postcards!

Paul (pbesoo) is 32, lives in the Netherlands and he likes to explore the world through...

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:23:01 +0800

Paul (pbesoo) is 32, lives in the Netherlands and he likes to explore the world through Postcrossing. Learn a bit more about someone who confesses himself as addicted to Postcrossing.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?: I read an article about a Dutch Postcrosser in the local newspaper. I saved the article, after a few months I activated my profile and since I’m addicted. I like the idea of exploring the world through Postcrossing and “meeting” people from…

When the Postcrossing project was launched 4 years ago, no one would guess that it could ever reach...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:22:28 +0800

When the Postcrossing project was launched 4 years ago, no one would guess that it could ever reach one million postcards. But it did, and, we have just reached 3 times that! What a milestone! Three million postcards! Three million connections! Three million smiles! We couldn’t be prouder of being part of this project.

And, this couldn’t be reached without every single member of Postcrossing, so a big thank you to you all for making it happen!

But, we know many of you are…

If you didn’t notice yet, we are just a few thousand postcards away for reaching the postcard...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:58:24 +0800

If you didn’t notice yet, we are just a few thousand postcards away for reaching the postcard 3 million in Postcrossing!

Little over 6 months ago we could hardly believe we were celebrating 2 million Postcrossing postcards. And now, we are already speeding through another million - can you believe it?

As always, we like to celebrate this important milestones of the project with you, and this time is no exception. And a party without gifts is hardly a party so, we have something special…

Today we would like to share with you a love story. It’s one of the many wonderful stories we...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:00:25 +0800

Today we would like to share with you a love story. It’s one of the many wonderful stories we receive from our members about their use of Postcrossing.

Hi!

My name is Mircea and I want to tell you the story of the “relation” that I’ve created between my grandmother and Postcrossing. My grandmother (mamaia – in Romanian – which is her name in Postcrossing) is a 78 years old lady living in Timisoara. I wonder if she is the oldest or not. I’m just curious about that! She is a retired math…

Hello there! It took us a while to recover from the fabulous time we had in Helsinki, but here we...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:40:33 +0800

Hello there! It took us a while to recover from the fabulous time we had in Helsinki, but here we are to tell you all about it :).

This big meetup was meticulously planned by Pooca, and exceptionally well executed. There were traditional Finnish games and yummy Finnish food, cute name tags, boat rides, visits to historical places, flea markets and an amusement park, lots and lots of presents and plenty of time to write and send postcards!

So, here’s what we did those 3…

What have rubber ducks to do with postcards? Kirsi (Huppu68) thinks they go very well together. She...

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:48:29 +0800

What have rubber ducks to do with postcards? Kirsi (Huppu68) thinks they go very well together. She lives in Helsinki (Finland), and in this week Postcrossing Spotlight she’s going to tell us who is ‘Mauno’.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?: I read an article from the weekly magazine of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper and I registered to Postcrossing right away. I’ve always loved sending postcards and I was a bit sad, because people has sent their…

From joyful Brazil, meet Karina, a journalist from São Paulo who started collecting postcards after...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:22:40 +0800

From joyful Brazil, meet Karina, a journalist from São Paulo who started collecting postcards after joining Postcrossing. Sounds familiar?

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?: In 2005 I read in “O Estado de S. Paulo” newspaper about Postcrossing and I decided to try this new experience. I always liked to swap letters with my friends before the ‘e-mails age’ and I missed to receive mail with lots of things… So the Postcrossing project was great for me! I…

Postcards tell us stories. About their journey, their sender, their origin. Their photo can tell a...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:28:15 +0800

Postcards tell us stories. About their journey, their sender, their origin. Their photo can tell a lot about the place where they came from and the stamps can share some history about the country too. But they still hold potential to tell much more. Thinking of this, Anna and Tess Knoebel have started Abe’s Penny - a micro-magazine in postcard format.

Each monthly issue of Abe’s Penny has 4 postcards that together form an artistic narrative prepared by a photographer and writer. The themes…

On the remote country of Tonga in the South Pacific, there’s a very special island. It’s...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:56:52 +0800

On the remote country of Tonga in the South Pacific, there’s a very special island. It’s name is Niuafo’ou, but it’s most commonly known as Tin Can Island for the way mail was delivered and sent for many years.

The concept of Tin Can Mail started in 1882 in this island when William Travers, a plantation manager, found himself without a way to receive mail from the rest of the world. The island had no harbour and was very steep so ships wouldn’t go there. So he came up with the idea that…

Our second Postcrossing spotlight interviewed member is 64-year old Adrienne (adriennegarry) from...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:43:38 +0800

Our second Postcrossing spotlight interviewed member is 64-year old Adrienne (adriennegarry) from New Zealand. She has been in Postcrossing for more than three years already and she loves the good things in life. Here’s what Adrienne had to say:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?: My internet provider used to have a weekly bulletin with interesting web sites and I think it was November 2005 when they were talking about the Postcrossing site and…

Who says Postcrossing is only travelling on your imagination? Postcrosser Felice Hutchings proves it...

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:41:04 +0800

Who says Postcrossing is only travelling on your imagination? Postcrosser Felice Hutchings proves it isn’t. She decided that for her 50^th birthday, she would do a trip in Europe, and that the stops would be her Postcrossing friends!

It went splendidly well, and we are happy that she shared with us her country hopping adventure in Europe. So here’s how it was in her own words - enjoy it!

When I joined Postcrossing last year, it wasn’t because I wanted to collect postcards. It was…

Few projects connect people from so many random contexts as the Postcrossing project. It’s...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:07:59 +0800

Few projects connect people from so many random contexts as the Postcrossing project. It’s amazing how diverse our users are and we are always eager to learn more from them. Thus, we decided to start the Postcrossing spotlight - interviews done with members of this project that we will publish every two weeks here on the Postcrossing Blog. We want to share with all of you how diverse our community is and we hope you all enjoy it.

We know that many of you would like to know a bit more…

“Send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!” On July...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:30:20 +0800

“Send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!”

On July 14th 2005 the Postcrossing project was open to the world with a goal: to connect people across the world through postcards, independent of their location, age, gender, race or beliefs. Any mailbox could be turned into a surprise box.

But what started as a small pet project quickly turned into a fast growing community spread through out many different countries. And today, 4 years…

We know many Postcrossers take their yearly break in the upcoming weeks to relax and visit new...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:40:43 +0800

We know many Postcrossers take their yearly break in the upcoming weeks to relax and visit new places. If you are one of those and you’ll be away from your home address for a while, we recommend you to switch your account to the Inactive state - you can do that easily just by editing your Postcrossing account. When you are back, all you need to do is to switch it back to Active and you’ll be back in business again! This will tell Postcrossing to not give your address to any other member while…

In a partnership with Japan Post, Nestlé Kit Kat and advertising agency JWT have come up with a...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:32:35 +0800

In a partnership with Japan Post, Nestlé Kit Kat and advertising agency JWT have come up with a clever and innovative concept: the Kit Kat postcards!

As the name suggests, these are small boxes of Kit Kat, that can be mailed as if they were a postcard. The product launch was timed with the university exams season, so that friends and relatives could wish students good luck in their studies with a chocolate break :)

Here’s the product presentation:

The Kit Kat…

Have you been in a Postcrossing meetup before? How about an International Postcrossing meetup? If...

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:44:43 +0800

Have you been in a Postcrossing meetup before? How about an International Postcrossing meetup? If not, here’s your chance!

Like all Postcrossing meetups, this one is also organized by the users themselves and it’s been in the works for quite some time. Now that the details are pretty much decided, it’s time to spread the word. This International Postcrossing meetup is going to be in Helsinki (Finland) in the 28th, 29th and 30th of August.

If you are interested, here’s a summary of what’s…

On the last post, some of you wondered what kind of objects can be sent through mail. Well,...

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:39:09 +0800

On the last post, some of you wondered what kind of objects can be sent through mail. Well, here’s a cool project that tests the limits of postal services (and their patience too!): To Mr. Cheng.

Artist Eric Ericson, from Sweden, spent a few years sending all kinds of unwrapped objects through the mail: food, a skeleton, a baby doll, books, vinyl records, a pair of glasses, individual playing cards… you name it.

The result is a fascinating minimalist website and book (published in…

We like to see Postcrossing has a hobby for the whole family. It might sound strange, but it’s...

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:27:46 +0800

We like to see Postcrossing has a hobby for the whole family. It might sound strange, but it’s true that very few hobbies can be done by such a wide age group. We have Postcrossers of all ages and we believe it’s quite special that Postcrossing can reach everyone, independently of it’s age, gender and, of course, geographic location.

Today we have learned from a Postcrosser and its use for the postcard exchanges: Postcrossing as a school project. She is a teacher in a school which used…

Don’t you find it amusing to find odd mailboxes while driving down an unfamiliar neighborhood? Most...

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:25:38 +0800

Don’t you find it amusing to find odd mailboxes while driving down an unfamiliar neighborhood? Most of the time, these interesting mailboxes provide a hint of the owner’s personality and values.

Owning a quirky mailbox can be so much fun as well. What else can complete the whole excitement of the mailing process than getting your mail from a fun and quirky mailbox?

Thanks to Rilda from South Australia who sent us this wonderful blog suggestion about quirky mailboxes. Here are a few…

With the summer stretching it’s arms and warming up more and more countries, the Postcrossing...

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:20:05 +0800

With the summer stretching it’s arms and warming up more and more countries, the Postcrossing meetups are also on the rise. April was a particularly active month with at least 5 meetups that we know of and May seems to be following the same steps.

Finland on its own had 3 of them just in April, all in different cities throughout the country. Russia followed, and Taiwan had its first meetup in Taipei which gathered quite a few Postcrossers.

Here’s a quick run down of all the meetups…