Postcrossing Blog

Look at that — we did it, everyone! Together we reached the much awaited milestone of 60 million postcards received! Hurray!

A postcard might not seem like much by itself, but all these millions of postcards carrying our words and handwriting are such important tokens of friendship and connection in these socially distanced times. Traveling is difficult right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t share a moment with someone far away and take a peek through their window… right here in our mailboxes.

And did you know that if we put all these postcards together side by side, we would get a line stretching from London to Seoul? 🤓 Pretty cool, right? But I know you’re all dying to know who guessed the correct time at which lucky postcard 60 million was registered, so without further ado…

Postcard number 60,000,000 (BY-2711325) was sent by YourWitch in Belarus on January 10 2021, and registered today at 10:17:18 (UTC) by Tominni in Czechia!

The postcrosser with the most accurate aim was chrisbonham11, whose guess was spot on! Your shiny new box of 100 postcards will be on its way soon!

The other lucky postcrossers who came the closest to the right second were Dorkius, NZ_Chris, mathalie, majewski, Shih-chia, and stokely — brilliant! You will each receive a set of nice postcards as well.

Whether you’ve sent 1 or 10,000 postcards in the past 15 years, you have our permission to celebrate your contribution to this historical milestone with a celebratory slice of your favorite treat (share it with us on Instagram!)… or just by sitting down at your desk and enjoy sending a postcard today, knowing you’re part of this postcard revolution happening all around us. 😊

And last but not least, if you’ll allow us our weepy moment, we’d just like to say thank you to our lovely team (including all the forum volunteers), to all the supporters and ambassadors, and last but not least, to all of you — you’re the reason Postcrossing keeps going, postcard after postcard. Onwards, to 70 million postcards!

A few years ago, we accidentally heard about a pub in Bournemouth in the UK auspiciously called “60 Million Postcards” and thought “Wouldn’t that be a great place to throw a party when Postcrossing reaches 60 million postcards?!” And then… you know… The pandemic came and everything changed, naturally. We’re a little sad we can’t fulfill this silly plan, but not all is lost — we can still have our traditional milestone guessing game!

If you weren’t around for one of these before, the idea is simple:

Easy, right? Just place a bet for the minute you think lucky postcard number 60,000,000 will be registered according to your own predictions. Feel free to have a look through Postcrossing’s statistics page if that helps, or maybe crack a fortune cookie (or some eggs?) to come up with a good time slot — anything goes!

And naturally, there will be prizes! The postcrosser whose bet is the closest to the exact minute when postcard number 60 million is registered will win a box set of 100 postcards, and the 6 next best guesses (before or after the registering time) will receive a pack of 20–30 postcards each. 🎉 Hurray!

Some rules: each time slot can only be chosen by one single person, so the first person to pick that slot gets to keep it. You can change it at a later stage if you’d like, but only from the available time slots left. The bets will be automatically closed when there are 1000 postcards left to postcard 60,000,000. Check the contest page for more details.

So, give it your best shot… but be sure to do it soon as good slots are usually taken quickly. Keep sending postcards, and good luck everyone!

🎉 Hurraaaaaay! 🎉 We did it everyone! We reached the big 50 million, and we couldn’t be prouder of all of you for delivering us to this milestone with your avalanche of postcards these past 13 years!

Did you know that if we put all these postcards together side by side (assuming they’re all regular size), we would get a line connecting New York to Moscow? Yup! And all the distance they’ve traveled would put us way beyond the Solar System at this point… though still very far from Alpha Centauri, the next big thing in space. Maybe by the time we reach it, they’ll have a post office there! 🤔

Anyway, I know you’re all waiting to discover which postcard was the lucky one, so here it goes:

Postcard number 50,000,000 (IL-60207) was sent by nostase in Israel on 29 November 2018, and registered today at 19:13:01 (UTC) by RassDim in Russia!

The postcrosser with the most accurate aim was Isacle, whose guess was spot on! Well done, your new box of 100 photo postcards is on its way.

But we’re not done here yet — there are loads more prizes to give away! The other fourteen lucky postcrossers who came the closest to the right time were pele32, Admiral_Penguin, vasilcho, stokana, uintaterium, Mari-Pyon, makeuplover, ingunciks, Washisaur, RinClare, estromberg, Alexiel-chan, raraelli and starrynight1111 — great job! You will each receive a set of nice postcards as well.

And last but not least, the sender and the recipient of this special card will also receive a pack of 50 postcards, to celebrate their good luck. Hurray!

We encourage you to enjoy your contributions to this historical milestone by eating one celebratory cookie (or 50!) and sending some postcards on this very special day. Thank you so much to our team of volunteers, to all the supporters and ambassadors, and last but not least, to every single one of you, for believing in this project and keeping the world’s mailboxes filled with smiles. 😊 Onwards to Alpha Centauri!

Some of the most observant postcrossers might have noticed we’re getting really close to the remarkable milestone of 50 million postcards received. With less than 250 thousand postcards to go, it’s time to start guessing when postcard number 50,000,000 will be registered.

Our guessing game is really simple:

Every member has a chance to submit a bet for the day and time on which they think the postcard number 50 million will be registered. The bets need to be submitted on the contest page.

Whether you’re proficient in maths or divination, your bet need to be accurate to the minute… so run the numbers on a spreadsheet or ask your lucky stars, but don’t forget to place your bet soon! Pro tip: December is a usually a slower month in Postcrossing, so you might want to check our postcard statistics page to make a more accurate prediction.

What’s in it for you, you may ask? Well… see all those postcards sets behind the Little Mail Carriers? One of them could be yours if your calculations are correct and you pick the right time slot! There’s lots of them and something for everyone’s taste, from botany to bicycles, photography to Star Wars and beyond!

The postcrosser whose bet is the closest to the exact minute when postcard number 50 million is registered will win a box set of 100 postcards, and the 14 next best hunches (before or after the registering time) will receive a pack of 20–30 postcards each. It’s a postcard extravaganza up for grabs! 🎉

Some rules: each time slot can only be chosen by one single person, so the first person to pick that slot gets to keep it. You can change it at a later stage if you’d like, but only from the available time slots left. We will close the bets when there are 1000 postcards left to postcard 50,000,000. Check the contest page for more details.

So, give it your best shot… but be quick about it as the good slots usually run out quickly. Keep sending postcards, and good luck everyone!

We did it everyone!! 🎉 40 million postcards delivered and registered! 🎉 What a great way to start the week!

Curious to find out which postcard was the lucky one? Here it goes: Postcard number 40,000,000 (TW-2118751) was sent by navi in Taiwan on December 1st, and registered today at 6:39 AM (UTC) by Alexis11 in France! Hurray!

Not surprisingly, all spots on our guessing game were taken long ago, and the lucky winner was BeckyThatcher, whose guess was spot on! Well done, your new set of 40 Cardcetera postcards are on their way.

The other four lucky postcrossers who came the closest to the right time were Anne-Liam, frosch0980, Neraksrekked and klim4uk — great job! You’ll each receive a pack of 20 Cardcetera postcards as well!

Both the sender and the receiver will also receive a surprise pack of 20 postcards from Cardcetera, to celebrate their good luck.

Last but not least, our big heartfelt thank you to our team of volunteers, to Astrid at Cardcetera for generously sponsoring this giveaway with her beautiful cards… and, most of all, to you — all of you who connect the world through postcards!

And now, the countdown to the next million begins — one postcard, and one smile at a time! Happy Postcrossing! :)