graphitediaries
Pencils
Posts: 61
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Quebec
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Post by graphitediaries on Nov 26, 2021 16:37:26 GMT
So whilst writing my 60-odd holiday postcards last weekend, I finally hit my 2021 challenge of sending out 365 mailings in 365 days. By the time the year ends, I'll actually be a bit past 400, I assume. Not a bad challenge - quite an expensive one!
But I have an even better and more interesting couple challenges for 2022.
First of all, fully 50% of the things I sent out this year went to friends and family that I had addresses for, but from whom I've never received any mail. So next year I will focus on those who treat this as a mutual hobby (with the exception of people like my parents and grandma, who I know appreciate it even though they never reciprocate). So no more postcards to Uncle X and Cousin Y and Old Work Friend Z who probably don't even know where to buy stamps.
Second, I started Postcrossing, and I'm super excited about this! My goal will be to always have my postcrossing allocation maxed out for the duration of 2022. We'll see how many that adds up to!
So, no specific numeric goals for next year, just refocusing on mutual hobbyists.
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Post by sunshine2170 on Nov 26, 2021 21:42:26 GMT
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Post by Mia on Nov 27, 2021 14:13:01 GMT
Well done. I had started the year intending to write at least 365 letters this year... However, been waylaid by family and more recently, a bereavement. I should be able to hit 300 this year, excluding non-letters and the soon-to-be written Christmas cards. If I include those, then it will be over 365 nice items of post sent! I have been communicating online with some other postcrossers - one doesn't want to always have the full allowance sent because what if they want to write a postcard and there is no slot available? I know some people hold off towards 1st October because they want to send lots of cards on World Postcard Day. Then, there's the German postcrossers holding off now so they can send postcards in December - Deutsche Post are being very nice again: More information on that can be found on the Postcrossing Blog - www.postcrossing.com/blog/2021/11/26/postcrossing-deutsche-post-postcards-for-a-good-cause-2021
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graphitediaries
Pencils
Posts: 61
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Quebec
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Post by graphitediaries on Nov 27, 2021 18:19:20 GMT
I think it came out to around CAD 1000 just for the postage. Probably another CAD 1000 for the stationery!
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Post by Catida on Nov 28, 2021 13:28:08 GMT
Congratulations!
I used to do Postcrossing but when postage costs went up some years ago, I felt it wasn't worth it anymore. I enjoy reading more than just a "Have a nice day!", so lately I've focused on correspondence. I still take part on postcard exchanges sometimes, through swap-bot.com (another fun site for those who enjoy sending stuff through post, although I should warn that site has minimal monitoring). I usually choose ones with a writing prompt, so people will write more than just one sentence. I also take part on exchanges for mail art, like a decorated envelopes or hand painted postcards.
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Post by penguy on Nov 28, 2021 23:30:10 GMT
I used to do Postcrossing but found that just exchanging postcards wasn't really communicating. If you wanted post cards from far off places I think it would be fun. Also I always seemed to get addresses of people to write to from China and Russia. The Russian exchanges took forever and most of the time the Chinese individual either never got the postcard or didn't register when it came. I guess i still am registered but haven't participated in a year or more. What has been the experience of others of you?
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Post by ginny on Nov 29, 2021 17:10:03 GMT
I used to do Postcrossing but found that just exchanging postcards wasn't really communicating. If you wanted post cards from far off places I think it would be fun. Also I always seemed to get addresses of people to write to from China and Russia. The Russian exchanges took forever and most of the time the Chinese individual either never got the postcard or didn't register when it came. I guess i still am registered but haven't participated in a year or more. What has been the experience of others of you? I reckon it depends on what you're looking for, penguy - I agree that exchanging postcards alone might not be communicating, but sometimes that's just what you need, if that makes any sense.
I signed up again this year as I wanted some happy mail without further commitments, and Postcrossing is ideal for that. I'm not sure what will happen next year, though, as postage is going up again. As it is, there's no obligation to send a certain amount of cards to stay involved, so that's good - I might still send the occasional card just for fun, but will probably not invest all that much time and energy.
All the postcards I sent (admittedly, it wasn't all that many, maybe 25 or so?) were received and registered, and I received and registered the same amount, so for me, it worked out well. Countries I sent to included Taiwan, China and Russia, and I also received cards from there.
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Post by katiel on Nov 30, 2021 11:15:17 GMT
I used to do Postcrossing but found that just exchanging postcards wasn't really communicating. If you wanted post cards from far off places I think it would be fun. Also I always seemed to get addresses of people to write to from China and Russia. The Russian exchanges took forever and most of the time the Chinese individual either never got the postcard or didn't register when it came. I guess i still am registered but haven't participated in a year or more. What has been the experience of others of you? I actually enjoy Postcrossing, because of the noncommittal nature of it. If I have a free 20 minutes and feel like doing a little art, I’ll draw an address, do some watercolor art on the back of the postcard to match their interests (and I also enjoy picking out a card I think they’ll like), and then off it goes - someone gets happy mail in their mailbox, and I had fun making art-with-a-purpose. I can do it whenever I feel like it, and don’t feel pressured to do it when I don’t. To me, my favorite part is sending the cards. Receiving the cards is just an added bonus. My profile is pretty detailed, so I’ve gotten some truly awesome cards, that are amazing, that I’d never have known even existed otherwise. I also love seeing all the cool stamps from around the world. That said, I have had a few cases where a postcard has sparked a long conversation through the Postcrossing messaging system, that eventually led to becoming pen pals, which has turned out great so far (several years in, with several pals). I’ve had a few postcards go missing over the years, mostly to China, but I discovered that once I started printing out the Chinese address for the Chinese ones, nearly all of them reached their destination, and in half the time. A Chinese Postcrosser clued me in to this trick, because if the address has to be translated before delivery, it takes longer (it’s done by individual postal workers, not a machine, and sometimes they struggle with cursive), and the translation isn’t always accurate. Plus, they print the translated Chinese address on a big sticker that ends up covering a lot of the written side of the postcard (often covering much of the message and registration code). Russia (except to St.Petersburg and Moscow), India, and the Philippines always take ages, but they eventually get there. Italy is a craps shoot, most of mine to there never arrive. But overall, most of my cards get where they’re going. I enjoy it, but yeah, if you’re looking for meaningful conversation, rather than a few “Wow! That’s really cool!” moments, then I could see how it’s not for everyone.
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Post by Catida on Dec 1, 2021 12:53:44 GMT
katiel, That's good to know about chinese addresses! Thanks for sharing.
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Post by sunshine2170 on Dec 7, 2021 7:43:05 GMT
graphitediaries well I am going to try this but not going to put a number on it. I will just write and post and keep a log of what it cost and see how I go at the end of 2022. I might log it in my blog and keep track of it that way.
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Post by sunshine2170 on Dec 7, 2021 7:48:32 GMT
I’ve had a few postcards go missing over the years, mostly to China, but I discovered that once I started printing out the Chinese address for the Chinese ones, nearly all of them reached their destination, and in half the time. A Chinese Postcrosser clued me in to this trick, because if the address has to be translated before delivery, it takes longer (it’s done by individual postal workers, not a machine, and sometimes they struggle with cursive), and the translation isn’t always accurate. Plus, they print the translated Chinese address on a big sticker that ends up covering a lot of the written side of the postcard (often covering much of the message and registration code). Yep I also grab both addresses and print onto a sticker. Need the English version for Australia and the Chinese version for its destination. Also Russia does that as well
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graphitediaries
Pencils
Posts: 61
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Quebec
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Post by graphitediaries on Dec 9, 2021 17:38:50 GMT
I’ve had a few postcards go missing over the years, mostly to China, but I discovered that once I started printing out the Chinese address for the Chinese ones, nearly all of them reached their destination, and in half the time. A Chinese Postcrosser clued me in to this trick, because if the address has to be translated before delivery, it takes longer (it’s done by individual postal workers, not a machine, and sometimes they struggle with cursive), and the translation isn’t always accurate. Plus, they print the translated Chinese address on a big sticker that ends up covering a lot of the written side of the postcard (often covering much of the message and registration code). Yep I also grab both addresses and print onto a sticker. Need the English version for Australia and the Chinese version for its destination. Also Russia does that as well So far I have not had any Chinese addresses, but have had several Russian ones, and there was no Cyrillic address given to me when I requested the address - I assume this would be an option if the member had supplied it?
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Post by ginny on Dec 10, 2021 11:12:38 GMT
Yep I also grab both addresses and print onto a sticker. Need the English version for Australia and the Chinese version for its destination. Also Russia does that as well So far I have not had any Chinese addresses, but have had several Russian ones, and there was no Cyrillic address given to me when I requested the address - I assume this would be an option if the member had supplied it? Same here, graphitediaries, I haven't received any addresses in Cyrillic letters so far. However, given their format, I've always printed them out and stuck them on the postcard - I'm sure that was better than trying to write them out by hand. Some of the addresses contain of long rows of long words, and squeezing them onto the address section of a postcard can be a bit of a challenge. I felt that when I print them with the computer, they are at least legible
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Post by vertolive on Dec 12, 2021 21:29:58 GMT
I’m also a former Postcrosser. Now, if I find a fun postcard or just feel like sending out a “RZP” (Random Zany Postcard), it’s my regular pen pals that get them…
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Post by sunshine2170 on Dec 17, 2021 19:07:12 GMT
I love Postcrossing for the uniqueness of non committal postings and receiving gorgeous postcards from around the world. I am going to do the 365 challenge next year thanks to graphitediaries who posted his challenge. So I am taking recipients who would like to be on my list, you can pm me your address.
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