Why I love Postcrossing

When I was looking for a new hobby to get involved with when I moved to the United States, I stumbled upon Postcrossing.  Postcrossing is a project that allows people to send and receive postcards from all over the world.  The best part about it is that you have something fun to look forward to receiving in the mail (which is great when you typically only receive bills and bank statements).

A selection of postcards received from Postcrossing

Originally you can only send 5 postcards at a time, but this number increases when you send more postcards.  If you want another option, you can always do a direct swap.  I am currently swapping postcards with a guy in New York, but I have also swapped with people from Turkey and China.  Direct swaps don't add to your sent count, but it's a fun way to get postcards from specific areas in the world (and also interact with more people!).

On your Postcrossing profile, you can also write a little bit about yourself, as well as write specifications on what sort of postcards you would like to receive.  Be forewarned, you may not receive postcards with your specifications.  I was given an address of a girl in Russia who only wanted postcards that showed dogs or retro cartoons (which is almost impossible to find where I live), and I ended up not sending her a postcard at all because she was extremely picky.  I really enjoy postcards that show city skylines, and this is written in my profile, but most of the postcards I receive are completely different than what I requested.  This is really cool, and my postcard book is very diverse because of this.

I have currently sent 23 postcards that have been registered by the receiver, and yesterday I sent out a few more:

6 postcards for postcrossing, 1 direct swap, and 1 personal

You're probably wondering how much this costs.  I really lucked out because both Borders and a store near my apartment are both closing down, so I was able to get a lot of postcards for very cheap (some were only 5 cents!).  The most I have ever spent on a stamp is 98 cents for a postcard going international (which is roughly 95% of them).  Personally, I think spending ~$1.50 a postcard isn't unreasonable because you receive a postcard back and you get to connect with someone else in the world.

Another question you're probably wondering is what to write on the postcard.  I normally write a quick introduction about myself, followed by either why I chose the postcard for that person (based on what is written in their profile), or a quick bit of trivia about San Francisco (all of the cards I send are from San Francisco, minus a few rare exceptions).  Most of the time I'll make the effort and try to find a postcard that the person would really like, but as in the case mentioned earlier, sometimes the requests are almost impossible.

I hope this post convinced you to at least check out Postcrossing.  If you're interested, feel free to check out my profile.  My username is sparklicacid.