Postcrossing Blog

Remember in January this year, when Postcrossing celebrated 10 million received postcards? It took us over 6 years to reach that achievement, but things are moving faster than ever, and in the last year alone another 5 million cards have been received! Which means that the 15 million received postcard milestone is already fast approaching, and it is time to launch the guessing contest once again!

For those who didn’t participate last time, it goes like this: every member has a chance to bet on the day and time on which the postcard number 15 million will be registered. Those who get the closest, get a prize!

All you have to do is go to the 15 million postcard page, and place your bet!

Some rules: each time slot can only be chosen by one person, so the first user to pick that slot gets to keep it. You can change it at a later stage, if you want, but only from the available time slots left. We will close the bets when there are 1,500 postcards left to postcard 15,000,000. There are some more rules, which you can see on the contest page.

We’ll announce the prizes soon – but until then, go pick a slot! It might be your lucky day! :)

Some months ago, Albrecht (aka hulottati, from Germany) found a great card on an auction, and brought to our attention. We’ve been itching to share it with you ever since… but we had to wait patiently for today. Why? Check it out!

It’s from 1912 – more precisely, 12th December 1912, and therefore is exactly 100 years old! It reads:

“If you want to write such a card again, you’ll have to wait 100 years!”

How cool is that? Intriguing and interesting! And who knew that people back then were as fascinated with special dates as we are now? Or that, 100 years on, it would be seen on a website about postcards?

Are you going to send a special card today to celebrate this unusual date? You should – who knows you might read it in 100 years! :)

Since picture postcards were first created, they have been instrumental in documenting a locality’s history. Dating from 1905–1950, exaggerated and tall-tale postcards originated from the pioneer bravado of the western expansion and were extremely popular in the Great Plains and rural communities hoping to form an identity for themselves as a place of agricultural wealth.

These postcards promoted agrarian and wildlife benefits to a public that was aware of the exaggerations, and were used to facetiously advertise the products and unique aspects of a region. The common theme among the postcards was immensity; fishing, hunting and riding oversized animals, harvesting gigantic fruits and vegetables, or wheeling in massive sheaves.

While exaggeration postcards illustrated an object of disproportionate size, the tall-tale postcard added a caption, bringing the whole scene to life with anecdotal referential humor. The most well-know creators of these cards were Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr., and William H. Martin. They created their masterpieces using trick photography, usually taking two black and white pictures, one a wide shot and the other a close-up. The enlarged close-up image was then cut and glued over the wide shot to create the embellished result.

Titles such as “Great Sport Fishing Here” and “Harvesting a profitable crop of onions in Kansas” helped further the intent of the image. Other designers painted their unlikely scenes or used a combination of photography and painting (an early day exercise in Photoshopping!).

Larger than Life: The American Tall Tale Postcard, 1905–1915 by Morgan Williams is a great volume on the exaggeration postcard, capturing “many facets of life in turn-of-the-century, small-town America and vividly bears witness to a unique form of creativity.” To check out more of legend William H. Martin’s work, visit http://www.photographymuseum.com/talltale.html.

By the way, all the images illustrating this blog post come from Brenda’s wonderful collection – check out her website for many more!

Meet José (aka PilotOne) from Portugal. He’s a flight simulator fan, and an enthusiastic member of the Postcrossing community in Portugal – he even gave an interview about Postcrossing on TV once!

Here is what he had to say to our interview questions:

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

I joined the Postcrossing project on the 30th September 2009 and in fact I can’t remember how I learned about it! I believe however that it was through any article I read online. What keeps me active on the project is to become aware of other cultures, languages​​, ways of living and even some cases of life that are reported by some of the members in their profiles. To share all this is what fascinates me most in Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes, although Postcrossing occupy some of my free time, I enjoy modeling and also dedicate much of my time to virtual aviation with my own flight simulator equipment. Photography and reading a good book are also habits that I practice very regularly.

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

You can see my mailbox on the first picture above, and here I am at the local Post Office:

This is the post box where I mail my cards from:

Below on the left is my stock of to-send cards, and on the right, my received postcards:

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

This is my favorite! It shows an ethnic little girl and it really is one of the most touching cards I’ve received so far! I’m sure this little girl’s world is limited to her small bird and to the 50 or 100 meters surrounding the place where she lives!

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

When I gave a TV interview about Postcrossing in October 2010 and we all felt a marked increase of new subscribers in Portugal, so I hope some of them have really got addicted to the project. Personally I also contributed to the dissemination of the project by friends, explaining them how everything works from the first requested addresses.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The most exciting and favorite moment is to read the cards I receive and also to the countries they are coming from.
Registration process is also a big moment, as I can 'see’ (most of the times) the photo of the sender and also read his/her profile.

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

I’ve been very excited when I received a card from Paraguay with a small ID. At that time I’ve checked the Postcrossing registration system and it was the 1st card from Paraguay received in Portugal. You can see it here.
My recently sent PT-266410 (still traveling) to Liechtenstein also made me happy as there are only 4 Postcrossing members on this Principality, so there was a very small chance for this to happen!

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes many times! I use to attend local small meetings or just combine to have lunch or a dinner together with some members (we call it a meeting!) where we always finish with a card-writing session! I’ve also attended different International Postcrossing Meetings in Portugal that really had a large number of foreign members!

For a postcard you sent to be registered, the receiver must be able to read the Postcard ID – therefore, its placement is crucial!

If you put it in an area where it might be read by the postal services machines, it could be confused for a post code, which would delay its delivery. And if you write it too close to the stamp area, it might be stamped over, causing the receiver some problems deciphering it!

So here are some handy dos and don’ts to consider when writing the Postcard ID:

• do write it on the left side of the postcard (direction of text is unimportant)
• do write it more than once on the postcard – in case part of the card gets damaged
• do double check that you wrote it correctly

• do not write it under, above or to the right of the address, because it might be read by a mail sorting machine and confused for the postal code
• do not write it next to the postage area

Hope that helps!

PS – Can’t figure out the Postcard ID on one of the postcard you’ve received? Fill out the Unknown ID form and we’ll help you out!