Hey 
Maybe you’d like to have a small insight?
I did read a bit along in the “Postcards for a good cause” talk session at the forum and mostly are saving their slots (mostly users with a very high number of postcards they can send at the same time, are saving all their slots since roundabout mid of October) for December 1st. Some people are going to write (according to them) 25 postcards tomorrow on Dec. 1st. And of course they will max out their available slots, because of the “Stiftung Lesen” (in English it would mean something like ‘foundation of reading’). But I don’t know - except for the ‘satisfaction’ of the Postcrossing team - why they are all writing by saying ‘okay, let me drive myself crazy bc I just want to write as many postcards as I could write. Private life’s at 2nd place - writing postcards at the first.’ For me it doesn’t make any sense. Yeah, it is fun. But: You could also donate to this foundation on their official website. I mean the sum of donation/card is about 0,09 GBP/~0,1 USD.
So I don’t get this hype. But I don’t wanna take them the joy! It’s a hobby and they should do it with fun.
I just lost my Russian streak 
I quite enjoyed the monotony and the longer travel times 
I guess I can send some Christmas cards then! 
I don’t use the repeated countries option, but find it okay that I have more than one card traveling to some busy countries; not only Russia and USA, but also the Netherlands, Finland, Japan etc. But at the moment I am flooded with addresses from Russia. I have 33 cards traveling, and since this morning I have 12 (3 expired cards) traveling to Russia. This is more than one third and I don’t find that funny. I could easily do with a bit more variety.
Got adresses for the first time since I wrote this, even if I knew perfectly well I had it off, it was so weird not to get Germany/USA! (as it often happens even when off. I have one DE one US travelling since two weeks ago. Two DE arrived already!).
I have checked it. And also travel to my own Country. On December I picked 74 adresses. 4x Germany 70x USA.
I hoped I can send more cards to my own country like last year. But its ok with the US.
Did you know the reason why there are so many to the States? Would be interesting
I’m asking myself that same question. I’ve got 18 travelling to the US at the moment - without repeated countries. I expected to get mostly Russia as someone has to send the cards the US (and some others) can’t send there, but I have “only” 10 going there. Curious …
Update: It seems like whatever backlog was there in Germany has been relieved, or at least the bag with my cards. Within the past couple of days, the rest of my German cards from the first of November were registered. Over a month for them all…surprising!
I always had repeated countries off but last night clicked it on to see what would happen. It gave me 7 USA addresses in a row! Clicked it back off for one more and got Germany lol.
i have an absurd theory and i don’t know if i can explain it well 
presuming that many german postcrossers used almost all their slots on wpd meetups, could it be possible that if you have repeated countries off and you draw your addresses in days like 2nd and 3rd october you get less german addresses because all the postcards sent from those meetups are not registered yet so those senders’ addresses won’t be given?
maybe it could work for russia too
It is an interesting thought. The system gives a lot of addresses “in advance” though. My address is regularly given out even for the postcards that are still travelling even when I have only 1 more sent than received (so instead of going out once, my address goes out like 20 times because I have 15 cards travelling). You could test your theory next year!
You are lucky! I am still waiting for my many cards to Germany to be received and registered.
Activating repeated countries affects where you send, not where you receive from
Do you think it depends on how many cards you have travelling? I never thought of that. I am one of those who receives lots “in advance” but I thought it was random. In fact I am almost sure it is random because my address is often given out 10-15 times in one day but most of the time I don’t have that many cards travelling, usually 5-8 at one time. Also, people in the biggest countries like Germany and US don’t seem to have a lot of this “in advance” phenomenon. It happens to us in “smaller” countries because, I think, the algorithm skips a lot of addresses because people don’t have “repeated countries” (and “send to own country”) on. So let’s say someone is requesting addresses without “repeated countries”, the algorithm skips German Guy 1, German Girl 2, Germany Guy 3 and German Girl 4 and comes to your address, so the sender gets you. Over and over. I guess it doesn’t explain the high numbers of “in advance” cards but it is definitely affected in that way at least in part.
Not sure I understand you correctly, but I have had more cards received by me than my sent cards received by others a few times, sometimes, a gap of as many as 7 cards. Honestly, I am initially disappointed at receiving those cards feeling thoughts of frustration “Why aren’t they registering my sent cards?”
Yes, I believe the number of cards “in advance” is related to the number of travelling cards from you. That is my experience. If I am sent roughly 30% more than I should need, maybe the percentage can be a bit higher if you are from rarer country? 
Do you send in batches (I wait until all my travelling cards are received before I send another batch) or continuously? That can surely affect the numbers as well.
Yes, I think this is true too. I am often near the maximum of travelling cards, with 28, 29 or even 30 cards travelling at once. When I went just 1 card more sent than received, my address could be given out up to 20 times. My husband, on the other hand, sends far fewer cards, and usually only has a handful of cards travelling at any one time. When he goes 1 over, his address is only given out 7, 8 or 9 times. @elikoa
@hankadl and @Florallle this is interesting and I will start paying attention to it! I noticed last time I received a batch I was only sent 7-8 on the same day and that’s low compared to usual but I started to go inactive within hours of being due one card, otherwise I get 15+ at once and it takes me months to catch up.
I usually send 2-3 cards every weekend so I guess small frequent batches, but I’ve been a lot more erratic in the last few months - so it could be 5 one weekend and then nothing for 3-4 weeks.
@Johnk60 You can read all about it here:
Where we talk at length of when we receive so so so many cards It’s a long thread so get comfortable 
And yes, sometimes I had 10-12 more received than sent and it can take 2-3 months for 10-12 of my cards to be received, so it all goes in waves.
Deutsche Post says for months now, they have many employees on sick leave, while the unions blame the new working time model for the problems. However, before Christmas Deutsche Post always hires a lot of seasonal workers. Maybe that soöved the backlog for now.
I wish things would be just a truly ‘first in first out’ method, with repeated countries removed and sending to your own country required. Much more fair, imo.
Wouldn’t that also mean you could send to same person many times and/or the one to whom you sent, can send to you. (Now it only happens with multiple profilers.)
Edit. Could it also mean you send to yourself, if you are first in line to get a card, and you draw an address - so you get your own address 