Postcrossing Blog

If you follow the news, you probably have heard about the Icelandic volcano that recently caused a major disruption on Europe’s air traffic. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano (don’t worry, we don’t know how to properly pronounce that either) caused huge delays on passengers hoping to fly on the days after its eruption on April 14th.

But why is this relevant here? Because not only passengers got grounded – cargo flights too, and this obviously included mail delivery services; any mail arriving or leaving the affected parts of Europe got delayed. But how much did this really affect the postal services? We couldn’t find any hard data on it, so we decided to measure it ourselves and share it with you.

Below you can see a graph of number of Postcrossing postcards received per week of 2010.

Postcards received per week (2010)

It’s easy to spot when the Eyjafjallajökull did its thing, isn’t it? We estimate a 26% hiccup on mail delivery because of the volcano. Quite amazing how powerful nature can be.

However, the good news is: mail delivery is back again to its normal speed, judging by last week’s numbers. It’s quite possible that postcards traveling to more far away places might still be affected by this, but the worse part seems to be over, so keep posting! :)

The Postcrossing meetups continue occur all over the world; Spain, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, USA, Israel, Switzerland, Portugal, Canada, Germany – the list just doesn’t stop!

To keep you all updated on the next meetups, here’s the list of the upcoming ones:

1st May

UK, London

15th May

Canada, Niagara Falls
Russia, Moscow

22nd May

Australia, Brisbane

29th May

Netherlands, Leeuwarden

19th June

Germany, Leipzig

26th June

Netherlands, Den Bosch

27th June

U.S.A., San Francisco

3rd July

Poland, Wroclaw (Breslau)

For the latest about meetups, just check the forum – there’s always more meetups being organized!

And as a teaser, here are photos and links of some of the latest ones:

Meetup in Madrid, Spain


Meetup in Rome, Italy


Meetup in Tel-Aviv, Israel


Meetup in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Tamara, a nurse from British Columbia, Canada, collects many things including postcards. She sees Postcrossing as an extension of her caring personality.

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

I had been active on other postcard sites prior to the genesis of Postcrossing. It was on the xpostcardx site that Megan Herring told me of Postcrossing. I found Postcrossing to be exactly what I needed to satisfy my postcard hobby.

I got hooked once I joined the forum, where there is a plethora of opportunity to exchange both ideas and postcards. Being in a caring profession (nurse) I am a “giver” by nature and Postcrossing has become my outlet for sharing. The ongoing round-robins and tags help nourish my Postcrossing relationships through the personalized touch of snail mail. I often flavor an envelope with a surprise from someone’s “favorites”. For me, participating in Postcrossing is just an extension of my job: it involves my reaching out to others and extending friendship. It gives me satisfaction. Postcrossing has become my favorite pastime.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Aside from wilderness hiking and beachcombing, I am a union steward and mentor for nursing students. These activities have me travelling out of town where I scan the hotels and shops for postcards. I love gourmet cooking and collecting. I am a natural collector. My kitchen has hundreds of advertising tins and I also collect political pinback buttons, dolls, and ornamental eggs. Postcrossing is great for us collectors.

The dolls are one of my hobbies (collecting).

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

CABLECAR is the name of the neighborhood I live in. This is the kiosk where I pickup my snail mail.

The building with the emblem is Kitimat’s Canada Post outlet, where I purchase stamps and get my parcels sent from.

The van is the vehicle that delivers the mail.

The album on the fireplace mantel shows my European map cards collection.

The wire wreath hangs in the window of my dining room. This is how I display my seasonal postcards (ie Halloween).

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

This is the postcard that made my soul sing! I received it early on when I first joned the forum. It depicts gingerbread figures. My first glance stirred long forgotten memories. Since I love to cook, it was the perfect card for me. I had it professionally framed and matted so I could afford it a permanent and central spot in my kitchen. Thanks to the dear Finnish postcrosser who chose this one for me.

The gingerbread postcard is my extra special one, and has a place of honor in my kitchen.

On April 22nd it will be Earth Day 2010 and, in a time when climate change is becoming more serious than ever, it’s important to not let this day go by unnoticed.

Postcrossing is collaborating with students in Tuvalu in a very special event around the Earth Day 2010 in which you can participate too – and it’s really easy, read on.

But first, for the ones who may don’t know where the country Tuvalu is, here’s a short summary from its Wikipedia page:

Tuvalu

Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of 12,373 makes it the third-least-populated sovereign state in the world.

From all the important facts about Tuvalu, there’s something particularly important that you should: due to global warming and the rising of sea-level, there are predictions that in the next 50 years the entire population will have to be evacuated. The ocean can swallow Tuvalu whole, making it the first country to be wiped off the map by climate change! Isn’t that scary?

Tuvalu students certainly think it is, and so do we. Postcrossing is proudly collaborating with them in this year Earth Day to help spread their word about how important it is to reflect and act upon climate change. The project is called “Send Tuvalu to the world” and consists on sending 422 postcards to all over the world sharing their thoughts about Tuvalu. The students organized a painting contest to draw a special stamp to be used in all the postcards, so these are very special indeed.

How would like to receive one of these postcards from the remote islands of Tuvalu? We know many of you would, so here’s how:

Just leave a comment on this Postcrossing blog post saying you would like one. We will then select the receivers from the first users of each country until we reach the needed 422 addresses. There are many possible slots for each country, so be sure to leave a comment! We will then share your address with the organization of this event in Tuvalu and the students will send your way one of this very special postcards.

It’s really simple to participate. But also very important, is to be aware – more than ever – about climate change, what it is doing to our planet, and what we should do about it.

Sally, 45 y.o., New Zealand. She discovered Postcrossing through Bookcrossing. She enjoys gardening but was easily hooked on cards.

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

I was looking up bookcrossing and stumbled across Postcrossing. Postcrossing seemed to be able to a result quicker than the Bookcrossing. I sent, I received! I was hooked with the first card in my letter box.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I really enjoy my gardening. Rubber stamping is another love, I sell the card I make to my fellow workers. I like to make a patchwork quilt in the summer and then hand sew them in the winter.

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

Heres my letter box where all my mail arrives. It is hand painted by a local craft firm.

Where I keep my postcards – just a couple of boxes right beside my computer, Im often browsing back thru them for a look.

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

Favourite because of size and colour makes me feel like I’m right there.