Postcrossing Blog

Japan has very nice stamps so I try to use them as much as possible. Some stamps honour relations with other countries such as stamps honouring Japanese/German relations, so I use them for postcards going to Germany.

I try to use special stamps. Like the Europe Stamp / commemorative stamps. In december the Netherlands have Christmas stamps. You need two if you want to send a card abroad. When I read that someone collects stamps, I will use 2 Christmas stamps.

I buy stamps from a company called Philatelink. They sell British special issue stamps that are no longer available over the counter. I save about 28%. While I can't specify what theme or year of stamps I'll receive, I love the varied and historic selection that arrives. I admit that I spend more on stamps than I do on food!

I often don't know what to write, but this is a good suggestion. Some stamps are indeed worth introducing. In addition, today the website has changed to Christmas limited edition decorations, with text turned into gift boxes and snowflakes in the background. It's so beautiful, with a strong Christmas atmosphere.

I work at the Post Office, I replace the head of the communications department. And it became much more convenient with stamps: just one call to the brand database and two days later I have a service parcel with everything I need. Working as an operator, you don't have to choose, if they give you at least standard brands, then it's already happiness.

Lovely idea, thank you!

I usually devote a large part of my card to explaining which stamp I'm using, and actually I've realized that on average it takes me only 10 minutes to find the right card according to the profile I get but around 15 minutes to find the right stamp, because I try to find one which can fit both the profile AND the postcard, and often it takes a few sentences to explain the link between them. I also like to explain how they were printed, in how many copies, etc.
That's why I sometimes stick them on the side of the postcard's picture :)

https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/MZ-207
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/SZ-392
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/AL-1256
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/LT-814470
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/FR-1572853
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/FR-1658318
https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/FR-1668357

Since 2022, I have consistently used stamps with the Murmansk coat of arms. Just find this image and you'll understand.

Luckily România produces many attractive and informative postage stamps, and I make a point of buying them from the philatelic (Romfilatelia) shops and trying to match the interests of the Postcrosser that I am sending to. It’s great when I get positive feedback.

German "Deutsche Post /DHL" has a new stamp for the Christmas time.
It is the first together with TIPTOY electronic pencil from Ravensburger
toy factory.Enjoy German Christmas songs and stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOrd8ITwriM

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BenkdSDSJO8
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I buy only new and only nice stamps only online.
It works very good.
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Türkiye issued a Sagalassos (an archaeological site in the city of Burdur) stamp in 2024. I use it often because I actually worked there this summer as an archaeologist for my master's thesis! And it seems that I will continue going back there :)

I had built up some mint duplicates in my Indian stamp collection from about 2006 , so I have been able to use these for my Post-crossing friends I normally use a mixture of older and newer Indian Commemorative stamps, which have a variety of themes represented in them , and with some everyday stamps to make up for shortfall in value, so hopefully they act as ambassadors of India along with the post-crossing postcards. .Both are always a good way to get to know about other countries I personally feel.

I often use franc stamps (from France)
mostly with a euro stamp for 1,29€ (to France) + 4,40 Francs = 1,96€ (internatonal)

I sent 2 NL stamps on every card. I'm a stampcollector and like stamps (on an envelope when it's possible). I buy stamps at the CollectorClub and for some Postcrossingmeetings I "make" stamps from my photo's at the Postcompanypage.

I try to use beautiful stamps, and even blocks. Often stamps take up half the area of ​​the postcard. I don’t use stamps with people, it’s not interesting and not beautiful

I am in the U.S. Occasionally I get recipients who request that Postcrossers from the U.S. not use the ubiqitous circular international mail forever stamps. I understand. Two basic forever stamps plus a 20-cent stamp overpays the U.S. international mail rate by just one penny. So from the USPS I order the more colorful of the forever stamps and assortments of older 20-cent stamps from E-bay or a dealer that I use. If I have to pay a little above face value for the 20-cent stamps I don't mind. This combination leaves enough room on the card to write a nice lengthy message.

As a collector, I appreciate other Postcrossers using several nice stamps on their cards. The large Russian stamps are particularly attractive.

In December I try to put some Christmas stamps on my cards, for Belgium and Europe. Before we could use the Europe stamps for the rest of the World too, now it isn't allowed anymore. For the rest of the world I try to put the stamps people like to receive or I put the stamps that I think they fit with the card I'm sending.

The postcard's beauty is enhanced by colorful stamps. Seeing vibrant stamps is a treat. Beautiful, vibrant stamps are the best decoration for a postcard. Stamps reveal a lot about a nation's history, culture, and notable citizens.For postcrossers who have expressed a preference for lovely stamps, I use vibrant stamps. I use defenitive stamps for others.

I use old stamps from a shop selling overstocked stamps from businesses switching to machine-stamping...
All the fellow german postcrossing forum users know the shop :D

Being new to Postcrossing I always need ideas for messages on my postcards. Thanks for the great ideas!

I have just sent my first special New Zealand crossposting stamp and also the crossposting post card, really hope they enjoy receiving them :)

Postcards and stamps are a huge part of my life, and something that I have always known, since my relatives started a stamp and postcard collection for me before I was even born. It is a life hobby for me, spread out over many years. I try to use at least 2-3 stamps on the postcards that I send, though I have used just one stamp sometimes to send postcards within the United States. But it really depends on the size of the postcard. I prefer 5 inch by 7 inch postcards because then I have much more room to add more stamps. My favorite stamps are oversize ones, mainly depicting art or photography. And (in my opinion) the country that has issued the most beautiful stamps, time after time, is the United Kingdom. P.S. I'm very glad to read everyone's comments on here - they are so interesting! :)

Every year. Canada Post come up with very nice Christmas stamps. This year gingerbread houses.They're lovely. I have all my Christmas cards ready to be send and some of you will received them as well one day. Unfortunately, Canada Post is on strike, now for 14 days so we all need patience....
-Merry Christmas-

Definitely like it when the sender uses a variety of stamps to send the postcard. I also try to find stamps related to the postcard or that the sender may like. Stamp shows are a great place to find US postage at a small discount (usually the lower values which are great to make up the rate) or older issues at face value.

I just bought stamps with Freddie Mercury on them! I love using special stamps :)

I’m new at PC and I discovered a new world of stamps 😍 I’m choosing picturesque stamps with nature, painting, culture, symbols of Russia. My envelope with stamps for me is like little box of treasures)
And of course I love to receive postcards with interesting stamps too.

I try to use an assortment of stamps, if I have those stamps available and there’s room on the card. In November and December, I may use winter stamps or holiday stamps as well.

Sometimes I like to use vintage stamps, because they're still valid as postage at their printed rate. I think they can give a postcard some character!

In Finland, very few new stamps are published for foreign post. More for national post. Someone thinks that noone is sending real postcards and letters any longer? During Xmas time there is a tradition to send Xmas cards and a special cheaper stamp is published always before Xmas and you have to send cards with that stamp earlier. I used to send less Xmas cards but now I started to send more again. Usually I receive about 25 cards myself. My parents are still alive, my father with his 100 years but all the other relatives are gone. But I have some cousins to whom I always send Xmas cards - happily we also meet each other every now and then. Happy holidays to everyone!

I started to collect stamps even before I started to collect postcards! My granny got me interested, when I was still little.

Now, ideally, I love beautiful stamps on gorgeous cards best and a special postmark is the icing on the cake, if there is one.

I usually get the latest stamps, that are issued, which are of values I can easily use and put those on my snailmail for a while. At least as long as I can get the matching first-day postmark.

My favourite stamps are flora and fauna, but I also love minerals, historic buildings, astronomy, maps. People not so much!

But special stamps make snailmail even more special! <3

One of the great things about being an Australian based postcrosser is the abundance of maxi cards available to send! It’s often more fun to send them as when I ask for international stamps at the post office, I usually get Christmas stamps all year around!🤶🏼

Taiwan no XMAS, but our New Year Stamp sll on Dec. I buy many Beautiful Snake 🐍 year stamp today, maybe some with nice Snake Postmark.👌

Usually I use stamps which is easy to find around, fortunately they have so many beautiful stamps such as lovely birds, our first ladies we had, and the special one is Chinese New Year Stamps however we only find the stamps with year of the horse and year of the monkey themes.

I try to use special stamps, but I am usually forced to use what I find at the post office!
xoxo

Hi, in december I also try to do a bit more my best to make a nice 'ensemble' of the card and the stamp. I kept some stamps from Anton Pieck for the winter time and I use those together with a matching card. Like this one: https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/NL-5867074that arrived today. Maybe I will use in december also some stamps from the Kingdom of the Netherlands (https://shop.postnl.nl/webshop/collect-club/pzv-regalia-vh-koninkrijk-der-ned) but I have to use 2 stamps and it's more costly ;-) Christmas stamps of the Netherlands of this year are not sooo special so I will use the ones from previous years.
Have a nice month!

I got some D&D stamps, so im gonna try and use them!

Thank you for the nice post on stamps. I am a bit "addicted" to purchasing stamps since the USA does create new stamps each year. Alas, no Postcrossing stamp yet, but we'll keep writing and trying. I try to match the stamp to the receivers interest or make a theme with the postcard. I love seeing the beautiful stamps from throughout the world.

I have collected a lot of stamps related to cultural heritage, relics and artefacts. Recently I'm totally and especially addicted to the Mogao Grottoes frescoes and statues stamps. But the stamps are so beautiful that I am barely willing to use them...

pretty much all of my international cards are using the poinsettia stamp for this month just for the holidays, however I only have 3 left 😅 i’m not sure if my local post office has more of that style. I had a field day choosing a bunch of stamps from the USPS website for fellow stamp lovers like me, so i do try to use some of those when requested 😊

I was using the international stamp but did just do a large order of vintage stamps and cannot wait to use them. My only worry is they will take up more space.

I'm ashamed to admit I only use regular stamps :<
Russian intl post tariffs have significantly went up lately, so I'd rather send more postcards with simple stamps, instead of fewer but with fancy ones. However I always try to choose the prettiest cards and to decorate them with stickers, to make up for that :)

I always use several stamps per card and often use 70-yr-old stamps. My favorites are animals in the Aquarium where I volunteer and stamps that have postcards of them I can send with the same design. These are often stamps/postcards honoring American art.

I used the vintage leftover Christmas stamps; we have the wreath Christmas stamps this year. I think I bought so many times now :-)

This is something I do routinely. I seldom use the international stamps because there is no variety. Instead I use commemoratives to add up to the amount. I buy old unused stamps of smaller denomination online to make up the difference. I try to choose stamps that I think will appeal to the recipient whenever possible. I also like to point out particularly interesting things about the stamps.
In addition, I have some old stamps that are from a company that prints stamps with pictures you request but it is real postage. I inherited them from my uncle, someone had them made with images of him from old TV shows he was in. I usually add an old standard issue stamp picturing a friend/mentor of his who was also a famous actor. This has great meaning for me, and there is a wealth of information online if a recipient cares to google either of them.

I also really appreciate all the great stamps that come to me via postcrossing. It is as important as the card or the message for me.

I always use limited edition stamps and it is not just 1 but 3 and sometimes even 4 stamps on the card. Stamp is like "the heart" of a Postcard.

This December it is not only limited to Christmas but Animals (Tigers, Rhino, Black Buck, horses) Nature, Monuments, 150 Years of UPU, Mountain Lion, Solar System and more.

I buy a variety of older stamps on eBay (in addition to current stamps straight from the US post office) and so, with that variety available, I try to use stamps that fit a person's profile. Like a previous poster, I probably spend 10 minutes choosing and writing the card -- and 15 minutes choosing the stamps!

I love choosing special stamps for all my cards, wherever possible related to the recipient's favourite themes. Luckily we have a few genuine stamp resellers who supply discounted older stamps for general use or collecting, without the awful modern barcodes!
Almost all my sent postcards in December will have Christmas or Winter themed stamps ☺️

Nice idea to capture the true essence of each stamp that goes up on the postcard we will be sending. excited to send and receive these this Christmas season

I love nature-themed stamps: with animals, plants or beautiful landscapes. I also like seasonal stamps, such as Christmas, Easter or Halloween stamps.

My wife uses a a stamp album to store her unused stamps as she has so many. She can easily see what stamps go with what stamps for the correct value of postage.

PS if you have old first or second class stamps that don't show their values when new you can use them on their own for first or second class postage. You don't need to add extra stamps to conform to the current rates.

My husband and l organize each three months free writingcontests with books to win. It is amazing that especially elderly people who could not finish school as child deal the contests. They take the middle pages of a schoolcahier to write on their poem or story about the given theme. And at the envelop we find old christmasstamps out of years when the netherlands even did not buy them with euros but guilders. The stamps are taken away from post of earlier years and used again. And the stories often give a nice view of life about 70 or 80 years ago...

When l write cards for postcrossing l cross the boarder to germany which is nearby. They have such beautiful stamps in the serie welt der briefe meaning world of letters. For example with a ship on it with envelops as sails. An incpen as firetower. A waterflower with leaves of letters and a heart of colourpencils. As artist l love them a lot. The stamps are selfadhesive and you buy them with ten items and a bigger image of that stamp. So l cut that bigger image and glue it also beneath the address at the front of the envelop.

I currently use two special editions from Germany. 1. the pride flag: some people will be annoyed by this, but I don't care. For me, postcrossing is connection. No matter where we come from, how old we are, tall, short, fat, thin or what kind of life we lead. Hence this stamp.
2. the Wacken Open Air 2024 stamp: the biggest metal festival in the world is in Germany and I'm a big music lover.

I'm currently using Christmas stamps on my postcards unless someone says that they don't want anything Christmassy.

I recently inherited my grandfathers big stamp collection. Many are unused, the ones that are still useable (from 2002 on when we got the euro) I will use on the cards, looking out to match topics of the profiles I draw. The ones which are not valid any longer I send to stamp collectors in envelopes along with the card. I have a huge amount of stamps left, which makes me very happy, so I can save the cost for postage :) Many of the stamps I use are not available anymore, so it will be a nice surprise to collectors :)

I've only been in the world of postcards for half a year. I like the process of choosing a postcard and a beautiful stamp. I also like it when people send unusual stamps. New New Year stamps have recently appeared, I'll start sending them soon)

In Austria there are a lot of special stamps around the year. Festive season, writers, composers, animals, ... My first cards were sent with self service stamps from the machine, which are just self sticking, white with print, but now I use at least a basic stamps and then add the rest from self service, if I send out of Europe ;)

Btw. we do have crypto stamps.

We have a limited selection of international stamps here in Finland and they did not release a special Christmas stamp for international mail, either which sort of annoys me. So I use national stamps and add a few extra ones to cover the international cost. I like to have a wider selection to choose from but sometimes the new stamps are so big it's hard to fit both them and the extra ones neatly on the card, especially if you want to write something else than just Happy Postcrossing on it. If I know someone collects stamps, I try to pick special stamps or one that I think is more on the rare side but if the address is long, I have to settle with an ordinary international one to make it fit. I wish they would issue more international stamps here and more smaller stamps without that space-consuming QR code.

As a stamp collector I love using a variety of postage stamps on the cards that I send out. Canada Post does issue some beautiful stamps for the regular postage rate but sadly they they only have one design for letters to the US and one for International mail except at Christmas when they issue a holiday issue for these rates. I have found that three regular rate stamps ( "P " rate ) covers the postage rate for International mail.
Right now Canada Post is shut down because of the postal strike/lock out so there is no mail leaving or entering the country and no mail delivery either.

I got Freddie Mercury stamps! I really love sending them! I get anxious to put them on the postcard if the recipient is living in a country with conservative LGBT laws :(

I always have a batch of small denomination stamps on hand to add a little extra postage and color to my cards. Recently the US Post has put out a set of small value flower stamps that look like little pressed flowers!

I try to use stamps that represent every day life in the US, so artwork, nature, plants, animals, and my current favorite are the yellow school bus stamps!

I try my best to match the stamp with the postcard image to make it a maxi-card or/and wherever possible related to the recipient's favourite themes.
I am currently waiting patiently for the year of the snake stamp release to commemorate the 2025 lunar new year festival. Then I will send out maxi-card of this release with its special postmark and slogan.

I like to go directly to the nearby post office to buy commemorative stamps. The stamps of (South) Korea Post are very beautiful, and I enjoy the process of buying and using stamps.

I order whatever is available for international postage on the United States Postal Service website. I usually get a sheet of ten stamps. The design is of a Christmas wreath. Or sometimes I will get postage for international stamps from a kiosk in one of the many post offices I use.

12-23-2024 I am fairly new to post-crossings, where do you buy your various stamps. I have gotten postcards with some interesting stamps and would like to return the favor with my new post-crossings.

In December I used the German Christmas stamp. If you have a Tiptoi (or better if the kids have one) it can even play music. It's the first stamp with this feature.

Additionally I used Weltpostverein (Universal Postal Union) to and Tag der Briefmarke America's first (Day of stamp - 61 America's first).

12-30-2024 Being fairly new to Post Crossing I am still learning about the stamps. I did learn that I can use forever stamps and then $.20 to add up to the $1.65 for European post cards. Slow learner, I guess!

I have received many beautiful stamps from around the world. What, if anything, do some of you do with the stamps? Do you remove them and put in a special binder or keep them attached to the post-card. Just curious.

Happy New Year 2025 to everyone!