Business and Careers Editor Vanshika Dhyani shares the joy of postcrossing
I treasure all the little reminders of my travels, and I save everything from boarding passes to peculiar stones. Naturally, when I first learned about postcrossing, I knew that I had to try it. Since April of this year, I have sent and received hundreds of postcards, each one more heartwarming than the last.
Postcrossing is a wholesome hobby where you get to know people all over the world through sending postcards back and forth. A website called postcrossing.com gives you the address of a person who has signed up to receive postcards. Once your postcard reaches its destination, a postcard from a different part of the world starts its journey towards you.
For every postcard you send, you get one back, albeit not from the same person.
The internet is laden with postcrossing communities. While Instagram is for the serious post-crossers looking for a strict barter system to complete their collections, Reddit communities like r/RandomActsofHappyMail and r/RandomActsofCards are better suited for newbies looking to meet people who love sending mail. On Reddit, you can even request cards for loved ones needing extra love, and you will have dozens reaching out to ask for an address.
I like to collect postcards from museums and national parks. Currently, I’m collecting postcards from all 50 states of the US - I have collected 15 so far. I also like to collect postcards featuring maps, angels and animals, which I mention to people that I’m exchanging postcards with. I find that postcrossers are very mindful about people’s preferences and try their best to accommodate individual likes and dislikes.
Postcrossing has fueled my passion for travelling. With every trip to my letterbox, I receive beautiful postcards and discover new places to travel.
If you like to travel and collect pre-souvenirs, you will love postcrossing.
People love to receive postcards from Ireland. It is on almost everyone’s bucket list, and there are not a lot of us in the postcrossing community. Storing postcards can be a bit of a hassle once you’ve collected the first 50. I like to store the special ones in photo albums and add the rest to scrapbooks. The postal cost of sending a single postcard internationally is €2.20, funnily enough, it also costs the same to send 3 postcards in an envelope. That is why you’ll find that most people like to send three or four in a shot!
Where to get postcards?
Sure, you can get a box off of Amazon, but I’d recommend against it. Touristy postcards are the way to go - Carroll’s has a great collection, and you can even find them in charity stops. I spotted a huge collection in the Dublin Vintage shop on Capel St. My favourite postcards to send are the ones illustrated by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Me and my postcrosser friends never get enough of his intricate and colourful Celtic Irish designs.
Where to start?
To get started, sign up for the website or make an exchange request on the subreddit. Grab yourself a few postcards and get writing! What to write? Write anything you want. I always write the date and the temperature on mine, what I’m getting up to and how things are going.
There are over 800,000 postcrossers, across 208 countries, waiting to send you mail!