Postcrossing Blog

Can't afford the time for holidays - have to write officials...
;-)))

Last year I switched into Inactive status. After my holidays all cards came from this date when I went to Active status. Often postcards come at the same days, sometimes 4... It would be better when they would not come at one day... But thanks for the reminder with this post.

No, please, no... I don't want cards from other places, that is so disappoiting:)

I wish many more people would consider changing to the inactive status!!!
I have had to write to several people in a row who have either totally stopped with Postcrossing (most of them were beginners) or are away for a long time. The first card expired a week ago, in several days, two more cards will expire and a week further the fourth. This is a huge disappointment.
If people decide to stop writing cards, they could at least still register what they receive. If others go away for more than 10-15 days they could change their user status.

Good news for postcardaddicts is:

If you are inactive and your address is not given out -> the good news is that you can sent out postcards! From where ever you are on the globe and where you can find a computer you can request an address.
I have sent out cards last year from Spain, France, Malta, Northern Cyprus... And a lot of people liked them.

I love to receive postcards from postcrossers at holiday destinations, especialy if it not very common.
Also if people take cards home I think it is nice receiving them! I have received 3 cards from Namibia, one from Djibouti and one from North Korea (all take-home cards), ofcourse a stamp from the country of origin would be a nice bonus. Djibouti is realy nice to discover. I would not have missed one of those cards.

Sending out postcards once started.... because of holidays! [is this truth .. or not - what do you think?]

I would love it if people who are gone would go inactive. I've got a postcard that wasn't recognized for 117 days. And while I'm complaining--I'm going to give up trying to match cards with what people want. Today a 9 year old says he wants only cars or sports and send them in an envelope with great stamps. Yesterday, someone asked for a private exchange of American quarters. Another one wanted a long list of cartoon characters I don't know. I'm trying to please, but it's turning into a part-time job. I wish we could refuse one "send card to" a month. The name wold be recycled.

I also hate when people go on holidays and are still active. I get so diappointed when the cards expire. I always send a message at 50 days. Surely these people check there email when they are on holiday. I am also furious with those that join and send 3 cards and you never see them again and they never register your cards. The least they can do is register what they are sent even if they no longer which to participate,

I'm on a holiday with my mum, so now my boyfriend registers the cards for me. :-). Next month we're on a holiday together, but only for a week. I don't think people would mind it of I don't put it on inactive? I think its also nice when there are a few cards in the mailbox when coming home from vacation.

I always change to Inactive a few weeks before I go on holidays. While I am away I try to log-in about a week before I am due home. That means that I start to get mail when I get home. I keep sending if I can while I am away. As I live in Australia it takes a few weeks for mail to get to and from me normally. I speak to whoever is collecting my mail (usually a relative) and they give me the ID numbers for the postcards that I need to register.

Since it takes three or more weeks for many cards to get to me, I'd have to go inactive a month or more in advance. Good thing I never travel in real life. ;)

I always ask myself why people behave like that. It is fine that they stop sending cards when they don't like postcrossing and notice after 3 cards... but why is it not possible to register the incoming cards? It is so annoying and happens too often. Even when you write them a message they don't register your card. Haven't they listened to the basic topics regarding social behaviour in kindergarten?

Cards sent from holiday destinations might be okay when the sender is from the Netherlands, Finland or Germany... places where most of your cards come from. But imagine you have been waiting for years for a card from Åland or Malta... and the user sends you a card from another country. I would cry:)

I also always wonder why new members who don't like postcrossing at least are polite and register their incoming cards but I think it's even worse when those who have participated for a while and decide after say 50 cards they want to stop don't bother to register their cards. That makes me really sad. :-(

I will go on holiday soon and have been thinking about going inactive but cards from certain countries have an average travelling time of about 30 days and I would have to change my status a long time before going away. I love receiving cards so much and would be sad not to receive any for a month. I'll only be gone a bit over a week so I hope no-one will be disappointed that their travelling time will be a bit longer than usual. If I went away for longer I would change my status though.

I also organise the account of the place where I work (a centre where children get private lessons) and I always make sure that their account is set to inactive in good time before the school holidays.

I'm from Germany and will travel to France. Do you think people would like cards from France with a German ID. I know receiving cards from Germany must be very boring but France isn't actually a rare country either...

Happy holiday to everyone. :-)

Sounds like a lot of people have been disappointed with the non-registrars. I agree, when you signed up, you agreed to BOTH sending and registering.

Postcrossing -- why not have a policy of automatically making a member inactive if he/she hasn't signed on/registered for 30 days? As soon as the member signs or/registers, then the status is reinstated. People who are active should have their rights looked after as well.

Regarding sending postcards from your vacation country -- I'm all for it. I'm in the US and no one ever complained about getting a card from me from Croatia, Portugal, or Turkey. If they MUST have a card from the US, I'm always happy to send a second.

So you mighe be getting a card from Sri Lanka with a US ID in September...

When I had holidays, my son registered my received postcards.
I sent my cards from the holiday destination and the people had a lot of fun with the greetings...
But this year my son has a job as a bricklayer and no time for mom´s postcrossing. Then I take the inactive status for my 2 accounts. I hope, it´s okay for all the users....

I am not amused with the other postcrossers who don't register because they have gone on holiday.

I have now several cards travelling with people who haven't logged in for about a month. One will expire today. E-mails get no reply.

So three weeks ago I set my two accounts on 'inactive', today we go on holiday, and (hopefully the last) card arrived on Saturday.

I am considering sending cards from my holiday destination (Scotland) but it will depend on the cards I find and de quality of the Internet access

@ oerkenbo If it is me, please wait until you are back from Sri Lanka ;-)... or change your place to Sri Lanka!

Hello -- wish many more people would consider changing to the inactive status!!!
I have had to write to several people or classes in a row who have either totally stopped with Postcrossing (most of them were beginners) or are away for a long time. Plz changed to inactive i still wanna getting cards or sent to other people cards which register in good timeframe-enjoy your holidays- Flicki!!

I also need a break as I'm so tired working on yacht projects, however no free time for a holiday :/
I have an idea:
Why dont we group newcomer PCers and dont let their addresses appear to senior PCers until they reach a certain number of sent postcards? New PCers send official cards to only other new members until let's say they send 50 cards, then they are able to send others, so that we loyal PCers might have less expired cards. What do you think folks?

I hope people like to get cards from holiday destination, I'm going to Berlin over the weekend and I will send cards to people during that time, since I think it's fun to get something different than the ordinary country cards.

And I'm also tired about people who ignore register cards and emails sending to them.
I also want thoose people put inactive until they logged in or register a card again.
But I think that newcomer should have their opportunity to send to old PCmembers but old PCmembers maybe should not have to send to the new ones.
My Mother who join for a year ago, her first 5 card all where expired and she was really sad about it.

Last year PC recommended users to go inactive two weeks before going on holiday, I'm going away to Florida in Oct so me, my husband and my mother we will all go inactive two weeks before, but will send alot of cards during our time there ;-)

Happy Holidays

I just today experienced an expired card too, she was away and messaged me that she will register the card today, but it's 1 day too late, such a pity!
I think i will not send postcards now during this vacation period,

or the best thing is that due to so many negative reactions here, POSTCROSSING can change the expire period from 60 days to 90 days!

I used the Inactive status for my vacation last summer and it worked very well, I switched my account to Inactive 3 weeks before I left but I guess 2 weeks would have been enough, too. Though I wish more users would think of this useful feature when they are away from their address for a longer time. Just yesterday and today I drew addresses from users in China and Macau, both living at University addresses and last seen 16 days ago, so I guess I'll have to wait for these cards to be registered until the end of the university holidays. I just hope they won't change their room or dormitory and will actually receive the cards at their return.

I have just had a card registered after 49 days, not out of date I know but it would have been better if the Postcrosser had gone inactive. I don't mind receiving cards from holiday places, especially somewhere unusual. If PCs put in their profile they don't mind cards from holiday places we would know whether to send them or not.
Happy holidays to all, wherever you are heading!

I was gone for a week last week but didn't go on Inactive; I registered my cards as soon as I returned home and I noticed that their travel times weren't far off from typical travel times so I wasn't worried.

However, I am moving from Ohio USA to the Czech Republic in September. I'll be living in one flat in Prague for a month (for a certification course) then I'll be moving to my own permanent flat, so I don't know how I will be active here on Postcrossing until my permanent location by mid-October :-\

I do wonder why so many people don't change their status to inactive. Is it because they don't realise this feature exists, or because they don't think it's necessary, or because they simply forget? Sometimes I run across profiles with lines such as "I will be away all July, but register cards again in August". Gee thanks for the info. It's not such a big deal for me because I can have a lot of cards travelling, so a couple of stuck ones don't keep me from sending more cards. But most people can send less and I remember how much it frustrated me in the beginning.

Thumbs up for re-posting this blog entry!

And just because people don't complain about cards sent from holiday destinations doesn't mean they like them. I for one would never complain, because a) it's not breaking any rules, b) what's the point, and c) it's just not very nice - but I still don't like it very much. That doesn't keep me from politely thanking the sender though. Of course some people really do like it, and others simply don't mind, I just think this conclusion (no complaint = happy) doesn't work. I guess the more "exotic" or "rare" the holiday destination is, the more people won't mind. My first card from South Korea was a holiday card from Switzerland - and yes, I was disappointed. (Thinking about adding a line to my profile for the holiday season ...)

Newbies not registering cards is a whole other topic though, isn't it?

After receiving an address to send to, is it ok to send a message asking whether they mind a card from a vacation locale? I've been temped to send a message offering a choice of cards and asking which they might prefer. Is it ok to contact someone before you send them a postcard?

"Postcrossing -- why not have a policy of automatically making a member inactive if he/she hasn't signed on/registered for 30 days? As soon as the member signs or/registers, then the status is reinstated. People who are active should have their rights looked after as well."-
I totally agree!

"If PCs put in their profile they don't mind cards from holiday places we would know whether to send them or not." -
Good idea. Or if you have a button like with the "direct swaps" yes/no.

@oerkenbo @idus if a user hasn't logged in in the past 30 days, Postcrossing doesn't give their address out.

The reason we re-post this text every year is precisely to make members aware that this option exists, and they should use it if they go away for an extended period of time :)

@Forestchapel80: we know, we should have posted it earlier, but it kind of slipped our mind this year :)

"@oerkenbo @idus if a user hasn't logged in in the past 30 days, Postcrossing doesn't give their address out."-
Aha, okay.

You convinced me, I've set my account to inactive after all. Maybe a bit late but there it is!

I've received a card from a holiday destination last year and was very disappointed when I found a card from the Netherlands with French stamps and a Russian ID. I've received more official cards from the Netherlands than my Top 2 and Top 3 country (USA and Finland) together and I was really disappointed with that card but would find it very impolite to complain. If people go on holiday to a very rare country like French Polynesia (I'm dreaming of a card from Bora Bora), Tanzania or North Korea and send it with a matching stamp and a foreign ID I'd be over the moon but otherwise ID'd prefer a card matching the ID.

As most people commenting here seem to feel the same I will not send any Postcrossing cards from France with German ID while away on holiday.

Have a great summer everyone!

To bad I read this when I get back from my trip! :)

I am active again. ;) Got inactive about 10 days before holidays and still received 3 officials during my abcense and 1 today, before getting active again. All traveled long.

I do send postcards from my vacation, but since I do travel to the "rare" exotic places, no one complained yet. However, I'm rethinking the whole holiday-postcards thing due to I've received a postcard from my own hometown from North Korea. I cried. Really. My very first postcard from North Korea, and girl thought it's too cool send postcard that she brought back from her vacation in US - happen to be a city where I live.

I'll be away for a month in October, and planning to go inactive. And will bring postcards back, but not sure if I'll send them.

Agree with those who mention to automatically change status to inactive if person not active for 30 days.

I hate to see those expired cards...