I’m not postal worker but my postman (and my previous postwoman)remarked the amount of postcards because where I live it seems that people don’t receive postcards except for new year wishes and travel. When I explain about postcrossing they have stars in the eyes. I think seeing postcards makes them travel too, and it’s more fun than delivering blank administrative envelops 
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A mailman here!!
Yes, I do read all the postcrossing cards on my round and it’s actually how I discovered postcrossing!
I had a school on my previous round, which participated in postcrossing and it seemed weird they got so many tourist cards in December and January.
It stood out because Christmas cards are the ‘norm’ in these months.
It took a couple of weeks before an official postcard was in their pile of cards, and I finally discovered the source of their postcard joy!!
I had never heard of postcrossing before and was very curious, registered the same week and here we are. Still a happy postcrosser!!
We can’t read people’s mail actually, except postcards.
Often, addresses are wrong and we always try to deliver and there usually is no return adres. So, reading the card can be helpful to get it to the right address. In my case, I’m just a curious postcrosser and read all cards on my round😊
I did ask around with collegues and most of them never heard of postcrossing and usually wonder why this one address gets an abundance of cards. Most think it’s fun to deliver something else as bills, some think it’s a nuisance and just extra work!! Fortunately, the last category mailmen are rare!!
I recently started a new Mailroute in a different town and haven’t encountered a postcrosser yet. It’s not as common as you would think and in my own town, there are 3 postcrossers as far as I know.
Hope you have some insight and your questions answered!
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Well, thread carefull here because my long mailman toes are itchy now 
It’s usually the mail system itself and agreements on how to handle international mail that make up the travel time.
For example: every week, an airplane has international mail to Japan on board too be processed by Japanese mail.
Japanese mail does the same for our mail and processes incoming mail (almost) immediately!
In busy periods, it happens for international mail to be delayed for a few days or weeks.
National mail has always priority!!
For some countries, it’s only sent when a certain volume of mail is gathered and forwarded.
Some incoming mail from other countries is processed immediately.
Others, when a certain volume is achieved and some even when there’s just time to process it and doesn’t get a priority treatment.
This all depends on the treaties between the different Mailservices in each country. Basically, it has to do with the costs of processing.
It’s always about the money, isn’t it?
For us, the mailmen, we process immediately!
When it arrives at the mail center, we deliver the same day!!
It’s actually my pride to deliver everything that comes in daily! We are aware of the nuisance the mail system can be but are just the last step in a long chain of events. So, it’s always the mailman’s fault, regardless of the issue 
Please, be kind to your mailman because, he/she has no influence on it.
I hope this Addresses your inconvenience.
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We have already a topic where we talk about Anecdotes with your mail carriers - so please let postal worker have their say here and use the other topic to share your own experiences .
Of course we can also merge both topics to discuss more effectively.
What do you mean @InsomniaDoodles ?
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@schrizzo
If I understand you, National mail would get priority since they get paid for this. International postage goes to the country of origin, so for destination points it is just extra work for no money. Is this correct?
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Thanks!! Our Mailservices with Japan are very good considering the distance!
I hope it relieved you a little by knowing why mail from some countries takes longer.
March seemed to be a more busy month.
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The delivering country gets part of the postage paid by sender from that country; I think 1/3, but not certain?
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@Johnk60 @suncityrose
Here is a short video describing how countries are paid for delivering international mail
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Partially, a foreign mail service pays to process their mail in Belgium, depending on the contract it’s processed faster or slower.
Some countries don’t have a contract with Belgium and get lowest priority.
But the mail still gets processed if it gets to Belgium.
I assume you mean for the delivery by the mailman. In Belgium, every post-item has to be delivered the same day, regardless what it is or where it comes from.
It’s the volume of mail and parcels that makes a long work day or a short one.
In very busy periods, this sometimes requires overtime we aren’t paid for but in the other hand, we can leave our job when everything is delivered. And this happens more as overtime so I consider it rude from my colleagues to complain about it…
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What happens to delivery on a route when the carrier is absent?
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@Johnk60
Well that channel could be addictive. He almost talks faster than I can listen:ear:
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It’s taken care of by the collegues, we devide the mail over other mailroutes from the same town or area.
Each town has it’s designated number of mailroutes and everybody jumps in to get everything delivered.
Even on these occasions, we can deliver everything without making overtime actually.
The preparations for the Mailroute of the absent carrier is taken care of by our teamleaders, so we only need to take care of the delivery.
Fortunately, this doesn’t happen to often but everyone can get sick offcourse.
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I suppose the difference here is I am asking to speak to mail carriers directly about their experiences and opinions regarding Poscrossing, I’m not really asking people to tell me about experiences they have had with their own mail carriers. 
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This is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for! 
It brings me a lot of joy to know there’s at LEAST one mail carrier out there appreciating Postcrossing! I love that you read and enjoy the postcards on your route, too! It’s really nice knowing correspondence between strangers is getting that extra love. I can’t imagine anyone would have a problem with somebody reading what is written on a very not private postcard lol
Very cool insights from your perspective, thanks so much for sharing your experiences!
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I’m so glad that @schrizzo replied. I was going to tag him if he didn’t. 
Someone else who might be interested in sharing his experience: @dlagerwaard 
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A Canadian letter carrier here. I almost never check out a postcard when I’m sorting in the morning: just too rushed for time. This includes postcards sent to me (I deliver my own house!) I do glance at the stamps, though: interested to know where people are travelling. I’ve never seen mail for another postcrosser on any routes I’ve covered over the years; Ottawa and area has about 1 million people, and I estimate there are only about 100 active postcrossers (=logged in within 6 months). Mail art envelopes and beautiful calligraphy do gladden my heart, but these are very rare! - also love those parcels from abroad with dozens of stamps on them;-)
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Thank you @adriennefriend, I didn’t even know of this topic!
I work as a mailcarrier here in the Netherlands, have been doing so part-time for over 4 years now, combining it with my studies. I deliver by bike as is typical here, to give some backstory
Same as @schrizzo I learned about Postcrossing first from my job, I wondered what the little codes were at the top of the cards (also known to us Postcrossers as postcard ID’s ). They seemed so random and then my mom was talking about Postcrossing and I connected the dots. There are a few people in my area that do Postcrossing but as I only work part-time, I don’t have my own routes so I only come accross them randomly.
I typically try not to read what is on them but I do always admire the stamps (and be jealous of course 
) . I do the same with any letters or packages and look for interesting ones, the holiday season is coming and I already spotted some Christmas stamps!
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