Postcrossing Blog

Today we are happy to introduce two exciting new features: Postcrossing supporters and Postcrossing ambassadors. What do they have in common? They both honor contributions to Postcrossing!

Postcrossing supporters

Donating is one way to show appreciation for what has been done in Postcrossing so far.
We have long wanted to reward the users that sponsor the project: their donations are very important as they allows us to pay for the project monthly expenses (server, storage, bandwidth, development).

So, from today onwards, all users that make a donation will have a badge near their username, like this: paulo

Wear it proudly!

Postcrossing Ambassadors

But there are many other ways to contribute to Postcrossing, all important and cherished.
A few examples:

• Write an article for your local newspaper
• Make posters and spread them on your neighbourhood
• If you are a teacher, you can give a class on Postcrossing and invite your students to join

The objective is, of course, to spread the word about Postcrossing, so use your imagination! The reward is our huge “thank you” and a “thumbs up!” badge on your profile:

Tip: put your mouse over the words “Postcrossing Ambassador” to learn about the user’s contribution.

Have you done any of these good deeds? Then send us an email, and we’ll update your profile! :-)

Postcrossing HQ makes a point in checking whether every country from which we receive a postcard is in fact as beautiful as that postcard promises ***. We are happy to confirm that Malaysia, with its sunny beaches and spectacular cultural diversity lives up to the promise!

After a week there, batteries were recharged, ideas were brewed, and we returned home eager to get some work done.

So… check out your profile for some re-structured information and cute new icons!
As a bonus, if you are on the top 50 rank by most postcards sent or more distance sent from your country, you’ll have a little medal there too. :-)

*** Well, not really, but if the job existed, I would be the first to apply!

As some of you might have noticed, Postcrossing closed the Paypal “donation box” for the Sichuan Earthquake relief fund a few days ago.
We took some time to mail all the postcard packs to the generous donors and today, exactly a month after the earthquake, we headed to the bank and made the deposit: 12289.2 RMB (or 1149.2 Euros or 1776.4 U.S. dollars) .

Thank you very much to everybody that contributed! Your kindness and generosity will surely have a meaningful impact on the lives of the millions of people affected by this disaster!

Like they say around here, 谢 谢 你！

PS – If you would still like to make a donation, please do so directly to the Red Cross, through the numbers on this page.

(Image from wang qian on flickr)

To help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake, Postcrossing is raising donations which will be sent to the Red Cross society of China. As a bonus, we will send a set postcards to the first 100 people who donate over 15 US dolars or 10 euros.

For more details, please visit the Sichuan Earthquake relief page we have set up.
All help is appreciated. Thank you!

Over these 2 years, the most requested feature we received here at Postcrossing headquarters was from users that wanted to send more than 5 postcards at a time. We hesitated and thought about the issue for a long time… until we decided on a fair way to implement this change.

So, from now on, the number of postcards you can send will depend on the number of postcards you have already sent. This should encourage new users to (slowly) test the system, while allowing more experienced users to send more postcards.

The new limits for the postcards you can send (ie, have simultaneously traveling) are now:

• If you have sent between 0 and 19 postcards, you can send 5 postcards.
• If you have sent between 20 and 39 postcards, you can send 6 postcards.
• If you have sent between 40 and 59 postcards, you can send 7 postcards.
• If you have sent between 60 and 79 postcards, you can send 8 postcards.
• If you have sent between 80 and 99 postcards, you can send 9 postcards.
• If you have sent between 100 and 149 postcards, you can send 10 postcards.
• If you have sent between 150 and 199 postcards, you can send 11 postcards.
• If you have sent between 200 and 249 postcards, you can send 12 postcards.
• … and so on, in increments of 1 postcard for each 50 you send.

For instance, if you have sent 21 postcards, you can have at most 6 postcards traveling simultaneously to other users.
Please note that since this feature is currently being tested, adjustments to these limits may occur in the future.

Also, did anyone notice there is now a column of random little avatar pictures in each country page? Check it out on the country pages of Turkey, Spain, Brazil or China or look up a specific country on the countries’ list.