Postcrossing Blog

For someone that has ever participated in a Postcrossing meetup, he or she knows it’s always a very special event. From afar, no one would say that postcards could make such a strong connections between people. But as we know, they really do.

And that was very obvious this last weekend at the international Poscrossing meetup in the German city of Bielefeld. With an impressive participation of over 45 people – despite the very cold weather, it was a big success and everyone had a very special weekend meeting the faces behind postcards and the usernames they have become familiar with overtime. Smiles were plentiful and many are still claiming to have them, days after returning home.

There was something quite particular about this meetup – this time, everyone stayed at the same building for the whole weekend – some even called it a Postcrossing retreat. Whatever you call it, it was a fantastic time. With white landscapes everywhere, the popular Christmas markets and many many postcards and smiles – the hard part was actually to leave.

The participants came from many different countries: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, UK, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and even from as far as Russia and Romania! And what’s more impressive, they all faced quite cold harsh weather to get there as large part of Europe has been covered in snow in the past weeks. Nonetheless, that was not a big problem for such a warming crowd which faced the below 0°C temperatures with a smile and headed to Bielefeld to be together and disprove the Bielefeld Conspiracy.

And because wherever there are Postcrossers, there are postcards, can you guess how many were written, signed and sent from this meetup? A grand total of 1250 postcards – can you believe that?! Bielefeld post must have had quite a surprise. And in our books that’s certainly a record!

But words don’t quite describe how great the spirit was on this meetup, so let’s try with some photos.

Haus Einschlingen, the place where everyone stayed during the 2 days.

Some serious postcard writing.

And some more…

The table with some of the postcards stacks to be signed.

The Christmas market visit and the popular glühwein.

And, of course, restocking on more postcards!

Who said you can’t play football when it’s snowing? (side note: the girls won)

The youngest, cutest and playful participant :).

Our postsnow-man.

And finally, a group photo.

We also want to use this opportunity to publicly thank nordbaer for organizing this meetup. It was fantastic and he did a great job putting it together.

Want to see more photos? You can find links for more at the forum thread of the meetup.

Ever tried to organize your postcards only to realize that not all postcards are of the same size? Indeed, some are larger (and they are perfect for landcape views), but what if the postcard measured 42.69 m² (459.511 ft²)? Now, that’s large!

And that’s exactly what the German city of Krefeld did: they created the world’s largest postcard and made it to the Guinness world records.

And large is not the only thing special about this postcard – it weights an impressive 300 kgs (661.386 lb)! And of course, transporting it is not for the ordinary mail carrier – a special lorry was done just to carry it.

Wondering how it looks like? Here it is:

Congratulations Krefeld! That’s quite impressive indeed. If you want to learn more, check this post at the guinness world records website.

German Postcrosser, Isabelle, had a love for horses before joining and has seen her horse postcard collection grow through the kindness of other Postcrossing members. She quite enjoys attending Postcrossing meetings.

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

My pen pal (since ages) and Postcrossing member tinewoest, from Belgium, told me about Postcrossing in a letter and I immediately got infected! Thank you sooooo much Tine!!!! I got hooked from the kindness of the Postcrossers and found the forum pretty soon. After finding the forum I was a complete addict! I attended as many meetings as I could get to. For example, I joined meetings in Helsinki, Cologne, The Netherlands, and Belgium. I have learned so much about the world, the people, kindness and habits in the Postcrossing world. I became sick in the summer of 2009 and needed to slow down a bit but Postcrossing is still my BIGGEST hobby.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Before Postcrossing, collecting horse postcards and writing letters were my biggest and only hobbies. I stopped horseback riding in 1998. Since I am now a Postcrossing addict my horse postcard collection has grown bigger and bigger (over 15,000 cards now) and I have no time to sort them properly because I spend all my free time on the Postcrossing site. I have about 22 shoe boxes full of postcards from the last 4 years. They are unsorted but most of them are in my head or in my computer lists. I also started scanning my postcards when I discovered Flickr through Postcrossing but it is impossible to scan my whole collection because most cards are in folders already. My pen pals now only get a letter once a year and many ask if I am still alive. Writing a postcard is so much faster than writing a letter. Sorry girls!

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

I don’t like the girls working at the post office and mostly order my stamps online so no pics of the office but the following pics show me at the mailbox I usually use. I mail the mail before i go to work there and this mailbox also get lifted on Saturday and Sundays. :D

My home mailbox

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

My absolute favorite:

Second favorite:

Third favourite:

But I also love all the non-horse postcards. There are so many that are so beautiful.

Christiane from Germany likes postcards since she was a school girl, but she used to get them only from friends when they travelled. Till the day she found out about Postcrossing…

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

I’ve been addicted to postcards since I was a school girl. I always wanted to write and receive postcards. Unfortunately, I only got postcards from my friends when they were on holidays.

Some years ago, a friend from a forum told me about Postcrossing. I was as keen as mustard right away! Well, I registered the same day and sent out 5 postcards – the first postcards of many, many more. :-)

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like to go swimming, rock-climbing or hiking. And, as I am a librarian, I love reading, of course! Books are almost as interesting as postcards – they also take you to other places, just like postcards do.

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

Me mailing postcards after a postcrossing meeting in Cologne, December 2008

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

This is an official postcard (PT-38113) that I received from the user postalmada from Portugal. I always appreciate it when users send me library postcards because I know that they are VERY hard to find. Additionally, the library on the postcard is a very beautiful one, so this is one of my favourite received postcards.

Norbert, 53, Düsseldorf, Germany. Better known as “Baer” in the Forum. He is more than a polar bear friend…

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

My fiancè (which is also active on postcrossing) has been penpalling for more than 25 years. One of her penpals, the Turkish postcrosser nihan, sent her the link to this postcard paradise. I tried it first and was infected by the postcrossing virus in the same second… :-)))

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Rubberstamping, playing table tennis. In former times fantasy roleplaying, boardgames, painting tin miniatures, watercolour painting, motorbiking.

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

My mailman doesn’t like me, I won’t photograph him and show him here. Unfortunately, the friendly people at my postoffice didn’t give me their permission to show their photos here, so I just show the space, mailbox where I sent my postcards from and my mailbox!

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

My most special card – the very first card I received by Postcrossing…

Here is another photo of one of my favorite cards, sent by the user EvansCrew: