Do tapes and stickers ruin postcards?

I’ve never seen an acid free postcard, I admit. Books, pens’ inks, but postcards… never. So, I suppose they are not intended to be preserved. :slightly_frowning_face:
Anyway, I receive from time to rime postcards in which my address is attached by completely covering a printed piece of sheet with transparent scotch tape… that is a nightmare, because I have books in which I attached the same tape and it turn an horrible brown and it’s also unbelievably sticky. :confused::confused::confused:

Depending from case to case. A sticker can make a lot of mess. Especially when the colour melt and dyed the card facing next to it.

I got several nice cards ruined because I didn’t remove them before. :sweat_smile: (when I was a newbie in Postcrossing)

Alot of work removing stickers and it’s time consuming. Some stickers are hard to peel off! And after peeling, there is glue residue. I put a transparent plastic sheet stick on that glue part. At least, keep the glue part away from sticking anything.

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I have cards from 2011 and they’re not ruined by glue yet.

When I send cards, I use archival ink water resistant ink, to avoid the address or number getting lost in transit (and preserves the message too)

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Yeah you’re right! I’m just stating my own preferences – in which case tapes do take away valuable space (when it comes to fully written reverse sides)!

The paper itself would also become especially brittle though… At least that’s what I’ve read online (and also what the uni library stuff has told us). Not claiming to be an expert! So your insight might be more valuable than mine.

I’ve always wondered whether self-adhesive stamps would be acid-free or not. Looks like they aren’t! In which case… the conclusion is that all of our stationery stuff is just for short-term things :frowning: Sad times!

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Yes, I also think this is true. Some of the books from our library has note like “if I’m broken, please tell the personell, don’t tape me” :smile: because library staff can take the broken book to book bindery or know if they already put it away.

Oh, and address labels are stickers too, or the sticker paper some members use to print the address. I think it will ruin the card too, if stickers, stamps and tape do :frowning:

(I have old postcards with old stamps from before my parents were born, and the stamps look good and are in place. I wish we too still had the gummed option, like Australia. And also otherwise I’d prefer them because they seem more valuable, like paper money, and not just sticker :blush: )

Also as a side note - if you are planning on keeping your postcards for a long time don’t hold bundles together with metal paperclips (they rust surprisingly quickly) or with elastic bands (they go sticky and disintegrate, fusing themselves to the paper) :slight_smile:

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I think that a lot of people are going against the spirit of postcrossing when they make demands like this. It is about connecting, not collecting. That is abundantly clear. So you shouldn’t dictate to someone else how they have to communicate with you or express themselves. Also, this idea that things should last forever is bonkers, in my mind.

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I agree with you. I really like to decorate the postcards I send. As you said, nothing lasts forever!

I use stickers and/or washi and/or glue on all of my outgoing postcards, unless the user specifically asks not for it to be used. If you are concerned, I would specify on your Profile if not already :slight_smile:

This was an interesting thread and I never even thought about the acidity of pens. To be honest, I have no problem not using washi or stickers if someome would prefer it, but I have no idea if my pens are acid free or not.
That gets into fine technicalities of paper/postcard preservation that, to be honest, if someone is really that concerned, I’m not sure Postcrossing is the right place.

There are occasionally the reminders on the bottom of profiles reminding us that PC is about connecting with other people and Not about collecting. For serious collectors, maybe there are other sites or it’s better to use direct Swaps on the forum.

At the end of the day, everything will be destroyed (except maybe plastic :thinking:), including postcards. If there are still vintage cards and papers that have survived 100+ years, maybe yours will too! Maybe with Stickers, maybe without. But nothing is guaranteed.

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