I think I told a person once.
I have received a card from the US that arrive in two peaces. Deutsche Post put them both in a plastic bag and it was delivered to me. I told the sender how happy I was to have received the card given what had happend.
Otherwise I do not need to mention it. I don’t know the person on the other side and do not like to upseet someone by writing this. Sometimes people do not understand a written message the way it was meant to. For example I once recieved a message from a new member asking whether her card has arrived and if so if I could please register it. I wrote back I am sorry it has not and that I always register cards immediately. She sent one message back where she was very upset and said sorrry she asked.
So what if I write someone about the card arrived demaged. I do not want the sender to feel bad and to thing I blame them for this. I try to write polite but I never know how the sender might understand my message. The sender did what he had to do - send a postcard. There are always risks on the way. That is what makes it fun to me.
I see your point also. I am just so sensitive person so I feel bad if the card I send is damaged, And if the person who receive it mention about it, I feel like he/she wants me to know because it have felt bad to receive damaged card. So lots of awkward thoughts I don´t want anybody to feel. But I quess in some cases it would be ok/good to mention the damages, just lot to think about how to sugar it nicely. I use waterproof pen to minimize the damages. Once I received card all the text was washed away, now I don´t remember what I replied in my Hurray message - I felt it was funny, I tried to imagine where the card was swimming sure it´s not good to lose the message.
I’ve received quite a few heavily damaged postcards throughout the years, both officials and via RR, tags etc, but I’ve never mentioned it to the sender. I don’t want anyone to feel disappointed because their card had a rough journey, and I definitely don’t want anyone to feel like they should send me another card (because that’s what I’d do if someone would tell me that my card to them was badly damaged). And it’s not a problem to me. Bad things happen to postcards, I find amazing that they even make it while travelling for half the planet - getting some wear and tear is part of the adventure they embarked on to reach my little corner of the world.
I usually don’t mention damaged cards in my hurrah messages, but sometimes I mentioned in a P.S. when the card got wet and the pen was not waterproofed or when I thought that a 3D-Sticker caused damage on the card.
I agree. I probably wouldn’t send another one either. The only exception MIGHT be if I had a duplicate of the card I sent them. Then I would probably consider it.
I’ve found that the post office might be damaging them during the sorting process, and I’ve not complained because I can still admire them and register them
I guess The only case that this information worth being told is whem you arranged a direct swap for a maxicard and The stamp gone on The way - that’s happened several time to me and it thought me that i’ll never send a maxicard without an envelope or at least plastic cover on it. However The receive asks to get a ‘travelled’ card - without an envelope and with all The road marks. Because a person expects a maxicard so The maxicard is to be delievered. And a stamp can be torn off The card by occasion or by collector-postman=))
I once mailed a “replacement “ postcard to a postcrosser when they uploaded the picture of the damaged postcard they received. I didn’t have the same postcard but I mailed a similar type of postcard. The damaged postcard picture is still on my wall. I like it. I like to see the postcard journey. Recently, I offered another postcrosser a “replacement “ postcard when they mentioned the postcard was torn. This postcrosser said they like the damaged postcards. I agreed with them. And then, they asked me if I wanted a postcard from them. How magical is that!
I have a few slightly damaged cards but so far I haven’t notified anyone as none of them have been serious. Slightly damaged stamps, a little bit of wear and tear - if I can read all the text, then that’s fine!
I would only notify if it was torn entirely in pieces/half, or if it was drenched in water.
Actually, I received a non-postcrossing swap once that had clearly been water damaged despite a very short trip. The outside of the box had been written on and the pen wasn’t waterproof… but man, the inside of the package must have been sealed to PERFECTION as I could only tell by the pen having bled a bit!
I only mention the damage in passing if it’s particularly severe (for example, if the postcard ripped in two and I only got the half with my address and the message from the sender is missing). Everything else, I just consider it the normal wear and tear from travel.
I’m honestly a little amused by the rare times this happens. I save what’s left over as an example of how the postal system could go terribly wrong.
I’m coming up on my second anniversary with Postcrossing and I received 280 cards. Only one of them was damaged. It really didn’t bother me because it’s part of the journey.
The damage, usually USPS’s bar codes, makes it impossible for me to read the postcard ID. A few weeks ago, I got a card with a red and a black USPS barcode over ID. The sender only wrote it once, so I had to ask for help. When I registered the card, I mentioned how USPS put the barcode over the ID.
I couldn’t read the Sender’s name because their country’s postmark covered it. They wrote something like “My name is Postcrosser” and the postmark covered their name, so my thank you message said, “Hello! (I’m sorry I can’t read your name - postmark covered it.) Thank you …” I just didn’t want the sender to think I was rude. I loved the card.
Both of those little things happen a lot and don’t bother me. For the first one, I just want to help the Admin Team not have to look up IDs all the time.
A friend of mine told me that you could file a complaint with the Postmaster General. I don’t know how exactly you would go about doing that but maybe you could Google it or call them.
And I know exactly how frustrating that is.
sure it´s not good to lose the message.