Postcrossing Blog

One of the most frequent ways members find out about Postcrossing is through penpals… which leads us to believe that many of you love to write long letters as well as postcards! So for those of you, today we have a recommendation of a special league, a sort of penpal club with a twist… meet the League of Extraordinary Penpals!

The League of Extraodinary Penpals (LEP for short) was started by Laura of Please Deliver To and Julie of Penpal of the Week, both postcrossers and penpals. Their goal was to connect lovers of letters and postcards with other extraordinary mail enthusiasts.

You might be wondering what makes it so extraordinary… well, everyone in the league goes by their superhero alterego, complete with superpowers! These range from “composing legible letters while hurtling through the New York City subway system” to the ability to make “super duper awesome envelopes”. :)

Subscription is paid but well worth it: members have access to their monthly newsletters, filled to the brim with interesting articles, printables, member’s spotlights, mail challenges, stationery offers and of course, penpal opportunities! Plus, there are exclusive LEP groups on several social media websites, on which you can chat and exchange ideas with other members of the community. But be warned – they’re extremely addictive in their contagious enthusiasm for all-things snail mail & stationery!

Sounds interesting? Then head over to their page for more details!

Remember last year, when we announced a group of Taiwan members were preparing a special Postcrossing cancellation mark? They’re doing it again this year, for their fifth annual Postcrossing meetup! :)

This time, the meetup will take place in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. This Friday (June 7th), there will be a postcard exhibition at the National Taiwan University 1st Student Activity Centre, and then on Saturday, the meetup itself will take place.

Weital has once again designed a fantastic cancellation stamp for the occasion:

Isn’t it special?

Dodd, the meeting organiser, and all the other attendants are happy to share this special Postcrossing cancellation with other postcrossers and are therefore offering to send a postcard to the 50 members who first leave a comment below!* – All postcards have now been given away, thanks everyone!

For more information on this event, please check the meetup’s forum page.

(*) This means that if you’re one of the first 50 commenters, we’ll share your address with the member from Taiwan who will send you a postcard.

We know many Postcrossers take their yearly break in the upcoming weeks to relax and visit new places.

If you are one of those and you’ll be away from your home or school address for a while, we recommend you to switch your account to the Inactive status – you can do that easily just by editing your Postcrossing account. This will tell Postcrossing not to give your address to any other member while you are away.

When you’re back, all you need to do is to switch it back to Active and you’ll be back in business again! Rest assured, all your due postcards will then be sent your way.

Oh, and don’t forget to re-stock with postcards from the places where you’ll be spending your days away!

Bon voyage!

Some weeks ago, we took the Little Mail Carrier’s cousin along for a trip to the United Kingdom! It was his first time outside of Germany, and he loved going to all the touristic places and discovering the land of Her Majesty! On May 4th, there was a big meetup in Oxford, which we couldn’t miss, of course! Here’s his account of the day :)

Hi everyone!

The day started on the wrong foot… we left home in London with plenty of time to spare, but I got distracted riding this cute red cart…

… and just missed the bus to Oxford! Luckily, there were plenty more, and half an hour later we were zooming past the rolling hills of the English countryside. When we arrived in Oxford, postcrossers from all over Europe were having breakfast at a café near the bus station, already digging into their stashes of postcards – and they had brought sweets!

The day started with the obligatory trip to the post office, to stock on stamps. Did you know they have Doctor Who stamps here? They’re brilliant! They also had very neat posting boxes!

The day was beautiful, and we took the opportunity to stroll around the city center, to admire its history and architecture.

Oxford is known for its University, the oldest in the English-speaking world, dating back to the late 11th century! There were a lot of happy students zooming by in their graduation garments, and many proud parents as well – it almost made me want to go back to school, but for now a trip to the university’s shop would have to do. :)

We also visited the Alice in Wonderland shop for postcards…

… and many other stationery shops, including the delightful Paperchase!

During the tour, we had the opportunity to check out some British classics, like shortbread biscuits and all kinds of fun souvenirs!

After all the walking and postcard shopping, we had all worked up quite an appetite, and so it was time to sit down to eat, chat, swap presents…

… and write some postcards! There was much laughter and conversations in different languages between friends, old and new. :)

It was a lovely day, the kind that makes your cheeks hurt from so much smiling! A big thank you to Andy (aka Duplevista) for organising such a wonderful meetup! If you’re curious, check out more photos on some of the participant’s galleries: here, here, here or here.

What are you waiting to attend a meetup near you? Check this forum thread for updated dates and locations – and if there’s nothing near you, consider organising your own!

We’ve been biting our tongue for the past few months, but now it’s official: we’re thrilled to announce that Posti, the Finnish Postal Services, will publish not one or two… but four different Postcrossing stamps this year! :)

The colorful stamps were created by design agency Kokoro & Moi, and will be available on a folded stamp sheet from September 9th onwards, both on post offices and online.

Which means, Finnish postcrossers will soon be able to send their postcards using these playful stamps! How cool is that?

It is for us an extraordinary honour to have Postcrossing featured in a stamp, and we’d like to thank not only Posti, who thought the project worth of such recognition, but also all the postcrossers who over the years persistently asked for a Finnish Postcrossing stamp! On 9th September, their dream (and ours) will come true! :)