Recently I realize that sending postcards to China from Germany takes a really long time or just got lost because of local corona policy. Since I’m a Chinese myself (while living in Germany), and I have some friends in China to help me send cards and write the words that I want to write, can ask my friend in China to send those cards with a Germany card-ID to those addresses in China? Or if this kind of behavior is not recommanded? I want to do this because it’s really frustrating to see my card get lost.
Hello @onehydrogen
Welcome to the forum.
Please don’t do that!
When you signed up for Postcrossing, you agreed to abide by the guidelines, and that includes not giving out addresses to other people.
Keep private information private.
The addresses given to you are private information and can only be used for Postcrossing purposes. Do not share them with anyone or make them public on the internet. This also applies to what is written on the postcards you have received, so please do not scan it.
Cards get lost - we all have that problem.
Cards will also get lost on their way to you, even if you don’t know about it.
8 Likes
Ah. I forget about this. Thanks for the info.
1 Like
As the recipient I would feel cheated to get a card with a German Id, that just travelled within China.
4 Likes
Maybe you can switch on the vacation travel mode, take a day holiday to a nearby country like Austria, draw some names & mail from there? I dont know if their mail is any faster but maybe
Mail from Austria is more expensive, but not really faster, for the problem ist the Chinese postal service. They are slow in general, they may have a high rate of employees with Corona and they still disinfect all incoming mail. That takes time. And there are still very strict lockdowns in parts of China.
Deutsche Post recommends to put a priority,sticker on your mail.
4 Likes
I did this recently when on holiday in Morocco. I live in Australia. The person I sent to appreciated the postcard and stamps. My postcard arrived very quickly too.
I’ve also found a lot of old European postcards from my travels in the 1980s. I recently sent one of Crete to Christmas Island.
The senders aim is to avoid sending the card from Germany, but to have it sent by someone else from within China to make it travel faster.
Your Suggestion would make things more complicated and taking longer, for Deutsche Post usually does not cancel the mail at the post office but at the logistics center and the pictorial cancellations are usually only available at the Stempelstellen in Weiden or Berlin. So you would have to send the card to Weiden or Berlin, tell them how and with which stamp it should be cancelled. Ask them to return the card to you. And then you put the card into another envelope to send it to your friend in China, who has to put it in another envelope to send it to the addressee.
1 Like
So your idea is to send a stack of cards with German Stamp and German cancellation to the friend in China so that they can send them from there in an envelope to the recipient. That would work, but it would still disappoint me as recipient and it still violates the rules, for you may not give addresses to someone else.
Hmm I feel like it is not worth continuing our discussion. Have a good weekend xD
P.s. The card will still be written on, by the script given by the sender, then the friend can copy the text and address and ID onto the card, and like I said, consent from the receiver needs to be received before doing so. But whatever lol, the cancellation part is another problem so it is not viable.
2 Likes
I don’t think any user in China wanna receive a card from China as they use PC for exchanging cards and stamps with foreign country.
Just think it if it‘s yourself⋯
3 Likes
Yes I think we can end this disscussion now. Since it’s the policy that I’m not allowed to share the address with other people, and I don’t see a way that this can be done without violating the rule, I will still send from Germany by myself, and not ask my friend in China to do that.
But it still worth pointing out that currently the lost rate/ postcard travelling time is unusually high in China. It seems that outgoing cards are not so affected. Hope Chinese post 中国邮政 can do something about it.
1 Like