Postcrossing Blog

It’s our birthday today! Hurraaaaaaaay!! 🎉🎉🎉

Eighteen years… can you believe it? If Postcrossing were a baby, today would be the day in which it became an adult in most countries. As parents say, “the days are long, but the years are short” — it really feels like it!

For nearly two decades, we’ve been on an incredible journey of connection through postcards. Each postcard carries a story, a glimpse into someone’s world, and a reminder of the diversity that unites us. Together, we’ve ignited wanderlust, sparked curiosity, and learned more about the world and the unique people in it. And in doing so, we’ve built an extraordinary community, spreading joy, forging friendships, and celebrating the beauty of handwritten messages.

It makes me a little teary eyed to think of the over 72 million postcards we’ve exchanged in all these years, each a little piece of art with an heartfelt message. So many surprises and so much kindness! 💙

So thank you, to each and every one of you, for being part of this journey. Let’s grab a slice of cake and raise our pens to toast to 18 years of postcard magic!

Oh, happy day! 🎉 Unbelievable as it sounds, Postcrossing turns 17 today!

Thank you for coming along on this journey with us, lovingly “spamming” the world with brilliant postcards and friendly words, making sure everyone has something to look forward to when they open their mailboxes. That feeling of finding something there never gets old, does it?

We’re especially thankful for the kindness being shared beyond borders, for all the funny images and fun facts that make us laugh, for all the thought and care that is put onto these little pieces of mail… We believe this community truly makes the world a better place, postcard by postcard.

By the way, did you know that haikus have 17 syllables (arranged on a 5–7–5 pattern)? Seems like a good occasion to try one out, so here it goes:

Postcards in the mail
Seventeen years of magic
Friends around the world

Ahah… at least we tried! 😅

Please do join us in celebrating this special day, and grab a piece of cake while you write some postcards (or haikus)! We’ll be doing the same from our little office here in Portugal, thinking of you all over the world. 🥰

PS – We’re using this opportunity to tweak the blog, increase the font size and make things more readable overall. Let us know what you think!

Hurray, it’s Postcrossing’s birthday today!! 🎉 Sixteen years of postcards and friendly connections all over the world feels like a long, joyful adventure… one that we cherish immensely.

All these global ties have felt extra meaningful in the past year, and we’ve heard from so many of you, letting us know how much you appreciated having a happy hobby during these rough times. So our big thank you to all of you out there, feeding mailboxes with nice mail and spreading some joy in times of social distancing — you are what keeps Postcrossing going. We hope you’ll have a brilliant day, and treat yourself to an extra nice postcard, or a slice of cake! 🍰

The other good news of the day is that a new Postcrossing-themed stamp from Austria is being issued today! Designed by Theresa Radlingmaier, 165,000 of these have been printed (in sheets of 50) and they should be available in Austrian post offices and their online shop today.

If you’re in Austria and manage to find some of these shiny new stamps on your local post office, do share some photos of them with the rest of us on social media! We’d love to see how they look on your own postcards.

It’s been 15 years today since Paulo flipped the switch to turn Postcrossing on — 15 years! 🎉 Can you believe that?! We’re a little incredulous ourselves… but immensely happy and grateful for the opportunity to come on this journey that has delivered millions of postcards around the world. Who could have imagined such an unlikely adventure?!

Awhile back, we asked you guys to upload a selfie with your mailbox to our anniversary wall, and almost 1000 of you accepted the challenge and showed us your happy mailboxes. It’s such a joy to browse the gallery now, and see your smiles and the places where all the postcards land! Mailboxes and mail slots seem to come in all shapes, sizes and materials, and quite a few of you even receive your mail directly from your mail carrier’s hands at your doorstep or on your local post office. So much color and diversity of mailboxes and ways of receiving mail!

We wanted to do a little surprise with these nice photos, so we put together a video filled with smiles to share with you all:

Sorry that we couldn’t put all of the photos in without making the video too long — we tried to include as many as we could. You can see all the photos on the 15 Years of Happy Mailboxes page, and the submissions will be open until the end of the month.

A big thank you to every single one of you out there, sending postcards to strangers across the world and helping make this planet a happier place — you are the stars of this celebration! 🤩 Join us in a little celebratory dance and enjoy this special day!

Before I get all weepy, let me just share some more good news: we have been working with Brazil Post on a new Postcrossing-themed stamp that is being released today! It’s a beautiful stamp by São Paulo’s illustrator Daniel Lourenço, showing 2 people connected through postcards. It’s a big, beautiful stamp (click the image to see a bigger version), and we have no doubt Brazilian postcards will look extra nice with it.

We’re so proud of the Postcrossing community in Brazil, whose persistence and dedication to their hobby resulted in this gorgeous stamp coming to life. Sadly, they cannot yet get together to celebrate the stamp launch right now… but there will be an online launch event (on Instagram and Youtube), and we’re certain postcrossers will make up for lost time when it is safe to meet in person again. Enjoy your new stamp, and we look forward to seeing it on many future postcards from Brazil 🇧🇷!

PS – Postcrossers in China 🇨🇳, if you can’t see the video above, try here.

Can you feel the excitement in the air? Postcrossing 15th anniversary is coming up soon…

For almost a decade and a half, our community has been diligently mailing postcards and trusting that these will slowly but surely make their way into the recipient’s mailboxes… but what do these mailboxes look like? How does YOUR mailbox look like?

On Postcrossing’s 15th anniversary, we have a mission for you: show the world your own happy mailbox! Grab a camera and your postcards, and take a selfie with your mailbox (ie, the place where you receive your postcards). Then, upload it to our wall of awesomeness! 😍

Here, Paulo and I will go first:

Now we want to see YOUR mailboxes in their full, colorful glory… and your smiles as well!

📮 Add your mailbox!

You have until July 14 to join the fun – go go go! Upload your photo and join the celebration! 🎉