Postcrossing Blog

Earlier in February this year, we asked you to send some postcards to a school in Guimarães (Portugal), whose students were working on a European Capital of Culture project. They’ve received an avalanche of cards from all over the world – so many that they decided to do several postcard-mosaics instead of a single one! :)

As you can see, the mosaics were displayed in several windows of the school, so that the postcards were easily accessible from both sides. The project was very well received – so much so that it is still being displayed, months after it’s conclusion date!

You can see the four mosaics below (click for bigger images):

Did you spot your postcard? :)

The students have also made thank-you postcards themselves, which they’ve sent back to some of the senders during their English classes.

A big congratulations to the students and teachers of the Escola Secundária Martins Sarmento, and a huge thank you (from them and us) to all the postcrossers who sent a card to this school!

Lately, Japanese Gotochi Cards are becoming quite popular and sought after among postcrossers – so we thought it would be fun to tell you a bit more about them here on the blog. Read on!

Gotochi cards are designed and released by the Japanese Postal System, and each one of them represents a place in Japan – hence the name 'gotochi’, which means 'local’. They showcase Japanese symbols (which might be local dishes, costumes, monuments, landscapes, etc.) on a national and regional level, in a brightly coloured and fun cartoon.

Gotochi cards have a couple of unique features that make them special. First of all, they are not perfect rectangles, but in fact take on the shape of their picture. Also, each card not only has a cartoon picture on it, but also the name of the place that is depicted in the image. Every prefecture has multiple cards, which might be one of the reasons that collecting them has taken off and became such a popular hobby!

Some of the most famous Gotochi postcards include Kyoto’s Geisha’s and Ibaraki’s melons. You can check out the whole collection of cards on the postcard collection site.

Hope you enjoyed discovering the Japanese Gotochi cards! Which one is your favourite? :)

Note: While they are super-cute, please bear in mind that they are also more expensive to send than normal postcards – and so it is hard for Japanese postcrossers to send a lot of them.

Tomorrow is World Post Day, did you know? It’s celebrated every year, on the 9th of October and it commemorates the founding of the UPU (Universal Postal Union) in 1874 in Bern, Switzerland Capital.

So across the world, post offices will be celebrating this special day in many different ways. This includes: special philatelic exhibitions, free entrance in postal museums, introducing new products and services, special cancellation marks, seminars, workshops and more!

Actually, in some countries you can even get free goodies (like free postage!) so be sure to check the website for the post offices of your country (hint: if you don’t know the link you can find it in your country page in Postcrossing).

Let us know your findings in the comments of this post, and we’ll keep it updated for others to see!

So, go out, buy some postcards or some nice letter paper and write to all your friends and family; remind them that the post is a very important part of our lives.

Happy World Post Day!

List of events:

Ireland – An Post

An Post Museum will be opened for free to the public on the 9th October 2012. There will be a free guided tour at 11am and 3pm (more info).

Hong Kong – Hong Kong Post

You can send a letter for free, if you mail it from their special Love Post day collection boxes, which are on all their post offices! (more info).

Back in 2005, when Postcrossing was about to be launched, a logo wasn’t on top of our priorities… To tell the truth, we just wanted to get it done so that we could open the website, invite our friends to join, and get some postcards going! :) So we quickly drafted something on an image editor with our meager design skills, and moved on to more important things: actually sending some postcards and testing the website.

Of course, this was a time at which we couldn’t imagine the project would ever grow so big… so when people outside of our circle of friends started joining, and the media picked up on it, they caught us unprepared… As time passed, our priorities quickly shifted to solving problems and keeping the website running.

But over the years, we felt the need for something a bit more professional, something that would implicitly show the essence of the project… and something that we could brag about too! And so last year, we enlisted the help of our friend and designer Maria Nogueira, with the mission to create a fresh new logo for Postcrossing. She tinkered with many ideas for some months, being ever patient with our hesitation and obsessive adjustments… And now, we’re pleased to share with you the result from this collaboration:

We love the new logo, and feel that it really says something about the project! We hope you like it too. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Update: Hi guys! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and letting us know what you think – we do appreciate all the feedback, and it’s nice to see that you care and feel passionate about the project. We are listening and taking notes.
We think it’s too soon to judge whether or not the logo is good. Let’s give it some time, and a fair chance to sink in, to see how it works.

In this week’s Spotlight feature, we interview Dimitris (aka dst121gr), from Greece. Besides being the top postcrosser in his country, Dimitris is also passioned about long distance running and his local rescue team, which he co-founded in 1995.

Here is what he had to say:

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

I read an article in a newspaper and I said “Ok, lets give it a try to see what this project is about”. I was never a fan of postcards and it was really strange to use a postcard to send a message to someone I didn’t know!!! I was hooked by this feeling and even now, after a few years and more than 2000 cards (sent and received), I have the same feeling. I think it’s something magic to communicate in this way, with people you don’t know and you may never meet. To find all the differences between your character and way of life, with the others in every country in the world. Also the happy feeling to discover that there is someone in the other side of the planet, who is just like you!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I’m a phonecard and euro coin collector. I’ve also start to collect Europa CEPT stamps. One more hobby I have lately is long distance running. I took part in mountain semimarathons. I’m not an athlete and I run just for the fun of it, but I always try to finish within the time limits. I also like the 4WD and I took part at races with my Nissan pick up, as a driver or as co pilot to a friends’ jeep.

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

Here is my postcard collection, and my mailbox:

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I really like and enjoy all the process of the project. From the first click to draw an address till the moment I drop the card to the post box. But now I think that I’m really happy when I realise that my card made the receiver happy and he or she liked it. I think it’s no need to talk about when I receive a card… :) I think the feelings are common for all of us!

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

I think I was surprised when I drew an address to a school in Northern Mariana islands – but the biggest surprise was when I’ve got “thank you” cards from the kids there! I also was surprised when I receive my first card from a Greek who lived abroad and from a Russian member who learned Greek language and dances.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

My biggest passion is the local rescue team. I’m proud to be one of the founders and one of the 4 people who worked hard to make it known for its work in Greece. It was founded in 1995 and our members have been in Turkey and Algeria for the eartquakes, we have sent humanitarian loads from Greece to Iraq and Serbia and lot of activities like search, rescue, fire fighting etc.