Postcrossing Blog

Jocelyn, 39, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. For her, Postcrossing is a full time job. It must be, she receives an average of 5 to 20 cards a day. Learn more about Joce and her activities in Postcrossing.

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

Over three years ago, I was a big part of Flickr's The Biggest Group thread. We had a sub-thread called TBG-Traveling Postcards. I immediately loved the idea of sending and receiving postcards within the USA and throughout the world! I found Postcrossing through a flickr friend in The Netherlands (who is not on Postcrossing anymore) and I was immediately hooked – sending and receiving officials and participating in the forum. Wow! What a concept! I was amazed at how friendly everyone was! I would have never thought that so many people could be just as addicted as I am! I currently host the two largest round robins: Color RR and Photo RR.
I have met so many people through Postcrossing. It’s amazing how many friendships have developed over the past few years. I am very grateful to be a member of this wonderful site.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Aside from postcard collecting, I love to cruise! I have been on over 26 cruises that have sailed all throughout the Caribbean. What an excuse to cruise too – oops, I am out of postcards, I must cruise again to replenish my stock so I can trade! I live in the desert so I can’t get enough of the ocean. Photography is also a great love of mine. It’s interesting capturing unique photos of people, places and things. Postcrossing is a full time job (but a fun one!) so I don’t want to have any other hobbies!

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

Here is a photo of my mailbox where I run home to check everyday (except Sunday). Sometimes the box is full – I receive, on average, 5 to 20 postcards per day! I used to have a wonderful system to store my postcards (in photo boxes, alphabetically by country) but since I started scanning them and uploading to flickr, my system turned into a mess. A neat mess though! I have many bins of postcards that have been scanned, bins that are ready to scan and bins of cards available to trade. No matter how they are stored at the moment, I love each and every postcard I receive!

And here is a part of my postcard collection:

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

I absolutely love this postcard. It’s a simple wish for my birthday when I turned 39 in November 2008. The little girl on the card is blonde and just so beautiful. The girl reminds me of me, when I was young; so sweet, innocent and happy! The colors on the postcard are vibrant and bright and every time I look at the postcard it makes me smile. It was written and stamped from Thaddee Calisson, Paris, France.

Every now and then we stumble on little gems on Youtube that are somewhat related to postcards – some of them are so weird and funny we cannot resist sharing them with you!

Meet Claes Eriksson, Swedish actor and composer, who did this cute little sketch:

We don’t quite know what to think about it, but the tune is quite catchy! :)

Did you ever receive a postcard without a Postcard ID? Or perhaps one you couldn’t read completely? Perhaps you submitted your request for help, but you think you could find out who the sender was based on the clues written on the postcard?

Then put your detective hat on and come check our new feature: users search!

Now you can search for users by their username, or even just parts of it! You can filter by location, when they have last used their account, if they are interested in direct swaps, etc.

This has been, for a long time, a very requested feature and we are very happy to be able to provide it to you now. Your support and feedback has been very important to achieve this, so a big thank you to all Postcrossers!

Oh! And, as always, we like to hear from you, so go run some searches and let us know how you like it! Happy Postcrossing! :)

Américo is 58 y.o. and lives in Santiago do Cacém, Portugal. He joined short after Postcrossing was born and is now amongst the Top 50 with more than 1400 cards sent. He has favorite cards but above all, he distinguishes the people who send them.

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

I have read about Postcrossing in an online portuguese newspaper just a few days after the project begun and decided to visit it. Just for curiosity…!!! I got hooked by the possibility to receive cards from different people all over the world. From that moment on I became a compulsive postcard collector!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I love reading, listening to music, swimming, walking on the beach and surfing the net.

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

This is the mailbox where I post my cards. It’s the only one existing in the very small village of Vale de Água.

The stairs are used to help some people to reach the box because it’s too high (just kidding !!!)

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

Obviously I have my favorites among all cards I have received. However I think I prefer to distinguish those Postcrossers who have tremendous difficulties to get a simple postcard (for a lot of reasons) and send it everytime they get an address.

Happy 2010!

While half of the world has already put away their celebratory hats and champagne cups, some are still stocking on fireworks for another big celebration… the Chinese New Year! On February 14th begins the Year of the Tiger… which means… it’s time for another exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum!

On previous years, these collaborations resulted in amazing exhibitions (Year of the Rat, Year of the Ox) and so, once again, the museum is asking the Postcrossing community for submissions. This time the theme is, of course, tigers! You can mail your postcards and/or stamps featuring these big felines to:

Mishelle at the Philatelic Museum promises to reply to all the cards received till February 10th, so what are you waiting for?

Happy Year of the Tiger! Xin nian kuai le!