Postcrossing Blog

As lovers of all things snail-mail related, we have a soft spot for postcards featuring postal themes. So naturally, when this particular postcard crossed our paths some time ago, it was an instant favourite!

Isn’t it a lovely combination? At the time, we hadn’t realised this particular mailbox actually existed and is was being used daily to receive mail… until one day, someone sent us an email to bring it to our attention! That’s when we learned it belongs to Ellen’s (aka Elfje66) and is hanging outside her studio, in the Dutch village of Zweeloo.

Ellen is a paper artist, and we were happy to talk to her a little bit about her unusual mailbox, and her art works.

Where did the inspiration for your mailbox come from?

In the beginning of 2015 I started to join a 'Stamp my Journal’ project. I fell completely under the spell of making stamp-collages. Since my studio is called El’ Papel (as I am an absolute paper-lover even since I was a little child) I thought it would be great to decorate my mailbox with stamps too!

El’ is short for my first name: Ellen and the P from Papel is also the first character of my second name: Peeks. When I started designing and my own company I visited Spain frequently, so that was also a reason for choosing this name. Besides that, I found a lot of insertion in the Spanish culture.

Is it visible from the street? Did other people (or your mail carrier!) notice? What did they say?

Yes, it is visible from the street! When it was placed on the wall our mailman at that time didn’t respond at it at all! I was really disappointed! But he was a moody man… Now we have several mailman (man and woman) and they noticed as soon as we took the mailbox from the wall, as it needs to be redone a bit. Unfortunately most stamps aren’t printed with UV resistant ink :-( So some stamps lost a lot of their color.

What do you do, apart from creative mailboxes?

I graduated as graphical & typographical designer. But I work mostly as illustrator, designer of birth announcement cards and making merry paper maché objects (mostly fantasy animals). And I like to upcycle used materials. So stamps fit fairly good with this vision.

I have a website and shop, but unfortunately, the text on my website is in Dutch only… but there are a lot of pictures to take a look at! :-)

Here you also can find some of the Postcrossing cards I designed! Of course these are designs with… stamps. ;-)

How did you find out about Postcrossing?

I remember reading about it in the lovely magazine Flow, but forgot all about it. At some point I noticed a dear (post-)friend of mine showed a lot of foreign cards on her Facebook page. I asked her about this and she told and explained me about Postcrossing. She never should have done, as it is quite addictive ;-) In the meantime I join some Dutch Postcrossing groups on Facebook, big fun! We have meetings, what is very convivial. I now have some special post-friends spread across our little country!

Disclosing one’s birthday isn’t a requirement in Postcrossing, but it does allow us to compile statistical data, send you an email on your special day, and occasionally, spot some cool postcrossers… like Corrie (aka Corry1919) from the Netherlands!

As you can probably guess from her username, Corrie was born in 1919, and is now 96 years old, making her one of the oldest postcrossers on the website. Her life spans several major events in the history of the world, and so much has changed in the meantime that we were curious to hear about her experiences — especially in relation with mail. So we talked with her about it with the help of her two nieces Marry and Marian, who introduced her to Postcrossing “to make her world a little bit larger again. When you are that old, friends and family pass away and only loneliness remains. We thought that postcards from all over the world would bring her back the world.”

From them, we learnt that Corrie Loos was born on May 25th, 1919 in Wognum, a small village in West-Friesland. She’s the fifth child in a family of eight siblings and used to work as a housekeeper and later in a butcher shop until she retired at the age of 65.

Because of her beautiful handwriting, she was recommended in the thirties to apply for a position at the Land Registry. She did, but was rejected for health reasons… though you’d never guess it looking at her now 96 and still in good health! :) To know more about her relationship with mail and Postcrossing, we asked her a few questions.

Corrie, what is your first memory of writing letters and postcards?

When I was young I sometimes got a postcard for my birthday. Later, when I was on holidays I would always send postcards to my family and friends. I have also corresponded for many years with a Hungarian girl who had moved from Hungary to the Netherlands. She has lived with my family for many years and in the sixties, she moved back to Budapest. From then on, we regularly sent postcards to one another to keep in touch. Internet was not available in those years of course.

How did you hear for the first time about Postcrossing?

My niece Marry was already a postcrosser and she thought it was a lovely idea to create also an account for me. She made Marian, another niece of mine, also an enthusiast and then ‘suddenly’ I got postcards from all over the world! Now that I am old and my legs are painful, I don’t go out much anymore. But with Postcrossing the world comes to me at my home! It is always a great joy when I find new postcards in my mailbox. My favorite card I got from Aats and Nica (aka aatsnica) from Estonia. There is an old barn on it with some sheep and chickens, very beautiful!

How does Postcrossing work for you? What can you do yourself and on what parts do you need help?

My nieces Marry and Marian actually do most of the work. They write and translate the cards and put the pictures on my profile. Every week my niece Marian visits me. She then brings her laptop and a stack of new, unwritten postcards with her. First she translates for me the cards I received that week and then we read about the details of the new Postcrossers we are going to write and look for suitable cards. So my nieces keep me very much involved with Postcrossing, which is, I think, a modern version of an old-fashioned way to connect people with one another from faraway places.

What do other people think about your hobby?

They love it! I live in a retirement home and sometimes my neighbours visit me of course. I think they are a bit jealous. They always ask how it is possible that I get so many beautiful cards. The nursing staff speak some English and translate the text when I receive a new postcard. They are also always very curious if I have got new cards again.

How has mail changed during your lifetime? Is there anything that was particularly different before, compared to now?

Yes it is! Previously we wrote and received many letters, nowadays almost everything goes through the e-mail. Even the bills you get are digital. Therefore, the postal traffic is becoming increasingly expensive. I’ve got a card from my father in 1937 with a stamp on it of 1.5 cents. Nowadays you have to pay 73 euro cents for a stamp; you could send a hundred postcards for that, back then! Can you imagine that! And if you would send a card with a short or incomplete address, it would still come to the right house. During the war my younger brother was sent to Germany to work there. When for the first time we got a letter from him, it went like wildfire through the village. Everyone wanted to read it, the world was so much smaller.

Postcard sent by Corrie’s father from Bergen to Wognum in 1937.

Thank you Corrie, Marry and Marian for this wonderful interview!

PS – Thank you everyone who sent Corrie a postcard for her birthday — she got more than 900 of them! Head over to our Facebook page for some photos, plus a message from Corrie and her nieces. :)

Hoera! Following the success of the first stamp ever dedicated to Postcrossing, PostNL is issuing a second sheet of stamps to honor the project this year!

The new sheet of 10 different stamps features an eclectic mix of popular Dutch highlights, connected through postcards. There are national parks and picturesque villages, fields of tulips and marvels of engineering… and everything in between! Without further ado, here they are:

Do you recognise all the sights?

From the top left corner (left to right, and top-down), they are: Delta Works, Frisian Islands, Hoge Veluwe, Binnenhof, Alkmaar’s cheese market, Bollenvelden, Giethoorn, Marken, Zaanse Schans… and our personal favourite, a character from Rembrandt’s most famous painting The Night Watch, wishing us all a “Happy Postcrossing”!

Keeping in mind that Postcrossing postcards travel mostly to foreign destinations, PostNL created a set of stamps that double as tiny tourism ambassadors, helping draw attention to the country’s most interesting and attractive sites. The resulting design (by Reinier Hamel from Sin agency) is a bright sheet of stamps, which promises to bring a conversation topic (and burst of colour!) to many future postcards.

The new stamp sheet will be available on all Bruna shops from March 29th, and you can also pre-order it online (along with a neat First Day Cover) from March 22nd on CollectClub.nl.

To celebrate the stamp launch, Dutch postcrossers are organising a meetup in Rotterdam on March 29th, and planning to send lots of postcards with the shiny new stamps. Do join them, if you can!

If you’re not in the Netherlands, keep an eye on your mailbox — your next Dutch postcards might feature their new Postcrossing stamps! 😀

You know how we all wonder whether our postmen and postwomen look at our postcards, and what they think of them? Well, Jessica (aka Jess18877) from the Netherlands did not wonder about this… she knew her postman enjoyed her cards as much as she did, because now and then he would leave her a note about them! :)

Postman Pieter has been working for the Dutch postal service for almost 30 years and is about to retire, so Jessica and her friend Marleen (aka Marleen1979) thought it would be a good idea to interview him for the blog. We agree… this blog needs more postal workers!

Hi Pieter! Tell us more about you!

My name is Pieter Pepping but people often call me “Pieter Post” like the bunny. I am originally from Abcoude, a small town near Amsterdam. I was born in 1952 and I’ve been working as a mailman since 1985. A secure job with a lot of freedom.

What do you think of your job, do you like it? Does it involve a lot of walking? Have you found many mean dogs or are they happy to see you?

I’ve always loved my job! Sporty, always outdoors… and it can be cold, rainy, windy or hot here in the Netherlands! But I love to be in the fresh air, and I see it as a kind of sport. I always whistle when I carry the mail around — people hear me coming from far away! And I’ve never ever called in sick, not for a single day.

I don’t have problems with dogs. I used to have a dog of my own, I think when you own a dog, then you know how to cope with them. I used to carry dog biscuits with me. Dogs were always waiting for me to come to get a cookie!

Do you chat with people on your rounds? Do people complain to you about problems with the mail service?

I like a nice chitchat once and a while (laughs). I used to work in a shop so I am used to talking to a lot of strangers. People do complain to me about the mail services… I always try to give it a positive twist, and never argue with people. I smile and continue on my rounds.

A little bird told us you sometimes leaves notes on Jessica’s cards – do you enjoy looking at the postcards that you deliver?

Unfortunately there is not enough time to look at all the nice cards… But when there is someone in your district who gets as many cards as Jessica, then you will notice it. That is why we all know her and I often tie her mail together with a string and put in a nice little note.

How has your job changed since you first started? Did it get easier, or just different, and in what ways?

When you walk in a city center district as I do, there are always people talking to you or ask you for directions. That is what makes it so much fun to be a mail carrier! But nowadays we need to do more work with less people. They are continuously watching us. This creates a lot of pressure and there is not so much time left for a chat in the street.

What do you think about Postcrossing?

I had never heard of Postcrossing before. But the large piles of postcards that Jessica received did draw my attention. At first I thought she was famous or had many birthdays!

I like it when someone pays a lot of attention to find a nice card, a beautiful stamp, etc.

Do you ever receive nice mail yourself?

While carrying the mail around, I often get nice things, as kind gestures from thankful costumers. Something like a card, a drawing, a box of chocolates… or like today, the book about Pieter Post from Marleen and Jessica — thank you girls!

That was really nice, thank you Marleen1979 and Jess18877 for interviewing Postman Pieter! We’re thinking we should actually invite more postal workers to the blog… what do you think? Do you know a special postal worker that we should feature? Let us know in the comments!

We’re well overdue for a giveaway, don’t you think? So this week, we invited one of our longest-running advertisers to spread some happiness! :)

Natuurlijkefoto is run by Arnold, a professional photographer who makes postcards from his own photos. He’s especially good at photographing animals and landscapes, including those of his home country, Netherlands. Whether you’re into castles or birds, seaside views or quaint mailboxes, he’s got you covered!

This weekend, Natuurlijkefoto is offering 3 sets of postcards to 3 lucky postcrossers! This is the 3rd prize, with 10 postcards…

… the 2nd prize, with 20 postcards…

… and the huge 1st prize, with 30 postcards!

To win one of these lovely sets, visit Natuurlijkefoto website and leave a comment below, telling us which postcard (or series) you liked the best. Be warned though… it’s going to be a tough job!

Good luck everyone! Check back on this post around this time next week for the winners (randomly picked by Paulo’s number generator, as usual).

PS – For the duration of this giveaway, Natuurlijkefoto is also offering a 15% discount on all orders above €15. Use the code “weekendgiveaway” during checkout!