Post cards

[Rusty Blade]

Yesterday, as I was staring aimlessly out the window having my morning coffee, it occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I received a post card in the mail. You know the kind -- the cheesy picture of Niagra Falls with the handwritten note on the back --

"Dear Rusty, hope your cold is getting better. Check to see if I turned off the light in the basement. We arrived safe and sound. Aunt Margie was car sick on the drive. The motel pool is very nice. Took a ride on the Maid of the Mist, got soaked wet. Wish you were here!
Love, hugs and kisses,
Pookie."

I think the last post card I received was in the 1980s. Such a great form of communication. I guess they have been replaced by the text message. I can remember my mother had a stack of neat postcards she collected over the years. A time capsule of life. When was the last time you received a post card?

 

[Legion]

Yeah, the last one I got or sent was in the 80's.

I guess people got funny about the mailman reading their post. But I think it needs to be rekindled. Cheesier picture the better.

 

[wazabees]

Yesterday, as I was staring aimlessly out the window having my morning coffee, it occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I received a post card in the mail. You know the kind -- the cheesy picture of Niagra Falls with the handwritten note on the back

There is something fun about receiving postcards. I was actively using Postcrossing for a long time, and it was a lot of fun. I got postcards from all over the world. It does require you to send out postcards yourself, but that's part of the fun. Check it out and make your mailbox happy.

Postcards connecting the world - Postcrossing

A postcard exchange project that invites everyone to send and receive postcards from random places in the world. For free!

www.postcrossing.com

Edit: Here are two postcards I got from Ukraine in 2014.

 

[HazMat Shaver]

I trade a type of postcard often. In the Ham Radio world, we call it a QSL Card. If I talk to someone in the world at a location I've never talked to I send him my card and he will return the favor. I have cards from 238 different locations or Entities. all 50 states and a lot of different countries and islands. I will post a few pics of some I received...

And here is mine...

 

[desrgrl]

I can remember my mother had a stack of neat postcards she collected over the years. A time capsule of life. When was the last time you received a post card?

Thanks. Neat thread idea.

Postcards were more common when I was a kid (70s/80s) but still stuck around, mostly as a tourist thing. When I moved to Ottawa in 2000, for the first few years I'd send postcards from time to time (being the Nation's captial, there were places selling them in a lot of places, and a really nice, and large, selection). At the time, I felt a bit guilty for not sending proper letters. I haven't done that since maybe mid 2000s, but I still would sent he occassional card, and post card. Last time was probably mid 2000s.

When I was a kids, a school friend became part of a post card chain. Mom didn't want me to do it, because she said it was a pyramid thing that would die out and I probably would get less than they say (you send out five on a list, and put your name on the list, and then it is supposed to be on the next people's list, etc.). I told her even if I just got one or two it would be fun, so she let me (I was probably 9 or 10)... I ended up with about 30 I think. I'm a bit of a 'keepsake' person, so I kept a lot of correspondence over the years. I finally paired it down to one shoe box, and I do have a few still in that box. I have a few mom kept. Mom and Dad lived in Portugal for a few years in the 50s (well before my arrival) and I have one her friend from Portugal sent. Older postcards can be really interesting, as not all are just a picture. This one has actual embroidery done on the card to highlight parts of the costumes a dancing couple were wearing.

I've told myself that now I've moved into a nicer, bigger home (still pretty modest, but the last place was a two bedroom with a housemate that was about 800sq foot. I'm in a townhouse now, three bedroom, same roommate with a mutual friend added in as well. Sorry, I digress. Point being, I have some nice vintage pens, nice stationary, some cute ink stamps... and when I packed them up, I told myself 'use them or lose them', so I haven't got everything unpacked, but when they are, I have to be writing again, or passing along the supplies. I think postcards would be a nice short way to start.

 

[desrgrl]

I trade a type of postcard often. In the Ham Radio world, we call it a QSL Card. If I talk to someone in the world at a location I've never talked to I send him my card and he will return the favor. I have cards from 238 different locations or Entities. all 50 states and a lot of different countries and islands. I will post a few pics of some I received...

View attachment 1441292View attachment 1441293View attachment 1441295View attachment 1441297

And here is mine...
View attachment 1441298

Very neat. I met a military cadet and he told me how they would trade base/camp badges with each other when they did training at different bases. I like how people like the sense of being connected to the people and places that mean something to them.

 

[desrgrl]

Check it out and make your mailbox happy.

Postcards connecting the world - Postcrossing

A postcard exchange project that invites everyone to send and receive postcards from random places in the world. For free!

www.postcrossing.com

Edit: Here are two postcards I got from Ukraine in 2014.

Thanks! I've bookmarked the page. I might just do that. It looks fun.

 

[desrgrl]

I'm still a bit of a collector/hoarder of digital stuff, because it doesn't take up physical room. I had a collection of pictures of vintage postcards, that I can't seem to locate at the moment, but I did find the file that had some of the shaving ephemera, so thought I'd drop in the 'trade card' as they were know.

 

[Rushman2112]

Sending postcards when on your holidays used to be obligatory when I first started working - "weather here, wish you were lovely" or some such jokey message. It's a bit sad that it's pretty much died out, much the same as birthday cards, people just post birthday greetings on Facebook, but maybe it's more environmentally friendly??

 

[razorboi]

Whenever I go travelling on my summer hols, I still send the folks back home a few picture-postcards. They're getting harder to find these days, as are the post boxes to put them in!

 

[Rusty Blade]

Sadly, the death of the lowly postcard as part of our culture and tradition is just another win for technology. But you cant keep a text greeting in a shoebox and show it to your children in later years to reminisce, and you can't post a Facebook birthday greeting on the fridge with a magnet so you can look at the pretty card when you walk by. Yes, I think we have lost something. Next time I go to the drugstore I'm going to look for postcards. I even used to buy them just as a keepsake, a souvenir.

 

[Doc4]

I guess people got funny about the mailman reading their post. But I think it needs to be rekindled.

"Dear Mary, having a great time, wish you were here. How are things going with your plan to slowly poison your mailman with arsenic envelopes?"

 

[TinyTim]

I have a set of animal-picture postcards that I send weekly to my grands, ages four and six. I write a brief message, something like, "I hope you are having lots of fun this week. You are doing so well in school and learning many new things. I love you and miss you."

 

[Fred D]

I trade a type of postcard often. In the Ham Radio world, we call it a QSL Card. If I talk to someone in the world at a location I've never talked to I send him my card and he will return the favor. I have cards from 238 different locations or Entities. all 50 states and a lot of different countries and islands. I will post a few pics of some I received...

View attachment 1441292View attachment 1441293View attachment 1441295View attachment 1441297

And here is mine...
View attachment 1441298

I have a box full of those, every one of them is precious.
I did have many from the 1970's also, but unfortunately they were lost.

 

[BigLeegr]

As said, I think technology did away with the post card enthusiasm. You can take a digital pic of where you are (with yourself and others in it) and email it to whomever. No cost for the post card nor the stamp.
I got a bunch of postcards at a yardsale. Never used. They have pictures of touristy locations in Europe like Bavarian castles and "modern" hotels from the 60's and 70's that proudly proclaim they have color tv's in every room! I send them out every so often saying "Never been here!" Just something to receive in the mail.

 

[Henry Green]

I trade a type of postcard often. In the Ham Radio world, we call it a QSL Card. If I talk to someone in the world at a location I've never talked to I send him my card and he will return the favor. I have cards from 238 different locations or Entities. all 50 states and a lot of different countries and islands. I will post a few pics of some I received...

View attachment 1441292View attachment 1441293View attachment 1441295View attachment 1441297

And here is mine...
View attachment 1441298

That’s so cool!

 

[KW Driver]

I sent one from another country to mom for giggles in '15. but yeah, it's got to be a tourist setup to even find one these days it seems.