Postcrossing Blog

When Postcrossing started, there was only a wish that a few users would join to try it. A few weeks after launch, that goal got overwhelmingly reached and hundreds of postcards started to be exchanged across different countries. It was a great success, but still, reaching millions was only a dream back then.

Now, over 3 years later, we are almost reaching 2 million exchanged postcards. What an amazing milestone! So many smiles have been created, several friendships have been seeded, more understanding and cultural awareness has been generated. Postcrossing is making the world a smaller placer, and we couldn’t be prouder. :)

Therefore, we want to tell the whole world about Postcrossing and this achievement. We want to reach even more people and make them smile too. And here’s where you can help!

It’s simple: we have created a press release about Postcrossing and the 2 million postcards mark to send to the media. All you need to do is download it and send it to your local newspapers, radio, TV, favourite news website, all counts! Help spread the word about Postcrossing and making this community larger.

With the help of many of you, we already translated the press release into several languages (thank you!), but feel free to translate to your own (or just use the English one) if you don’t find it here.

• English: DOC, PDF
• German: DOC, PDF
• Portuguese: DOC, PDF
• Spanish: DOC, PDF
• Finnish: DOC, PDF
• Italian: DOC, PDF
• Chinese: DOC, PDF
• Dutch: DOC, PDF
• Slovenian: DOC, PDF
• Swedish: DOC, PDF
• Romanian: DOC, PDF

We thank you in advance for all the help on spreading the word about this milestone!

And while we are at it, we have a small prize to give away! All you need to do is to leave a comment to this post with your prediction of which country will receive the postcard 2 million and where it came from (example: “From Portugal to Australia”). Only one guess is allowed per person and the first person to answer correctly will receive a little something from us. We’ll reveal the right answer on the day we reach 2 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

(image by bitzi on flickr)

We have just reached another great milestone! For the first time, a Postcrossing member received his 1000^th postcard! Congratulations Wyando! That’s a very impressive mark and we couldn’t be happier about helping with such.

We asked Wyando to share with everyone how this experience has been for him, which he kindly accepted:

Woha! 1000 postcards received. This is really incredible…

End July 2005 it all started. I remember I was on vacation in Stockholm checking on my mails and in the bookcrossing forum they mentioned this new site, where you could send and get postcards to and from all over the world. Fascinated, I thought, and switched over to that new website, curious to know how this would worked. And before I realized what I was doing, I already had signed up and got my first 3 addresses…

And now, almost 3,5 years later, I must admit, that it’s still fun. Although, there was a time, where I’ve been thinking of quitting anyway, due those inactive accounts and cards which never arrived their targets (even sending them twice or more cards!). Waiting for addresses has always been very though those days. But then the new rule of multiple addresses came up and this is the best thing what could have been done. More postcards on the way so that even if some of them expire, it does not affect your habits in sending a new card on the way…

Although one of the habits that has been changed by this new rule: I’ve started to create my own sets of postcards created by some pictures I shoot myself on my city. So called (numbered) Limited Editions. Till now I have 5 sets created of each 100 cards and the next set is in preparation (cat lovers will love that one for sure ;) . At least I hope this way to have something special (and from the reactions I’ve got, it seems to be), even if I often don’t know to write something interesting in my cacography ;)

Receiving cards on the other side starts slowly to become an everyday surprise (BTW, not only for me, but also for our secretary, who is getting the mails first – I use my works address to get those cards). It is a nice distraction from the daily job and each card is so unique, different. It would be hard to decide, which ones of those 1000 I prefer. Of course, all wolves cards are high price, but really, every card I get is interesting somehow. Besides, mostly there are also nice stamps to look at. Nevertheless, I have to admit, that one card I’ve got is really very special. Earlier this year, I got a card sent from Norway. It was a limited Edition postcard from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. And although my profile mentioning I like Pink Floyd, The Wall is one of my favorite albums (and film) so you can guess what this card meant to me. Thanks again, Joey!

From time to time I’ve been asked, what do I do with all those cards. Well, first they stay a while at work (and there I’ll pick some kind of “card of the week”). Since we now have that beautiful function of uploading cards to this website, I’ll try to scan them in between. After that while, I’ll take them home and store them in a big box for now. Now and then, I flip through the cards. And to be honest, I still don’t know what’s the best way to categorize them…

What’s next?
Well, keeping up with the cards as long as this whole addicting hobby is fun :) Receiving wonderful cards which makes me smile (either by the picture or what is written) and hoping that the cards I’m sending will create pleasure. And to scan and upload the cards I’ve received in the last years – that already will be a hell of job (and sure take its time).

Thanks Paulo for this wonderful idea!
Thanks Paulo & the DevTeam for this wonderful Website!
Thanks all participants in sending postcards all over the world.

Wyando

P.S. Some of you may know me due the Personalized Statistics.
For those interested in my 1000 cards statistics, I’ve created a snapshot here.

Once again, congratulations Wyando! We hope you receive many more! As a bonus, here are a couple of photos of Wyando’s busy mailbox:

And now, ladies and gentlemen postcrossers, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the results of our “A million cards’ contest”! Here they are, two for each of the five categories:

Best backside texts

jtills, from the United States wrote: “I come out of my shell when I interact with others through Postcrossing.”

maneij, from Finland wrote: “Hi there! I think Postcrossing broadens the mind! Its warmhearted friendship all over the world, like world language, like world breathing. I can get to know strange people, strange cultures and at the same time I can teach other people too. On the written card I can see a tiny flash about ones life and that moment we are close together in spite of miles, borders or races. We are friends. That’s the most important. I’m lucky I found Postcrossing, I has enriched my life. I love it.”

Best handmade cards

Eefjevt, from the Netherlands, sent us this beautifully handcrafted 3D card. The wheel spins to reveal different sets and best wishes.

Sady, from Germany, sent us this relief card that she made from pictures in a magazine. Check out the beautiful backside as well!

Best representative of your country

just_me, from Slovenia writes: “On the picture are Kurants, the main carnival figure of Kurentovande. Kurent is believed to be endowed with unearthly powers, for with its demoniac figure, with jumping and ringing bells, it performs a rite which is supposed to chase the Winter away to bring Spring to the country.”

Elinborg, from Iceland writes: “Hello from Iceland. We have more sheep than people so I love to send cards with sheep :)”

Funniest cards

davyn, from Finland writes: “Have you ever experienced anything like this? You go on your long awaited holiday, and when you finally arrived to your destination, nothing is exactly how it looked like in the brochure.”

Milly91, from France, sent us a mouthwatering postcard of all the things we would like to taste in Paris!

Nicest stamps

From sushis in france		From Isagv in Germany

These 10 lucky users will receive a pack of 20 MOO postcards each, fully customizable with their photos or designs. If your card wasn’t chosen, please don’t be sad, we promise we’ll have more contests soon :) Meanwhile, you can see all the cards received on this flickr set.

Congratulations to everybody and thank you for all your kind words and best wishes!

Postcrossing headquarters’ mailbox has been overflowing with postcards: all lovely and colorful, filled with kind words and beautiful stamps. Thank you for all the effort you’ve put on these postcards – we love each and every one of them and choosing 10 of them will be a very hard job.

Today was the day we were supposed to gather all your postcards and choose the winners. But having received today a postcard that was posted on April 15th, we decided to give them a extra little time to arrive.

So, we’re hanging on until Tuesday, May 6th. If you participated, keep your fingers crossed and come back next week to know if you were among the lucky winners :)

Yay! Can you hear the fireworks outside?! It’s true, we have now reached the exciting milestone of a million received cards. Congratulations everybody, we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you! :-)

The millionth card travelled from ebalci, in Turkey to s13 in Romania.

Nobody guessed on which countries the card would travel from and to… but don’t worry, you still have till the end of the month to participate in our “a million cards’ contest” and win one of the 10 packs of free MOO postcards we have to offer!