Postcrossing Blog

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

Many of us, as Postcrossers, end up seeing quite a lot of our local post office, one way or another. In some ways, they’re similar all around the world, because they have the same basic function: allow people to send letters and parcels, nationally and internationally. But there are a lot of differences, too, from the colour scheme to the things the post office might share a building with—so that’s this month’s prompt!

My local post office is really tiny. It’s in the little shop on the corner that sells a range of convenient things like bread, baked beans, snacks and pre-made sandwiches. There aren’t many other shops close by, so that shop has a bit of everything, including the post office and a small selection of envelopes, writing paper and boxes for mailing things. You have to kind of squeeze in there, and there’s always a wait because there’s normally only one person manning both the cash register and the post office window!

Because of that, I can never quite manage to go to the post office without also coming away with some snacks, a loaf of bread, and whatever else we managed to forget while doing the shopping earlier in the week. Also, you end up hearing about everybody else’s business, because the people in front of you are sending a care package to their daughter at university, returning something they bought on Ebay or picking up foreign currency ready for their trip to Greece. Somehow it’s never just buying a book of stamps, and because it’s a small local shop, everyone wants to chat…

What’s your local post office like? Is it big and impersonal, or do you see your neighbours there? Do you know the people you buy stamps from, and do they know you do Postcrossing? We’d love to hear all about it, in the comments on this post and on your postcards in October!

Who’s ready for the biggest day of the year, next Friday? 🙋‍♀️ We’ve ordered some postcards, restocked our stamp supplies, refilled our fountain pens and made a quick list of people we’d like to send postcards to on this special day, so we’re super ready to spend October 1st spreading the joy of happy mail!

Join us in mailing a postcard to a friend or a relative, to someone who needs a bit of cheering up, a thank you postcard to a person who had a positive impact in your life this year or help a little one send their first postcards! These are some of the ways in which you can celebrate the day and spread some mail joy.

You can also send postcards to other postcrossers, and like last year, if you request an address through Postcrossing on World Postcard Day, you’ll get your a special badge on your profile (or a little something extra on your current World Postcard Day badge, if you already have one). Last year, we made things a bit confusing with timezones (they’re so complicated 😱!), so this year we decided to simplify: if you send a postcard during October 1st in the timezone of your account’s location, it’ll be counted for the badge. That should make it easier: just draw addresses during your October 1st, and when one of those postcards arrives, the badge will show up on your profile!

And last but not least, there are a number of events organised around the world to celebrate the day — from exhibitions and seminars, to children activities, special cancellation marks and even some meetings of enthusiastic postcrossers taking place. Check out the Events page for more details and to join an event near you!

Even if there’s nothing happening in your area, you can still join an online event — like this seminar by Barry Stagg (Chairman of the British Thematic Association) on the various ways in which to collect, store and display picture postcards. Or, you can participate via Instagram Live on a postcard-writing event organised by “From Me to You”, a UK charity that will be writing postcards for people in hospitals. We’ll be online too, quietly writing postcards most of the day on Postcrossing’s Discord server voice channel — you’re welcome to join us there, if you’d like.

Let us know in the comments how you’re planning to spend this special day… and let the countdown begin!

Remember some years ago, when we randomly stumbled on a 19th century postcard exchange club called Kosmopolit, that sounded suspiciously similar to Postcrossing? 🤔 One author described it as a “fraternity of enthusiastic picture postcard exchangers” and there were also reports of “cryptic numbers and initials at the top of a message”, which sounds really familiar…

We were super curious to find out more about this Postcrossing predecessor, but at the time we wrote that blog post, we couldn’t find much more information online about the club… until later, when we heard of a book by Claus-Torsten Schmidt, which seemed to be the definitive guide to the association! Once again, our friends Claas (aka Speicher3) and Christine (aka reisegern) came to the rescue and managed to track down the book in Germany!

They’ve kindly translated some parts of it for us, and now we know much more about Kosmopolit than we did before. So get ready for a few posts about this amazing Postcrossing precursor! Here’s Claas to report on their findings:

The book by Mr. Schmidt is a chronicle that is based on documents and newspaper advertisements, which the author interprets and classifies. At the end of the 19th century there was an incredibly confusing plurality of small picture postcard collector associations, even in small towns. There were also associations that represented the interests of the many postcard dealers.

Years before Kosmopolit was founded, Fritz Schardt owned a trade for paper and stationery supplies and he also sold postcards. Already in 1896 he placed advertisements for the sale of postcards in publications like the “Zeitschrift für Ansichtskartensammler” (Magazine for postcard collectors) and “Der Postkarten-Sammler” (The postcard collector). Such magazines were very important for the huge collector scene at that time.

In 1897, the magazine “Der Ansichtskarten-Sammler” had called for a motto for the salutation between collectors of picture postcards. In March 1897, the proposal by Paul Zetsche from Hanover won: “Gut Ferngruß!” (meaning, Greetings from afar!) was since then the “official” salutation between postcard collectors.

In June 1897, Schardt finally founded Kosmopolit in Nuremberg, using that motto on their logo.

From then on, the activities of the association were documented in the “Internationale Postkarten Zeitung” (International postcard magazine), their club magazine.

The association published member address lists to enable the exchange of cards, organised postcard exhibitions, issued their own postcards on festive occasions and sold the emblem rubber stamps. Here’s a special postcard, issued for New Year’s celebrations:

Kosmopolit representations were quickly established in many regions of Germany, but also in other countries, the so-called “Consulates”. For example in Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, France, Russia, USA, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Brazil, … Interestingly, some of these consulates were headed by Germans (we must not forget that this was the time of colonialism).

Early on, there were thousands of members, and many small associations joined Kosmopolit. But there was also much quarrelling and intrigue… Within the first years, Schardt founded further collector associations, members were expelled, there were complaints and insults. Back then, there were already members who did not send back postcards after an agreed exchange, and so discussions ensued about other members who were not keeping up their part of the deal when exchanging postcards. In the association’s magazine, Kosmopolit is compelled to point to their members that the exchange rules must be observed.

The text reads: “Exchange among members. The daily increasing number of complaints for not returning the cards leads us to point out §4 of the statutes to the members of Weltverband Kosmopolit. We will be uncompromising in our use of the above paragraph.”

Unfortunately, we don’t know what statute §4 was, but here’s an excerpt from other statutes, providing information about the aims of the club:

About the purpose of the association, it is said:

§2
Purpose. The purpose of the association is:

1. "The members receive postcards, scrapbooks, technical literature etc. cheaper by contracts concluded between the association and the publishers.
2. The international character of the association gives the opportunity for exchange and correspondence with collectors from all over the world."

§8
International exchange

“Members who wish to exchange postcards must indicate this at the time of registration and have to reply all postcards with equivalent cards from their town. Not answering may result in exclusion. Rubbish cards and advertising cards are excluded from exchange. Members are expected to complete all received cards within 8 days at least.”

As we already know, there had been repeated complaints that members had not returned cards as agreed. In their magazine, Kosmopolit published an advertisement in which reminder postcards (“Mahnkarten”) were offered, which could be sent to defaulting members.

The reminder postcard states: “If I do not receive compensation by … I feel compelled to arrange your removal from the association.”

Thank you so much to Claas and Christine for this excellent investigative work! It’s so cool to learn more about this 19th century version of Postcrossing, and even notice that it already had a few of the same challenges we see on the site today… 😅 On the second part of this series, we’ll focus on Kosmopolit’s wishlists, statistics and badges — so do check back in a few weeks for more!

Orla (aka ohegarty) caught our attention when she sent us a postcard for the 150th anniversary of postcards a few years ago featuring a whale-themed cancellation mark that she had designed!

Turns out, she’s the postmaster of a seaside community in Newfoundland that has the best beach in the world for watching humpback whales, so the design and initiative made total sense. We were curious to find out more, so we asked her a few questions:

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

I am a first generation Canadian Irish immigrant. My grandfather sent me/our family postcards and letters in the 1970s-1980s from his various travels to visit his children and grandchildren.

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

I read about your launch and early success but did not join back then. I was reminded of this site when a postcrosser sent a cancel request to my post office (I am now the post master in a small rural seaside community) and designed/ordered a special humpback whale cancel since our town is famous for being able to watch humpback whales feed from our beach.

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

Every send or receive is a surprise. The rare countries are extra special though, I have to admit.

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

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

Joining the Postcrossing community opened up a different kind of creativity for me. And a different kind of connection to other humans that feels more real than our common electronic virtual square on various social media platforms.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Reading a new profile and thinking of what I could send to make their mailbox extra special.

Have you inspired other people to join Postcrossing, or met other members yet?

I’ve inspired at least four IRL friends to join and none of them know each other! I’ve only met the 4 people that are now members because of me, but I’ve attended an international virtual meetup — I know that’s not the same but still counts.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies or things that you’re passionate about?

I have the worlds largest collection of feminist postcards and feminist postage stamps. Actually, I’m not really sure about that claim but I’m willing to find out about other collections like mine!

I’m passionate about Feminism. I started the Counting Dead Women Canada list. Femicide is the ignored tragedy on our planet.

PS: You can hear Orla talk about postcards and her life in Newfoundland on episode 89 of the Postcardist podcast!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month’s prompt was suggested by iwritedeb! She suggested that we all write about our neighbourhoods, which seems like a great way to learn more about people all over the world! Where do you live, what’s it like, and is there anything unique about it?

I live in a pretty suburban area, but within a stone’s throw of farmland. If I look out of my window, I can see a hayfield which has recently been harvested. There’s a small farm nearby with geese, a field where a horse and a pony hang out together, and a lot of nice houses, each with their own garden. We’re not far from the town centre, but here it’s nice and quiet.

Often in the UK you don’t know your neighbours very well, but I like going for walks in the area, so people see me around and we know each other well enough to say hello. Strangely enough, my little corner of Yorkshire is full of Welsh people: there are two other Welsh families on our street, including a gentleman with a dog who is even keener about the rugby than I am (the man is, I mean, not the dog). I always joke that it’s because the weather in Yorkshire is so similar to the weather in Wales: it’s always raining!

My neighbourhood is kind of quiet and unexciting, but I’m sure you can all do better than that! You can write about your neighbourhoods in the comments right here, on the postcards you send out this month… or both! We’d love to hear from you.