Postcrossing Blog

Minna (aka minnasusanne) lives in the Finnish countryside. She loves stones, the Rasmus, and Stephen King's books! Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I heard about Postcrossing for the first time when I picked up our mail in the end of year 2006. There were great cards from different countries around the world, sent to my oldest daughter who had joined Postcrossing. In a few weeks I joined too! First I liked the idea of getting cards from foreign countries, then the opportunity to improve my language skills. But the best thing I think are the wonderful friends I soon found here.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is our mailbox, done by me and my husband. Finnish postal service delivers mail to 1 km from your home if you live in the countryside like we do. So our mailbox is in middle of the forest along our road to home. It is pretty obvious that I like stones!

Sometimes, I use the postcards I receive to decorate parts of my home:

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like to read and listen to music but I must confess that I’m a serious card addict. I don’t spend much time with anything else. This means that postcards have evolved from a hobby to a profession for me this autumn. Last two years I have been interested in taking photographs and after plenty of dreaming and planning I decided to publish some photos as postcards. That’s how my small-scale postcard web shop Minor Postcards was born.

Lately I enjoy planning different cards with my daughter and searching good motifs from other photographers works – I know I’m a beginner and can’t take photos of the Northern lights or polar bears, for example.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

It is impossible to pick just one card. Here are some special cards:

A Sandman postcard and John Bauer's illustration because I like dreamlike drawings and the idea to have a matching stamp to a card is great. (But I don’t like the “Postmonster” which damages cards and hope to get my cards in envelopes so stamps don’t actually matter to me).

The paper doll Robin Hood cat card and Sheepworld card because I like “cut out do it yourself” cards.

The Rasmus is my favorite band and you can’t buy cards about them. This Touchnote card was an official RU-1122544 and I appreciate it very much, because the sender really made an effort.

I also love black & white cards and stones and got these from friends. The broken stone heart was my avatar for a while.

And the Help! card is there because I like funny ideas and would love to have that key in my laptop!!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I like the most about picking the right card for the receiver. I look at their wishlist and try to find something which might be something they would like. It is nice to read Hoorays afterwards and hear how well I managed.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

This is not actually an answer to this question… but it was a fine surprise to receive the first page from my favorite author Stephen King's book Carrie as an official BR-153331. It arrived a long way from Brazil and got here in good shape, despite the long journey.

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, my daughter was the first! I have been to some meetings in Finland and met Finnish members there. I don’t usually go to big meet-ups, I prefer small meetings. I have met some foreign members too, two of them visited my home, and I have visited one Swiss member. And once I made a surprise visit to a German member for her birthday when I was in Germany for other reason. It was soooo fun!! I can say that with some members I don’t only share postcards, I share my life and we really are friends. And that’s amazing!

Nicole (aka Mondkind), from Hamburg, is a regular at the yearly Postcrossing meetings in Bielefeld. She has a fondness for small knitting and crochet projects… and big books! Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

While reading another blog I was aware of Bookcrossing and after looking around for a while, I discovered the Postcrossing website. I was fascinated by the thought of getting mail from all corners of the world and to see places that I did not even know existed. I signed up immediately, and the next day I sent the first five postcards.

When I received my first postcard and read the very kind message, I instantly took a new address and from this moment I knew… I wanted to receive a lot more postcards. I was infected with the Postcrossing virus!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

One of my favorite postcards is my first one, which came from Riga with kind words on it.

Here are some other postcards I like:

KG-564 is one of the postcards with the smallest postcard ID I have ever received.

RO-30290 shows the famous Dracula castle! I love many other postcards, like for instance JM-722 or ZA-13315.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Any postcard is a surprise for me. When I open my mailbox, I never know what is inside, how many cards are there, where are they from, who was picked to write me. But it is always a special surprise when a card comes from a far away country or a country from which I hadn’t received a card so far!

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is my mailbox.

This is an album I’ve made for very nice postcards and stamps.

And here’s my postbox, and a wine box where I store my postcards to send!

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

Yes, my son Loris joined Postcrossing, too. I think it’s a good way to improve his English and he likes to get nice postcards.

And perhaps the owner of a lovely small shop – he was surprised because I bought so much of his very nice postcards… I told him about Postcrossing and he was very excited and curious. And perhaps he is now already one of us… :)

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, of course. I’ve attended the international Postcrossing meeting in Bielefeld twice, and several other meetups in Germany. Some here in Hamburg, two times in Berlin… I’ve even organised a mini-meeting in my house!

I am happy because I’ve developed some really great friendships developed through Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I love to read historical novels and detective stories. I have a weakness for thick books. Rebecca Gablé is one of my favourite authors. I enjoy knitting and to crocheting small things. I am too impatient for large projects!

Bonnie Jeanne (aka PostMuse) hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is passionate about snail mail, mailart… and postboxes! :) Come discover more about her on this Spotlight interview.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I discovered Postcrossing via Bookcrossing. I have been exchanging postcards most of my adult life, 30 plus years. When the Internet came about, I joined lots of online postcard groups, and that was fun, but often the exchanges were between the same group of people. I love the randomness of Postcrossing! I think that is the thing that most attracted me to the site.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I sew, and I do a lot of mailart. I also love to travel and visit museums, especially little known museums, like the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania. I’m also a backyard birdwatcher and enjoy the constant chatter of the birds while I sit on my patio and write postcards and letters.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

The mail chute is at work and I love using it. I only work three floors up, so I can actually hear the mail hit the bottom :)

The photo close-up (left) of my open mailbox at home is taken from the front. You can see how the back is also open so that in the winter I don’t have to go out on the snowy road to get my mail. A lot of people outside the US also don’t realize that we can leave our outgoing mail in our home mailbox for the mailman to take away. I leave LOTS of mail in my home mailbox.

The photo on the right shows my home mailbox in the spring. I do decorate my mailbox for seasons. In winter, I’ll string twinkling snowflakes on it and add a few other festive details. At Halloween it had a giant black spider with purple twinkling lights.

This photo shows postcards of my home mailbox inside the same postcard… very “meta”! :)

The metal mailbox is my post office box, where most of my incoming mail goes. I do get some mail at my home mailbox, but it is safer to have most of my mail go to my post office box … it is always dry, plus it is close to work, so I can get my mail before lunch and enjoy it while I eat.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

My favorite postcards are pictures of the sender’s mailbox, even if it is only a mailslot. Some of the recent ones I’ve received are NL-1247688, DE-1267457, DE-1251668 and TW-455583.

Sometimes people write on the back of regular postcards that their mailboxes are not cute or interesting enough for a postcard. But, I think ALL mailboxes are beautiful. They are our connection to each other, even more so than email because you can hold snail mail in your hand.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

Oh yes! A former coworker is now quite involved. As are my two oldest grandchildren. I help them with the project because they are only 5 and 3, so too young to write postcards. And I ramble on to whoever will listen about Postcrossing, at any opportunity :)

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

My very favorite part of the process is when I get an address of someone who welcomes mailart because I LOVE to make postcards.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I am passionate about snail mail. I send about 40 or so pieces of mail a week and I love the connecting with other people. Somehow political/cultural differences don’t matter when one is writing to another about some shared interest, like fountain pens, or beekeeping, or novels, or the cute little bird that sat on the back of my patio chair and sang me his life story.

Thank you so very much for listening to me my Postcrossing story! And thank you very much for this wonderful site.

Meet José (aka PilotOne) from Portugal. He’s a flight simulator fan, and an enthusiastic member of the Postcrossing community in Portugal – he even gave an interview about Postcrossing on TV once!

Here is what he had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I joined the Postcrossing project on the 30th September 2009 and in fact I can’t remember how I learned about it! I believe however that it was through any article I read online. What keeps me active on the project is to become aware of other cultures, languages​​, ways of living and even some cases of life that are reported by some of the members in their profiles. To share all this is what fascinates me most in Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes, although Postcrossing occupy some of my free time, I enjoy modeling and also dedicate much of my time to virtual aviation with my own flight simulator equipment. Photography and reading a good book are also habits that I practice very regularly.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

You can see my mailbox on the first picture above, and here I am at the local Post Office:

This is the post box where I mail my cards from:

Below on the left is my stock of to-send cards, and on the right, my received postcards:

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

This is my favorite! It shows an ethnic little girl and it really is one of the most touching cards I’ve received so far! I’m sure this little girl’s world is limited to her small bird and to the 50 or 100 meters surrounding the place where she lives!

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

When I gave a TV interview about Postcrossing in October 2010 and we all felt a marked increase of new subscribers in Portugal, so I hope some of them have really got addicted to the project. Personally I also contributed to the dissemination of the project by friends, explaining them how everything works from the first requested addresses.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The most exciting and favorite moment is to read the cards I receive and also to the countries they are coming from.
Registration process is also a big moment, as I can 'see’ (most of the times) the photo of the sender and also read his/her profile.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

I’ve been very excited when I received a card from Paraguay with a small ID. At that time I’ve checked the Postcrossing registration system and it was the 1st card from Paraguay received in Portugal. You can see it here.
My recently sent PT-266410 (still traveling) to Liechtenstein also made me happy as there are only 4 Postcrossing members on this Principality, so there was a very small chance for this to happen!

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes many times! I use to attend local small meetings or just combine to have lunch or a dinner together with some members (we call it a meeting!) where we always finish with a card-writing session! I’ve also attended different International Postcrossing Meetings in Portugal that really had a large number of foreign members!

Michelle (aka MichelleW) hails from Dallas in the state of Texas. She’s an advocate for children’s cancer research, and describes herself as the proverbial “cat lady” in her neighbourhood – with 4 cats and a cat-themed mailbox to prove it! :)

Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

In 2010, I was recovering from cancer treatments and my good friend, Aurora, showed me this “new thing” she was doing. She explained the process and showed me how to set up a profile. She kept saying, “just be patient, ” when it seemed like forever for the first card to arrive. And then it come and when I got the first card and then the second…I was hooked – completely! It was only the start of what has been an unbelievable experience.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Besides Postcrossing I enjoy some arts and crafts and like to find other members who like handmade cards. If I’m not writing cards, I’m reading a book, watering the plants or at the movies. I also try to support children’s cancer research hospitals by participating in walks or sending cards to kids in the hospital. I met far too many children during my time in treatment. I also have a small blog that I write mainly to show off the cards I send and receive every month!

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I’m embarrassed to show you where I keep my cards-to-send! I have enough cards to send to the entire Northern Hemisphere. I started storing received cards in albums, but realized that was going to get too expensive – so I ended up with attractive boxes that are categorized by cards I get from the official Postcrossing site and those I get in Round Robins – my passion! The mailman was too shy for a picture.

I had fun finding different styles of letter drops during a trip to Canada this summer. And I was very happy to find my cat mailbox since I am without doubt, the cat lady of our neighborhood. My youngest cat loves to paw through the cards.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I have received literally thousands of cards through Postcrossing, but there is one that I will always remember and not for the front, but for the message, which said,

"Saturday, March 12, 2011
Hello from Yokohama, Japan! You probably heard about the big earthquake we had here yesterday. My husband I weren’t hurt but it was very scary and we were without power for 8 hours. I hope things go back to normal soon.

Have a great day!,
Lauren

Now Lauren is a Postcrosser. I’m not sure I’d be writing cards after a day after such a major catastrophe!

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

I hope so – but I can’t prove it! I’ve found that you raise eyebrows in stores when you buy 30 cards or so in one transaction. I’ve had several people ask me what I do with them and many have written down the site’s address. I hope they joined. It’s amusing to have people ask, “You actually mail them…like with a stamp??”

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

At first it was receiving, but now I love the process of reading profiles and trying to choose a card that really fits the addressee. I also print my labels with graphics for that person – whether it is their avatar or country’s flag. When it is registered, I get a truly warm feeling in my heart when someone replies, “It’s exactly what I love and that’s my picture!” I also have to admit that I get a certain twinge of satisfaction when my cards are marked as “favorite.”

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I am passionate about children’s cancer and cancer research for “orphan” cancers. My experience with a rare form of the Big C made me realize how much is left to learn. To see a five-year-old with a shaved head, big scar and waiting for radiation will break your heart but also amaze you when you observe their determination and laughter through their pain. I still keep up with one young man who beat a very deadly brain tumor. They fight so hard and I try to give whatever I can to help researchers with their work.

This year, politics and environmental issues have been uppermost in my life. I’m a liberal tree-hugger, which is not common in a conservative state like Texas! My efforts are geared primarily in reduction of fossil fuel usage and saving native animals such as the grey wolf from total extinction in the US and Mexico by big-business ranchers and petroleum interests who destroy their habitats. I can get rather heated on the subject of conservation.