Postcrossing

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Postcrossing is an online project for people to exchange postcards with other project members globally. The project's tag line is "send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!"[1] The name Postcrossing is a union of the words postcard and crossing, and its origin "is loosely based on the Bookcrossing site".[2]

Members can get details of other randomly selected members to send a postcard to, then receive cards from other random members. Official exchanges between the two members occur only once, but unofficial ongoing swaps between members are possible. since June 2025Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., Postcrossing had almost 805,000 members in 209 countries and territories,[3] and over 82 million registered postcards had been exchanged.[4]

How it works

To be eligible to receive a postcard, a member must first send one. When a member requests to send a postcard they are given the address of another member and a unique postcard ID (e.g. US-787). They send a postcard to that address with the postcard ID displayed. Costs of postcards and postage fees are the responsibility of the user sending the card. When the recipient registers that postcard ID, the sender becomes eligible to receive postcards.[5] Each member can write profile text visible to the sender which can contain personal information and postcard preferences. The Postcrossing system allows two members to exchange postcards only once. By default, members will exchange postcards with countries other than their own but they can decide to exchange postcards with other users in their own country. Users can express a preference not to send to repeated countries but it does not guarantee that there will be no repetitions.

Initially each member can have up to five postcards traveling at a time. Once five cards are in transit they need to wait for a card to be registered as received before they can request another address. The limit increases as users build experience exchanging cards, up to a maximum limit of 100.[6] A small proportion of postcards do not get registered as received because they get lost en route, have an unreadable ID, or are received by members who are no longer active. The system attempts to adjust for these issues to reduce the difference between the number of sent and received postcards of each member.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Members

Membership is free and anyone with an address can create an account. The greatest numbers of members, known as postcrossers, are in Russia, Taiwan, and the United States.[7] Globally, most postcrossers reside in North America, Europe, and East Asia. since June 2025Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., about 42 % of the combined total of postcards were sent from Germany, the United States, and Russia.[4]

Countries with most users[7]a
Rank Country Users
1. File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia 113,504
2. File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan 111,799
3. File:Flag of the United States.svg United States of America 76,394
4. File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China 70,699
5. File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany 64,659
6. File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 35,313
7. File:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus 31,203
8. File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland 29,763
9. File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 24,202
10. File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic 21,597
11. File:Flag of France.svg France 18,336
12. File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 18,198
13. File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland 15,913
14. File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan 12,818
15. File:Flag of India.svg India 11,404
    
Countries with most sent postcards[7]
Rank Country Sent postcards
1. File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany 14,658,286
2. File:Flag of the United States.svg United States of America 10,645,139
3. File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia 9,208,635
4. File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 5,639,380
5. File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland 4,574,889
6. File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China 3,386,761
7. File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan 3,222,067
8. File:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus 2,977,419
9. File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan 2,113,586
10. File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic 2,029,619
11. File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland 1,778,568
12. File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 1,723,451
13. File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 1,691,366
14. File:Flag of France.svg France 1,643,651
15. File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada 1,472,870

<templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^a Table last updated June 17, 2025

History

Postcrossing was created by Paulo Magalhães. It was initially a hobby based on his enjoyment of receiving postcards:[8] "The element of surprise of receiving postcards from different places in the world (many of which you would probably never have heard of) can turn your mailbox into a box of surprises–and who wouldn't like that?"[9] He started the website on July 14, 2005, hosted at his home on an old computer in a clothes closet. The project rapidly grew internationally, initially via word-of-mouth then promoted by media attention.

The millionth Postcrossing postcard was received on April 11, 2008.[10][11] The project's popularity continued to accelerate, reaching two million in February 2009.[12] The five millionth postcard was received in August 2010,[13] shortly after the project's fifth anniversary,[14] and the 10 millionth postcard was registered in January 2012.[15] since 2025Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., approximately one million postcards are registered every two or three months, passing the milestone of 80 million postcards received on January 7, 2025.[16]

File:Postcrossing Stats (July 2005–May 2025).png
Postcards exchanged per month[4]

Postcard Milestones

Million Date Time (UTC) From To Postcard
1[10][11] April 11, 2008 3:03 pm File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania TR-8482
2[12] February 26, 2009 6:34 am File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway DE-292437
3[17] September 24, 2009 4:09 pm File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia FI-637138
4[18] March 28, 2010 10:14 am File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands CZ-48446
5[13] August 24, 2010 7:14 pm File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand IT-98823
6[19] December 30, 2010 12:03 pm File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany ES-97547
7[20] April 19, 2011 6:59 pm File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands CN-357628
8[21] August 2, 2011 11:28 am File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan FI-1149781
9[22][23] November 3, 2011 5:13 am File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia CN-450151
10[15] January 27, 2012 4:56 pm File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany JP-232027
11[24][25] April 3, 2012 8:04 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland US-1615550
12[26] June 12, 2012 6:28 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands US-1710034
13[27] August 22, 2012 5:08 am File:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia HK-45392
14[28][29] October 25, 2012 8:52 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Honduras (2022-).svg Honduras NL-1464473
15[30] December 31, 2012 1:46 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy DE-1800737
16[31][32] March 4, 2013 7:21 am File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia UA-487482
17[33] May 1, 2013 12:20 am File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia RU-1658153
18[34] July 3, 2013 6:57 am File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan FI-1791281
19[35] September 2, 2013 9:56 am File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany UA-737378
20[36] October 29, 2013 5:49 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan US-2449004
21[37] December 23, 2013 10:54 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy NL-2232945
22[38] February 17, 2014 3:03 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland NL-2339217
23[19][39] April 10, 2014 10:47 am File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia DE-3043747
24[40] June 8, 2014 12:40 pm File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan LV-150063
25[41] August 10, 2014 11:02 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany NL-2612179
26[42][43] October 10, 2014 3:36 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong US-3009516
27[44] December 7, 2014 2:05 am File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan JP-612910
28[45] February 5, 2015 7:13 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany NL-2863567
29[46][47] April 2, 2015 4:04 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands Template:Country data U.S.A. NL-2930266
30[48] June 2, 2015 12:27 am File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal DE-4221494
31[49] August 5, 2015 11:39 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines NL-3078076
32[50] October 6, 2015 6:40 pm File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania Template:Country data U.S.A. RO-109708
33[51] December 5, 2015 11:37 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan NL-3242698
34[52] February 4, 2016 7:41 pm File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany FI-2619857
35[53] March 31, 2016 11:49 pm File:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong Template:Country data U.S.A. HK-407034
36[54] May 31, 2016 6:34 pm File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Template:Country data U.S.A. CN-1943122
37[55] August 2, 2016 7:08 pm File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia Template:Country data U.S.A. RU-4866496
38[56] October 4, 2016 4:09 pm File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands Template:Country data U.S.A. NL-3579375
39[57] December 7, 2016 7:56 am File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan Template:Country data U.S.A. TW-2105862
40[58] February 13, 2017 6:39 am File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan File:Flag of France.svg France TW-2118751
41[59] April 17, 2017 10:46 am File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan CZ-1159412
42[60] June 28, 2017 6:15 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany US-4715663
43[61] September 2, 2017 2:23 pm File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany CN-2281671
44[62][63] November 7, 2017 10:46 pm File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia File:Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica RU-6019041
45[64][65] January 16, 2018 6:26 pm File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia AU-590448
46[66][67] March 20, 2018 6:00 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia DE-6951547
47[68][69] May 28, 2018 8:03 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan US-5301280
48[70][71] August 7, 2018 3:47 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand US-5456394
49[72] October 16, 2018 1:32 am File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia Template:Country data U.S.A. RU-6804601
50[73] December 27, 2018 7:13 pm File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia IL-60207
51[74] March 4, 2019 10:56 am File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia File:Flag of France.svg France SI-174914
52[75] May 13, 2019 5:47 am File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia RU-7247664
53[76] July 25, 2019 5:25 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden US-6129158
54[77] October 7, 2019 5:27 pm File:Flag of France.svg France File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia FR-1208264
55[78] December 18, 2019 4:56 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium DE-8811634
56[79] February 28, 2020 11:49 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia NL-4570321
57[80] June 5, 2020 7:15 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia DE-9251821
58[81] August 28, 2020 9:17 am File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany CZ-1723155
59[82] November 10, 2020 8:51 pm File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany TW-3064528
60[83] January 24, 2021 10:17 am File:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia BY-2711325
61[84] April 1, 2021 12:57 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China NL-4843833
62[85][86] June 8, 2021 12:01 am File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Template:Country data U.S.A. CN-3120100
63[87] August 18, 2021 07:12 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan US-7750150
64[88] October 26, 2021 1:07 pm File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany FI-4039073
65[89] January 4, 2022 8:39 pm File:Flag of France.svg France File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary FR-1467922
66[90] March 9, 2022 7:44 pm File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands FI-4130313
67[91] May 25, 2022 1:11 pm File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China File:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus CN-3322046
68[92] August 10, 2022 6:13 pm File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany SK-278899
69[93] October 22, 2022 7:18 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany US-8785398
70[94] January 4, 2023 11:36 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. Template:Country data U.S.A. US-9001590
71[95] March 14, 2023 12:32 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia DE-12712886
72[96] May 28, 2023 1:36 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom DE-13026949
73[97] August 12, 2023 7:35 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany DE-13280232
74[98] October 25, 2023 7:35 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany US-9786292
75[99] January 8, 2024 3:13 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia DE-13658011
76[100] March 18, 2024 8:32 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom US-10179025
77[101] June 6, 2024 8:58 am File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland DE-14252655
78[102] August 16, 2024 12:46 pm File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany File:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Bosnia-Herzegovina DE-14335070
79[103] October 27, 2024 8:52 pm File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany AU-960950
80[16] January 7, 2025 2:32 am File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany NL-5891077
81[104] March 18, 2025 5:50 pm Template:Country data U.S.A. Template:Country data U.S.A. US-11216678
82[105] June 3, 2025 2:20 am Template:Country data U.S.A. File:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Bosnia and Herzegovina US-11400700

Postcrossing-themed stamps

The first Postcrossing-themed stamp was released by PostNL in 2011. Since then more than a dozen countries' postal services have followed suit and some released multiple Postcrossing-themed stamps.[106][107][108] The majority of the stamps have been launched in partnership with the Postcrossing community but some "unofficial" stamps displayed the Postcrossing trademark without approval of the Postcrossing organization.

List of official Postcrossing stamps

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Stamps officially backed by the Postcrossing community are posted on the Postcrossing blog:[106]

World Postcard Day (October 1st)

On October 1, 2019, Postcrossing organised global events to celebrate the postcard's 150th anniversary. Events included postcard exhibitions, special cancellations marks, postcard writing workshops and seminars, commemorative postcards and special stamp issues.[109] Postcrossing organised an exhibition at the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) headquarters in Bern, with postcards from across the world sharing messages about the importance of postcards.[110]

Following the success of these events, in 2020, Postcrossing launched World Postcard Day.[111] Commemorative postcards and special cancellation marks were issued to mark the day.[112] A commemorative postcard for the event was chosen in a competition for design and art students. Special events included online postcard exhibitions, postcard writing workshops and online meetings.[112] A lesson plan was created in eight languages to help teacher introduce postcards to young children in schools. Further events have been held annually since 2020.[113]

See also

References

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External links

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