Postcrossing Blog

It’s that wonderful time of the year again when postcards become more than just a happy surprise in your mailbox — they transform into books and help for those who struggle with reading! We’re excited to kick off the 12th edition of the “Cards for Literacy” campaign, celebrating over a decade of partnership with Deutsche Post and helping many people in Germany improve their literacy skills throughout all these years. Let’s keep this December tradition alive and thriving!

If you’re in Germany, it’s time to organize your stationery and make sure you have all the postcards and stamps you need! Every card you send in December (and that’s registered by February 28, 2025) will contribute to this meaningful cause.

As if making a difference weren’t rewarding enough, you’ll also have a chance to win some neat prizes: one €100 voucher and five €50 vouchers for the Deutsche Post Online Shop. The more cards you send, the more chances you’ll have to win. In March 2025, Paulo will tally the total number of postcards sent and funds raised, and the lucky winners will be randomly selected and announced. Last year, we raised an incredible €12,078.30 for Stiftung Lesen, all thanks to your efforts!

If you’re outside Germany, you’re still an essential part of the campaign. By registering the postcards you receive from Germany quickly, you help senders mail their next cards sooner, keeping the momentum going.

Stiftung Lesen continues to do vital work improving literacy for children, adolescents, and refugee families learning German. Literacy skills can open doors and change lives, and we’re honored to support their mission.

And now, all that is left to do is for us to come together and make the 12th year of this campaign truly special. Whether you’re sending or registering postcards, every small action adds up to something extraordinary!

P.S. Postcrossing respects your privacy and will not share your personal information. Full details of the campaign can be found here (in German).

Did you notice that the 2023 campaign of Cards for Literacy with Deutsche Post had one extra day for postcards to arrive this year? 😍 While a single day might not make a huge difference*, all of these postcards together are undoubtedly going to have a meaningful impact in a lot of people’s lives! Here’s how the campaign went this year:

What a great result this is! Well done, everyone! There’s so much promise in these numbers… so much good that can come from improving a person’s reading skills — and thus their whole outlook in life!

As always, a huge thank you to Deutsche Post, for partnering with the Postcrossing community and making this possible. We’ve now been running this campaign together for 11 years, if you can believe it, helping fun Stiftung Lesen on their various programs and research projects. We usually think of children when we think of reading problems, but did you know that there are about 6,2 million adults in Germany who cannot read properly? It’s hard to overstate how important this skill is in everyday life — from progressing in a career to living an independent life, it all starts with reading. So it’s important that those who need help improving their reading skills can receive it, and Stiftung Lesen and its partners are there to help.

And now, to wrap things up, Paulo run his script and randomly choose 6 winners to receive vouchers for the Deutsche Post shop. The winner of the big €100 voucher is Feuermaus99, and the five winners of the €50 vouchers are kuchenfee, Tazzdevil, Thekilein, Kamila_Dawid and Morle-Maus .Congratulations! 🎉 You’ll receive an email from us shortly!

(*) 140 postcards were registered on February 29, so not that few! 😊

So, this is a bit of a different post, but we’re excited to tell you about a school in northern Ghana that is improving the lives of children there through affordable education! While most of us might take education for granted, it is not so in many places. So read on to learn more about this special school and also, to learn how you can also help.

The goal of the Prince and Princess Foundation Academy is to provide an affordable academic environment in Tamale, catering especially to lower-income families. The heart of this initiative is to ensure that no child is denied their future due to high educational fees. The school’s mission is to nurture and develop the prospective leaders of Ghana, empowering them to contribute positively to their nation.

The journey began in 2014, with the school being constructed on a generously donated plot. Thanks to the unwavering support of donors, by January 18th, 2021, the academy opened its doors with six classrooms (for crèche, nursery, and multiple kindergarten and primary rooms), with 185 students at the moment. The school is about 75% complete, and the team is now on a mission to expand the school to the basic level, which will ensure that up to 355 children from the Kunyavilla community and surrounding areas like Shishegu, Dungu, Asawaba, and Nyohini can attend and benefit from it. Currently, classrooms Primary 5 and 6 are being built, and bricks are being moulded to prepare the construction of the computer lab and the library.

One of the standout features of this project is the team’s commitment to transparency. Donors can witness the building progress online, with detailed updates on the construction process and tons of photos. This level of openness is not only commendable but also fosters trust and encourages more people to join the cause. At the helm of this initiative is postcrosser Sisu Haruna (aka dotsiisu), who brings with him years of teaching experience in private schools. Last year, we had the chance to meet him and team member Belén (aka Belen94) in Seville, to chat about the academy and their plans. They both shared stories about the school, which Belén has visited and volunteered at. Their passion to education and commitment to the children of Tamale became clear to us, and so we’re happy to help them make this project a reality!

You can help too by donating to the school! Every contribution, no matter how small, brings the academy closer to its goal. Donations will be used to fund the acquisition of essential resources, building materials and equipment, which you can accompany on their website. And as a bonus for the postcard enthusiasts, for every €10 donated, the school will send you back a nice postcard, featuring some highlights from Ghana! You can find more information here.

By contributing, you’re not just building classrooms; you’re shaping futures. Many of our members have already generously contributed to this project, and as a token of gratitude, the academy has named one of their classrooms after the “Postcrossing Community”, which is a really touching gesture. 🥰 We’re proud of the work that Sisu and his team are doing at the Prince and Princess F. Academy, and hope to see the school completed and their classrooms filled with students very soon!

It’s that joyous time again — the season when Postcrossing postcards become beacons of hope and support! This year, we’re thrilled to mark the 11th anniversary of our cherished collaboration with Deutsche Post. A whole decade plus one has zipped by, during which many people in Germany have honed their literacy skills with the help of our united efforts. Hurray!

For our seasoned postcrossers, this will be a familiar recap, but let’s bring our new members up to speed:

That’s the essence of it! If you’re in Germany, now is the perfect moment to stack up on postcards and stamps to be ready for the month ahead. Once December arrives, every card you send within the month (and is received by the end of February 2024, which next year has one extra day!) will contribute to this noble cause. But wait, there’s more – your postcards could also be your ticket to winning these nice prizes:

• 1 voucher worth €100, to use in Deutsche Post Online Shop
• 5 vouchers worth €50 each, to use in Deutsche Post Online Shop

The more postcards you send, the more you contribute, boosting your chances to snag a voucher for Deutsche Post’s goodies. In March 2024, Paulo will set his random number generator in motion, and we’ll announce the total number of postcards sent and funds raised for Stiftung Lesen in a blog post. Last year, we raised an astounding €12,359.60!

What if you’re not in Germany? You’re still a vital part of this campaign! Simply register the postcards landing in your mailbox promptly. As waves of postcards from Germany journey across the globe, your quick registration helps the sender mail another card sooner.

Stiftung Lesen, a German non-profit, is dedicated to improving literacy, focusing on children, adolescents, and assisting refugee families in learning German. These fundamental skills are often taken for granted, but they can be transformative for those who struggle with them. We’re proud to support their invaluable work.

We invite you to join the 11th “Cards for Literacy” campaign, sharing our enthusiasm to make a difference with our postcards!

P.S. – Postcrossing respects your personal information and will not share it with any company without your explicit permission. The full details of this campaign can be read here (German only).

Last year, we had a post on the blog about Reto’s Travel Mode experience in South Georgia, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. You might have thought that that was definitely the southernmost post office in the world… but you’d be wrong! There’s a small post office hidden away even further south, processing over 70,000 pieces of mail every year — it’s Port Lockroy, in Antarctica!

Here’s a short video introducing the post office, its staff, and the many penguins that they share the space with:

Located on Goudier Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Port Lockroy Post Office is visited by 18,000 people annually. Besides being a post office, it functions as a living museum, and the workers also double as scientists, observing the penguin population as part of the British Antarctic Survey. Tourists flock here to experience its rich history and, of course, send postcards from the southernmost post office in the world.

The post office and museum are maintained and operated by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT), a charity organization committed to conserving historic buildings on the Antarctic Peninsula. The funds raised from the sale of souvenirs and postage fees go directly to supporting the conservation of six historical sites in the area.

But you don’t have to go all the way to Antarctica to send a postcard from there! Currently, the UKAHT is raising money for their conservation efforts by selling postcards that will be sent from Antarctica. Each postcard costs £20, and you can personalize it with your message. Orders are being accepted until October 5th.

If you’ve never received a postcard from the icy continent, now is your chance — or, you can also take the opportunity to surprise a friend with a special postcard from far away. You’ll be helping to preserve history and ensure that stories of Antarctic exploration, science, and resilience remain accessible to future generations. Who knows… one day, you might even be able to visit it yourself! 😊

PS: Their Paypal interface system is having the hiccups at the moment, but payments through credit or debit cards are working!