Postcrossing Blog

Tamara, a nurse from British Columbia, Canada, collects many things including postcards. She sees Postcrossing as an extension of her caring personality.

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

I had been active on other postcard sites prior to the genesis of Postcrossing. It was on the xpostcardx site that Megan Herring told me of Postcrossing. I found Postcrossing to be exactly what I needed to satisfy my postcard hobby.

I got hooked once I joined the forum, where there is a plethora of opportunity to exchange both ideas and postcards. Being in a caring profession (nurse) I am a “giver” by nature and Postcrossing has become my outlet for sharing. The ongoing round-robins and tags help nourish my Postcrossing relationships through the personalized touch of snail mail. I often flavor an envelope with a surprise from someone’s “favorites”. For me, participating in Postcrossing is just an extension of my job: it involves my reaching out to others and extending friendship. It gives me satisfaction. Postcrossing has become my favorite pastime.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Aside from wilderness hiking and beachcombing, I am a union steward and mentor for nursing students. These activities have me travelling out of town where I scan the hotels and shops for postcards. I love gourmet cooking and collecting. I am a natural collector. My kitchen has hundreds of advertising tins and I also collect political pinback buttons, dolls, and ornamental eggs. Postcrossing is great for us collectors.

The dolls are one of my hobbies (collecting).

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

CABLECAR is the name of the neighborhood I live in. This is the kiosk where I pickup my snail mail.

The building with the emblem is Kitimat’s Canada Post outlet, where I purchase stamps and get my parcels sent from.

The van is the vehicle that delivers the mail.

The album on the fireplace mantel shows my European map cards collection.

The wire wreath hangs in the window of my dining room. This is how I display my seasonal postcards (ie Halloween).

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

This is the postcard that made my soul sing! I received it early on when I first joned the forum. It depicts gingerbread figures. My first glance stirred long forgotten memories. Since I love to cook, it was the perfect card for me. I had it professionally framed and matted so I could afford it a permanent and central spot in my kitchen. Thanks to the dear Finnish postcrosser who chose this one for me.

The gingerbread postcard is my extra special one, and has a place of honor in my kitchen.

Sally, 45 y.o., New Zealand. She discovered Postcrossing through Bookcrossing. She enjoys gardening but was easily hooked on cards.

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

I was looking up bookcrossing and stumbled across Postcrossing. Postcrossing seemed to be able to a result quicker than the Bookcrossing. I sent, I received! I was hooked with the first card in my letter box.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I really enjoy my gardening. Rubber stamping is another love, I sell the card I make to my fellow workers. I like to make a patchwork quilt in the summer and then hand sew them in the winter.

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

Heres my letter box where all my mail arrives. It is hand painted by a local craft firm.

Where I keep my postcards – just a couple of boxes right beside my computer, Im often browsing back thru them for a look.

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

Favourite because of size and colour makes me feel like I’m right there.

Anya is a 22 year old snail mail enthusiast from St. Petersburg (Russia) who loves everything paranormal. She can thank her German pen pal for introducing her to Postcrossing.

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

Snail mailing has always been my passion – I’ve been pen-palling since the age of 13 and by that age I had already made a few great friends. Being in a Summer camp or having a vacation at a sea resort, I would send little notes, letters or postcards to friends (whether they loved it or not) and also to myself :). And, of course, I was ignoring sayings like “why send letters? it’s all left in the last century, emails are way faster!” Pfff, there’s no way to explain to others why a real card or a real letter is way better than a couple of typed lines on your computer screen.

For years, only my great friends would, once in a while, send me postcards from their vacations and I would look through them with delight. I don’t travel much and seeing other countries this way was beautiful. When a German pen pal mentioned Postcrossing in her letter, I immediately thought “Yes, that’s exactly what I need” and registered right away. Besides seeing the world through postcards, Postcrossing is an awesome way of interacting with many different people (I’m very social and enjoy meeting new people), different cultures, languages, thoughts, ideas, different types of handwriting. Most of all I adore the surprise – you never know who’ll send you a card, what it will be like, and from what place it’ll be coming from. Every postcard is unique. And, of course, there’s nothing finer than opening your mailbox after a tiring workday and finding a postcard which has traveled half the world to YOU with some friendly lines. I get something in the mail at least daily and it has become a great part of my life.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Besides snail mail, I love learning foreign languages (I can speak 3 so far), reading (I’m such a bookworm!), anything related to Latin America, and psychology. But perhaps my biggest hobby is the paranormal – I’m interested in symbols, runes, astrology, tarot cards, spirits, etc. and am always willing to learn more. I wish I could call traveling my hobby too, but sadly I don’t have a chance to travel as much as I would like to.

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

Ugly mailboxes in my apartment building, where I get my mail :D

Me sending mail

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

Of course every postcard is unique for me, but here are a few I can easily call favorites.

A castle from Ireland – at which I was staring for a few minutes in delight; beautiful Copacabana beach (I LOVE Brasil and so far it’s the #1 country on my list to visit); a gorgeous B&W Lisboa view reminding me of something from the past; and, a cute sparkling romantic postcard received from Finland last year on St. Valentines day. The user wrote so many pleasant words that I was smiling from ear to ear. That card made my day and improved my bad mood quite a bit.

Valerie from Paris (but currently in New Zealand) learned about Postcrossing from a penpal site. She is 24 and enjoys riding horses and photography.

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

I had been penpalling for a long time and heard about postcrossing on a penpal site. I was moving out of my parents’ place in only a couple of weeks and I thought it was a good idea to get some nice mail in my own new private mailbox. Since then, thousands of postcards and many good friends later, I’m totally addicted. :D

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Travelling, taking pictures, horse riding (all 3 at the same time is the best)!

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

My mailbox is old and ugly; that’s why I need colorful and nice postcards to fill it! My postoffice is not really any better, but I get to post my mail in the bright yellow boxes! I’ve never seen my post(wo)men, so sorry no pictures. I’m not home during the time the mail is delivered. I keep all of my regular size postcards in albums and all oversizes in a big box not counting the ones that are on my walls. I have no idea how many I have.

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

It’s hard to choose one card and usually what makes me like a card is more the message on the back than the picture in front! But I do have one that I find special—one of my first official received from Finland. I’ve said in my profile that I like handmade cards and this girl (14 y/o at the time) sent me a lovely watercolor card she did from the “fox lake” that is near her place. All cards received from my forum friends are so special to me too!

Heidrun, 49 y.o., coming from icy Iceland. She’s a warm person that enjoys planting trees as a hobby, doing deco books and of course, sending cards! Her 9 y.o. son is already a devoted Postcrosser too.

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

I found a link that was in the homepage of the Icelandic Mail Service. I believe it is not there anymore. I had collected postcards for years (written and stamped) so this was just what I wanted. A wish come true!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

My other hobby is planting trees, we have some land where we can plant and grow them. Trees grows slowly here – but we don´t give up. And I also do decos (small books where you put a picture and it travels between people. Everyone does one page and finally it goes back home.That’s in Yahoo Groups (for example: Old_decos_and_homers). It is related to scrapping.

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

Hedrunhlin’s shy mailman and one of the mailboxes:

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

My very first Postcrossing postcard was a special one. Sent from France by a Finnish Postcrosser, from a place where I had been years before. But every card I get is a special one and I feel the kindness when people choose something I will like. My son is also a Postcrosser (Hemmi) and people have sent him such nice cards too. Happiness is getting a postcard from a stranger wishing you all the very best.

(On our way to plant trees)