Postcrossing

 

Why do I like postcrossing? 

I belong to kind of people that might be called nostalgic.

Through my proffesion, and hobbies, I fully embrace the advantages that modern technology offers me. I communicate daily with e-mail, instant messaging and SMS’s with people close and those less close to me. I google in search for photos I’m interested in. I meet new people through mIRC and social networks. 

Yet, I enjoy expecting the new mail (real one, not electronic). Nothing can replace the feeling of curiosity I have while openning my mailbox to get the colorful envelope out or the excitement while openning that envelope. Nothing can replace the stories about faraway lands that can be told only by handwritten postcards.

The wall besides my working desk is full of postcards with far places, some of which I might visit only in my imagination. Many came from people completely strange to me with whom I might share only one mutual love or passion, call it whatever you like it – postcrossing.

What is postcrossing?

The objective of postcrossing is to allow people to receive mail (not e-mail, but real snail mail) from random postcrossers somewhere in the world. Oh, and it’s absolutly free, meaning, if you send a postcard, you’ll receive one back. There’s no cheating, because all postcards can be tracked by their ID.

How does postcrossing work?

You only need to register and follow four simple steps:

1. request an address from the website
2. mail the postcard to the address
3. wait to receive a postcard
4. register the received postcard in the system

When someone registers a postcard you sent them, another random postcrosser will get your adress to send you a postcard. You then register it as a received postcard and the process goes on around the world.

You can also contact another member of postcrossing and ask for a swap. Most of the people interested in swapping will declare so in their profile’s page, although it’s not always the case. Just make sure that a person you plan to ask for a swap didn’t declare that they don’t want to swap, because if you send them a message anyway, you could be considered a spammer and deleted from a system.

You can find more information on postcrossing’s FAQ and about pages. I also like this article on BBC guides.

And more

My postcrossing profile can be found at:
http://www.postcrossing.com/user/jasmina

I made a goal to send 43 postcards through postcrossing on 43things.com.