrossing is a good place to practice!

Thirteen months ago, we published a ranking of how popular Postcrossing was in a given country, based on the number of postcrossers for every 100,000 inhabitants.

It’s been a while since then, so we thought it was time to compile some fresh statistics, and check if there were any noticeable differences. Here is the updated ranking:

What do you know? Finland is still leading the ranking by a mile! :) New-comers to the table include the Åland Islands, Guam, South Korea and Israel. Please note that in the case of the Åland Islands, the ranking is skewed, as their population is about 26,000 inhabitants.

On the fast-climbers side, Hong Kong jumped 10 places (from 19th to 9th) but the most surprising climb comes from Ukraine, which rose from 35th place to 16th! Well done!

Are there other statistics you would be curious to see here? Let us know!

PS: Like the last time, to calculate the data above we took into account only countries with more than 10 members and excluded countries which were too small or of which we did not have any relevant population data.