You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

I have set this thread up so we can discuss the website and our activities on Postcrossing. https://www.postcrossing.com/

Thanks to Peggy for telling us about it. It is a fantastic idea!

I signed up and my username is sarmor.

Great idea, this thread :)

My name is Pebbles84

Germany is an ideal country to send your first card to by the way, Sarah. It only takes a couple of days to get there, and then someone somewhere will get your address. If that's also not too far away, you'll get your first card within one or two weeks. On the other hand, if you send to Russia and you receive one from Russia, it can take up to two months! It's a test of patience in the beginning. At least, for me it was ;-)

I'm Kazen on Postcrossing - just got a couple of cards today, in fact. :)

I just bought some more stamps ;-)

But they are expensive! When I started postcrossing in 2010 it was 77 eurocents within Europe, and 95 outside Europe. It got slightly more expensive every year or half year and when I stopped early 2014 it was 1.05 for both inside and outside Europe. It got a bit too much... The new ones I just got are 1.15!

I guess you just have to limit how many you send. Although that will mean you receive less too.

I've just ordered some postcards through Moo - you get 15% off as a member of postcrossing.

Sarah wrote: "I guess you just have to limit how many you send. Although that will mean you receive less too."

Exactly, that's what I'm trying to do now :) You get more available slots for sending postcards the more you have sent, and I'm at 24 right now. I find it hard to limit myself sometimes ;-) Although I did the smart thing now and bought only 5 stamps!

Moo is also great for printing your own postcards :)

I feel really lucky that Japan has cheap postage - 70 yen (it feels like 70 cents US) for a postcard anywhere in the world. On the flip side I have a harder time finding cheap cards. :( Single cards sell for $1.50 US, but if you know where to look you can get tourist packs for less.

That's quite expensive for postcards indeed Kazen. Many of the fancier cards in shops here are around 1 euro, but tourists cards are cheaper, especially if you buy them in packs. You have to search for those though. And ordering online is cheaper too.

I have just signed up, my username is thebooklover.

Now I just need to get some postcards and some stamps.

For those of you that are already participating, do you think this is something a school class could do as a whole? I think the younger kids especially would like it.

I've come across school classes doing this together Kandice. Not sure how it's organized though. I guess the kids could take turns picking out and writing cards on behalf of the whole class. I think I also once came across a class that had a worldmap put up and added pins to the places they received cards from.

Love your name Lisa :D

I know this has nothing to do with Postcrossing, but there is a group here on Goodreads called The Post Card Exchange.

Peggy wrote: "I just bought some more stamps ;-)

But they are expensive! When I started postcrossing in 2010 it was 77 eurocents within Europe, and 95 outside Europe. It got slightly more expensive every year o..."

I just looked up stamp prices here at the moment (I haven't sent postcards overseas for a very long time). From memory, they were $1.10 then. Now? $2.75 per stamp!

Yikes Rusalka, that's ridiculous.

Thanks Lanelle! I had a look at it and it sounds fun :) Very similar to the postcrossing forum activities.

My first postcard is being sent to Russia! :)

Sarah, do you know happen to know what stamps we have to buy to send postcards abroad? Will our first or second class stamps be enough? It's been years since I last sent any overseas and the Royal Mail website has confused me a bit.

I just signed up as Romanfam.

I saw in the community guidelines section that it says to contact them if you want to register a school class. I guess there must be different parameters.

Last time I sent stuff abroad I went in to the post office but they were parcels. no idea about letters. I'm guessing Europe is cheaper to send to than the others.

Sarah wrote: "Last time I sent stuff abroad I went in to the post office but they were parcels. no idea about letters. I'm guessing Europe is cheaper to send to than the others."

Ok, thanks. Think it's probably best that I pop to the post office with it then.

This sound really cool. And the class experience you told, Peggy, makes me think that it could be a good experience with my kids to do it like a family thing. I'll do an account soon. Right now I'm on vacations, and I promised myself not to use the computer more than 30-40 minutes a day. :)
Thanks for sharing!

Rusalka wrote: "Peggy wrote: "I just bought some more stamps ;-)

But they are expensive! When I started postcrossing in 2010 it was 77 eurocents within Europe, and 95 outside Europe. It got slightly more expensiv..."

I think that is because there are less people using the post service now and that increase the costes per capita

I am the acting director of a Torah School and I am thinking this would be a terrific experience for the kids. Maybe all the grades, but especially the older ones.

Mariab wrote: "I think that is because there are less people using the post service now and that increase the costes per capita "

Completely agree. But for a tiny piece of cardboard, that does seem excessive (it's US$2.02 or 1.30 Pounds).

Oh that's cool with kids. I would have been all over this as a kid. School classes is a great idea.

Kandice wrote: "For those of you that are already participating, do you think this is something a school class could do as a whole? I think the younger kids especially would like it."

If memory serves they actually have special accounts so you can get everyone in your class an address at the same time - check out the FAQs. :D

"Mariab wrote: "I think that is because there are less people using the post service now and that increase the costes per capita "

I'm shutting up after this.

I found the real cause. Coincidentally an article on the CEO of the Australia Post just popped up on my twitter feed. In the last year they have cut over 2000 jobs, put up stamp prices again, and reduced Australian postal deliveries (no longer every day). Makes sense, as you say, postal demands are down.

However the CEO of Aus Post is paid $4.8 million per year. The Prime Minister is paid $507 000 per year as a benchmark. I think I have just found a way that Aus Post could lower stamp prices... Grrr.

I think it's the same here Rusalka. The 'real' postmen and postwomen have been exchanged for cheaper part-time delivery-people like students. Mail is no longer delivered on Monday, and all prices go up every year. I'm pretty sure the Dutch mail CEO also makes millions... I guess a lot of CEO's earn insane amounts of money, while the products they sell get more and more expensive because the companies don't make enough.

Sometimes it makes me so frustrated, that some people earn way more than they can ever spend and do not need to live comfortable lives, while on the other side of the world people die of hunger every day...


Anyway, I have cards travelling to Germany, China, Taiwan, Russia, Belarus, Portugal, Japan, USA and Ukraine. I've agreed with myself that I can send 10 per month maximum.

Ooo be interested to see what you get back!

It annoys reading somethings like this, Rusalka. It make sense that the postal service is being less used, but 4,8 millions for the CEO salary... that abusive.

Our Mail service was privatised. Prices went up and now bosses get the money rather than the government. it appears it's the same everywhere.

I went to the post office and post to Europe is the same price regardless of country. £1 per stamp. I bought some touristy postcards and they were only 35p each which I thought was good.

I agree with those who have said it will make a great family/class activity - I'd have loved it as a kid. it's a great way to keep non technology communication going but to learn about other cultures and be creative with what you write.

I remember having pen pals as a kid via the library :) it was so much fun! I had two pen pals..MaryKay and David..that is the only thing I remember about them though.

I think postal service in Canada has declined significantly over the last couple of years. There have been times when we didn't get mail delivered for a week only to learn that our delivery man had been on holidays and he wasn't replaced. Then, he was delivering mail in the evenings and on Sunday. It was just bizarre.

The postal service is a government agency so you'd think the government would support and promote it. But it's gearing up to reduce the amount of mail it generates. They have significantly reduced the amount of forms and statements that they send out. You can get them online. By 2016, they will no longer mail cheques. They want to deposit directly to your bank account. That will be interesting because many of those on welfare or employment insurance don't have bank accounts. Some of my clients have employees with no bank accounts.

Right now, it's $1.00 a stamp for delivery in Canada. $1.20 to the States, and $2.50 anywhere else in the world.

I think in the US the "forever" stamp for local delivery is $0.45 and the "forever global" is $ 1.20. Can anyone confirm?

There you go. Maybe Aus Post isn't that far out of the pricing range as I thought.

I just assume everything is more expensive over here, just because generally it is. Back in the box I go ;)

Postcrossing - how did postcrossing get on Goodreads? ;)
I've been very active on Postcrossing for a few years. But since becoming more active on Goodreads, I didn't sent anything anymore. If anyone is interested in what I sent and received; my usernames (yes I had 3 accounts!) are: ElsbethGM, Beth2673 & Varkentje (from that last one I don't use the email-adress anymore, so don't sent me any messages). I just looked at it again; it says that my son is 6 years old, he now is 9! So it has been 3 years since I sent loads of cards...
I still have loads of cards and stamps from that time (to sent) and maps full of received cards, sorted by country and state! I haven't looked at those in a while, either...

I sent my first card at the weekend. They haven't marked it as received yet. I hope they get it. Feeling impatient/excited about getting one back.

Hope it arrives soon Sarah!

The first 4 cards I sent were sent on Friday. I've had cards travel to Germany in only 2 days, but so far none of mine have been received either.

Sarah wrote: "I sent my first card at the weekend. They haven't marked it as received yet. I hope they get it. Feeling impatient/excited about getting one back."

I sent out my first postcard a couple of days ago too. It's going to Russia which could take quite a long time so I reckon I won't be receiving my first card for a little while.

You can have up to 5 cards on the way at any time if you want to :)

Peggy wrote: "You can have up to 5 cards on the way at any time if you want to :)"

I know. I decided to try and limit myself to only sending a couple of cards or so a month but I bet I won't be able to resist sending out more ;)

Peggy wrote: "You can have up to 5 cards on the way at any time if you want to :)"

I decided I need a bit more time between writing cards so I don't run out of ideas of what to write! I was tempted yesterday to send another one but I think I'll wait until I receive my first one.

Yay! My card to Portugal arrived!

My first card has been received. I've requested to send another and it's another Germany one.

Hopefully it won't be too long until you receive your first card now :)

when someone receives your card and sends you a message of thanks, do you ever reply back?

My second card arrived in Germany. I'm still waiting to receive one.

Wow, that's fast Sarah!

No, I generally don't send a message back, unless they ask me a specific question. And there have been some times when the thank-you message was so elaborate and someone was so happy with the card that it just made my day, and I sent a message back to tell them how happy I am that they enjoyed the card so much.

Some more of my cards arrived, to Ukraine, Japan, USA and Russia. The one to Germany is still travelling though, weird. I think I won't get a card back soon, when I quit postcrossing 1-2 years ago I ended up with 760 sent and 767 received, so I think some more of mine need to arrive before my address is given out.

I received a card today! It's from Spain and the sender wrote a lot, so I'm glad I started doing this again :)

That's great. I probably have two waiting for me at the post office. I am popping over in the morning to check. I hope so.

I got the two pastcards i was expecting. One came from Canada and the other, Florida. Now I'm going to be sending one to Russia.