Hello. I am new to PostCrossing.
Do people truly get upset/disappointed if the postcard sent only has a global stamp on it?
Postage is expensive. I have purchased some additional cute stamps, but I can’t afford to use them on every postcard I send. But then I feel bad if all I send is the global stamp. (Or just a postcard stamp in the US)
I have starting ruminating in my brain with people pleasing and wanting to make sure the people I send to enjoy the postcard I send.
Some people do, but honestly, it doesnt matter, because postage is expensive.
There are some profiles where people ask for interesting stamps. They are free to ask what they want. But Postcrossing is not meant to be a stamp collectors site (although there are stamp collectors among the Postcrossing community); it is a site for people wanting to connect with other people.
Use whatever stamps you have or wish to use in order to send your postcard and make those connections. Anything beyond that should be considered frosting on the cake.
well firstly. i love your global stamps, esprcially the ones with the pink and yellow flowers.
but postcrossing is about cards. lately i’ve got so many profiles with wishlists about stamps longer than they talk about cards. specific wishes for each country and also please use more than 3 stamps and here is a whole list of themes for stamps i want.
if you have those stamps then that’s nice and i’ll say i do appreciate a beautiful stamp on a card but i am absolutely not disappointed by boring or more common stamps.
also. i’m not from america so i can’t really help you with this but i’m pretty sure that if you want to use more stamps, you don’t have to pay extra. just use stamps with prices that’ll add up to what you have to pay for postage.
but that’s only if you want to. again, this site is about postcards (and really, we can’t even make demands about cards).
I’d be happy with anything 
just like getting mail
Hello,
I would prefer to see other stamps as compared to just the global flower - but I do understand if that’s all you have on hand. For a long while I only sent out a single goldfish stamp because that was what my neighbourhood post office sold (my choices were expanded once I started using stamp pairs 
)
At the end of the day, it’s the message and the card that is more important
Side note: you can use other stamps to make up international postage, which is currently 1.45.
There is no markup in using other stamps.
I think it is nice to be able to fulfill stamp wishes, but they are ultimately just that, wishes.
Don’t feel bad if you are unable to meet wishes, you spent good money in picking and mailing out a card, and the recipient should appreciate that 
Everyone will react differently but I’d suggest that you should try your best to include nicer stamps if it doesnt cost you more. I heard that it’s possible for USA but can’t be certain. (Using smaller denominated stamps will help and if I remembered correctly older stamps in USA could be sold below face value)
Generally, I don’t mind if the postcard bears that stamp, but since the stamp is boring, if the message and the card isnt particularly appealing, it does bring down my mood. I had received an uncountable number of postcards with one line greetings with that stamp. I appreciate them but not entirely excited for those either because it makes me feel that the sender doesnt make any effort to write the card, but in actuality it’s just because of bad experiences with that stamp (I find this hard to describe lol)
As a person who tries to put as many nice stamps as the post office here sells, yeah I agree with the assumption that people will feel a bit down if they receive the flower stamp because personally I do not dare to put definitive stamps (ie the usual ones the post office sells) for all of my postcards to make the recipient really happy about the stamp selection.
Do I love stamps? Yes, absolutely. But it’s like a nice little extra, nothing I expect (and therefore I won’t be disappointed to receive a global forever stamp).
If you might want to consider to combine stamps after using your global forever stamps, there are these topics with combination options: Possible Upcoming USPS price hikes + Stamp Combos and Stamp Combinations via Web App
As long as the postage adds up to $1.45 with either 1 big orange flower or a bunch of other various denominations it gets processed. I recently sent cards using a regular tulip plus sailboat and an old .37 bird (think it’s a crane?) That put me a few pennies over, but all were small squares and a good combination
I probably write too much on my cards! 
I fill that space up and try to connect to what was written in the profile.
Thank you for the link. I am still figuring out stamp combinations and can provide for some, especially when the profile mention stamps.
I was thinking of combining forever stamps with nice stamps, as there’s not a ton of space on postcards.
I understand that getting the international postage stamp might get boring after a while, but, as mentioned earlier, this is a postcard site, not a stamp-collecting site. There is not an easy way to use multiple stamps that add up to $1.45. You have to use many stamps on one card (which takes up a lot of room) or you can use fewer stamps that add up to more than $1.45 (which wastes money if you do it too often). I rarely overpay, but I vary on whether I use a round stamp or multiple stamps, depending mostly on how much time I have and whether or not I have stamps that coordinate with the card I’m sending.
Thank you for this!! 
This is exactly what I was running into. There’s not enough room unless I use 2 forever stamps. Plus the remaining amount.
There are some postcards that are larger than the usual A6 size postcards. If the receiver doesnt specify the size and specifies that they like stamps you could spam as many stamps as you like.
Also, there are people who love to receive cards in envelopes for stamp collecting purposes. Since the postage in US for enveloped and non-enveloped mail is the same, in that case you could use as many small denominated stamps to decorate your envelope (I suggest using the older stamps because stamp collectors could soak them and keep them in a stamp album) Do note that not everyone prefers their cards in envelope especially if it comes from a special place/ the card is special because they want to see the postmark on the card.
After being a postcrosser for 1.5 years, I feel that if you’re writing small, you’ll just need 1/3 of the A6 sized card for writing. (Excluding cards to older people or to places where people take longer time to read handwritten English like Japan or China, which then you’ll have to write larger) A suggestion would be to just write the most interesting part of what you’d like to say on the card. This is also a way to make Postcrossing a sustainable hobby since it does take quite a lot of time to write the message and the length of an average postcard message is quite short based on my experience. (I’m quite happy with long messages too! Don’t get me wrong)
^^ This way, you could also fit more stamps on the card! Win-win
Hi! Welcome to Postcrossing and to the forum!!!
My advice is to let this worry go. You’re doing a nice thing by sending a card.
But since I am also someone who sweats about making people unhappy (especially if they mention in their profile that they enjoy unique stamps), I’ll offer some solutions that I’ve used:
If you use an envelope OR can leave a lot of extra room in the postage area of the card (which really does take up a lot of space), you can use two forever stamps and some smaller-denomination stamps totaling $0.19.
You can buy those smaller-denomination stamps sometimes at your post office – or online (they only charge like $1 total for shipping these out): 10¢ | 5¢ | 4¢ | 3¢ | 2¢ | 1¢ | The Postal Store @ USPS.com or on ebay (search for “mint us postage stamps below face value” - often there is free shipping, too)
I’m guessing that people from other countries who dislike the US global flower stamps don’t really understand what the postage situation is here. There seem to be a lot more options/denominations in other places.
Thank you for those ideas!
This is exactly what I do. I wonder if I sent that card lol
I mention on my profile appreciating special stamps. Which I do. But I completely understand that, for many of us, special stamps just aren’t possible, at least all the time. Am I disappointed if an ordinary stamp arrives on a postcard? No! I’m very grateful that someone took the time to write and send a postcard to me.
Please don’t overthink this. Do what you can. The vast majority of postcrossers will be delighted with your postcard, no matter the stamp you chose to send it with.
