Man, rather disappointing that we don’t have many 
Ah well. I do find the odd tourist card for these areas at least!
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I know there are a few people from Melbourne here… where’s good to go? What are some cool places to buy cool postcards?
Thrift stores are good! We’re also set to have a meetup on the 1st of next month, and let me scroll up…
“Bourke St is good, also Elizabeth St PO one can be good and even the one in Collins St inside the arcade buildind is worth a look” said Azzi! There are also a few ‘aussie tourist’ type stores in the CBD that might be worth a look for stickers/postcards/misc tourist things to send out :3
Also possibly the museums? I’ve been meaning to do a tour to see if I can scout out some free ad cards next time I’m in the CBD!
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I just found out that there is going to be a meetup on July 29. in Sydney at the State Library. If anyone is able to come. It is from 2 - 4 pm at the bookshop of the library.
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The tourism office in the town hall has some nice postcards - a selection of city views, and some arty cards showing trams and Melbourne places. Not a huge range, but nice cards.
Otherwise, the souvenir stores along Swanston St for tourist cards, although they’re pretty limited and repetitive.
Check the artist markets, eg outside the Arts Centre - Matt Irwin is sometimes there and has nice b&w photo postcards (they’re not listed on his website).
But it is really hard to find nice Melbourne cards, I find.
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I also really like the I love Melbourne bundle from Closet Planner Addict, it’s adorable and the cards included are so well designed! I’m yet to send any because I almost want to keep them for myself
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I know we’ve talked about the $3 postcard rate before - I actually had my first auspost person agree with me on that, and I didn’t even prompt them! I posted one at the slightly bigger auspost in a shopping centre nearby and they did it.
I actually gently asked “oh, is the $3 officially for postcards now?” to try and get a feeler for if it was just them being nice - nope, this auspost employee had been TAUGHT this way! They even said that it being in an envelope defeats it being a postcard!
I bought a stack of $3 stamps and will be going back there to post from now on 
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I also recently asked at a local PO and they said it was ok to use the $3 for unenclosed postcards. I’ve now sent nine cards this way and am just waiting for them to arrive.
But…today I also re-acquainted myself with page 30 of the Post Charges guide, issued on 03 July 2023…and it still clearly states that ‘unenclosed postcards’ are to be charged at the Small Letter rate. So today I went back to paying the higher amount.
Yes it’s all poorly worded. Yes, none of the clerks seem to know what they are doing. But it just doesn’t get any more clear for me than:
Small letters include…unenclosed postcards.
I truly hope the system keeps letting you use $3 to send them. But I think in the end they will crack down on it, unfortunately. I’m more than happy to be wrong about this. But I’m just gonna do it my way for now.
Hmm. I’m honestly not sure, but honestly? They straight up told me to send the postcards with the $3 rate, so I think I will until I run out of $3 stamps and maybe then I’ll pick up more of the prepaid ones (my (albeit annoying for others) solution to the normal prices)
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I’m absolutely not trying to tell you what you should be doing. That’s 100% your decision.
It’s just that I’ve read a lot in here and everyone keeps saying their clerk tells them this, their clerk tells them that. And that’s the problem…isn’t it? Australia Post do not appear to train their clerks well. Promotions happen and we the customer have to tell them about it! I literally had to explain to a clerk about what the ‘Prepaid’ mark meant on the back of a maxicard the other day! She wanted to sell me stamps to put on the card. 
When it comes to information from clerks versus information from Australia Post official documents, I’ll trust the documents every time. So yeah…I’ll be sending as many maxicards as possible from here on…because $3.70 and $3.90 is just getting crazy expensive. If only more Postcrossers were happy to receive their postcards in envelopes! 
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Yeah… I do wish they were more unified in how they handled things. It seems to me that they make all this good paperwork to refer to, and then train their staff by word-of-mouth! Which is fine, but then WHY make the forms and paperwork for the consumers when the staff won’t follow it all
I agree, maxicards and prepaids are the way for me now. It’s such a shame!
Stamp prices - Australia Post I’ve been looking at this and the definition of ‘greeting card’, and it seems like you can send $3 postcards to me? I interpreted this ‘sealed inside an envelope (greeting card only)’ as the folding cards should only need to be in an envelope. I’m not sure. I’ve only sent cards with $3.30 on (as I haven’t been using international stamps) and I’ve been writing ‘card only’ on them, so let’s see how it goes…
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I read the line:
• be sealed with an envelope (greeting card only)
as meaning that there must only be a greeting card in the envelope…where greeting card is defined in the paragraph above as:
• contents that are card(s) only / postcards.
So no, I do not think that line implies that postcards are exempt from that requirement.
And this is supported by the text under the heading of ‘Small Letters’, that states that:
• Small letters include enveloped mail, lettersheets and unenclosed postcards.
I really don’t think there’s any question from this document that an unenclosed postcard should be sent at the full small letter rate. And that the greeting card rate only applies to postcards in envelopes. It just remains to be seen if/when they will ever enforce this. 
You can download a copy of the Post Charges guide at:
And page 30 is the relevant page.
Reading this
reassured me that 3$ for any postcard is not a temporary discount but is here to stay.
Thank you @Tinkatutu for bringing this into our attention.
It is a relief!
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You do you @FoTiS. 
Look at this interesting card design I rescued from the opshop near me!
I’m fascinated, they look to be puzzles that you write on? I’m not entirely sure how to send it though, I’d have to pop it in the envelope it comes in as I’m scared it would fall apart in transit D:
I can’t find any info on the designer either, the backside is blank so all I have to go off of is “gumleaf cards”!
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That is different! I’d be concerned about them falling apart enroute too…it could end up like a trail of breadcrumbs between the lodging postoffice and its destination! 
I recently saw puzzle postcards in town here. They were Aussie animal motifs and they were huge. I didn’t buy one because I thought they’d cost a bomb to send…they were much bigger than the allowed dimensions. Although whether anyone would check or care is another thing altogether. 
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Hello! I’ve decided to print these Australia cards for World Postcard Day: Free Designs for 2023 World Postcard Day Postal Hug
I’m going to send off an order to Vistaprint tonight. Their minimum is 50, so I’m just going to get that.
If anyone would like some, please let me know and I’ll send you some. I can probably do 5-ish cards in an envelope for the small letter $1.20 rate. If just a couple of people want some, then I’m happy to just send them to you, otherwise you can PayID me a couple of dollars using my phone number 
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@twinkledee I would gladly buy a few off you if that’s okay! I did want to print some but didn’t want a billion, so that works out really well if you’re happy to.
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Awesome! I’m happy to for sure 
Just PM me your address x