I’m fairly new to Postcrossing. I’ve sent fifteen cards from Scotland altogether and so far I have received fourteen, which makes sense. However, as I write only nine of those I have sent have reached their destination. Six are still travelling, which is my limit, and three of those (to Russia, Germany and the US) have been on their way for over three weeks now. I assume that there comes a point when these are considered missing in action. How long will that be?
Hi @HaggisSupper, welcome to the Postcrossing community!
You can find more exact information about “expired cards” here:
After 60 days you can send another card for a card that hasn’t arrived during that time.
But it can still be registered by the recipient within a year.
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Welcome to Postcrossing!
The times for your traveling cards are not unusual. Some cards will travel as long as the 60-day expiry period and even longer … all the way to 365 days. As I have learned in my two years within this community.
Still, have a read of the link provided by @reisegern . It will help with your understanding of the process.
Meanwhile, consider popping into the forum to see if there are other ways of interest to you for exchanging cards. For instance, looking at your profile, I wonder if you might like Write Back My Postcard, Just Postcards, and All About Women.
There are many opportunities to have so much fun with Postcrossing.
Have fun! And if you’d like to exchange a card with me, have a look at my profile, then let’s discuss by PM. I know I have cards you will like! 
Cheers!
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Please don’t ask me to eat any haggis, though! Even on Robbie Burns Day.
There are two kinds of people in the world. People who love haggis and people who have never tried it!
True, it’s not at its best on Burns Night with bashed tatties and cheppit neeps. A proper haggis supper is a tempura of haggis served with a Glasgow salad, washed down with a nice crémant de Cumbernauld. Haggis pakora is lovely too, a work of cross-cultural genius.
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I live in the US and unfortunately, mail coming to us seems to be slow these days. I think Russia is another country with long travel times for mail, possibly just because of the size of the country or the fact that the addresses need to be “translated”? Mail to Germany is not very slow “usually” but who knows, postcards sometimes take the scenic roads!
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My cards to Germany are also taking a long time now. Maybe Indian Post is at fault, but none of my cards reach before 45-50 days ;/
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@HaggisSupper You’re talking my language (and making me hungry).
Can’t beat a brekkie of haggis slice, black pudding, square sausage, beans toast and hash broons.
Back to your original post. I only joined here at the end of January and have had a few cards that took over 3 weeks, that seems to be a normal length of time.
I hope you enjoy it here.
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When I signed up here my cards took about 2 or 2 weeks. Now I am using air mail and now my cards are faster. A few days ago I’ve sent a card to California. It took only 8 days. I was very surprised. My first card was also to California and took about 15 days
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Alright … I’ll try the pakora next time in Scotland! 
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Transit time between Germany and California is great! My cards to Germany rarely take 2 weeks. (I also live by LAX, an international postal hub for the USPS, so that may help 
)
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I have six traveling right now: Russia and China I suspect are a matter of expiring and trying again later, three to Europe and Canada are relatively recent, so no problem there; sixth card to Europe seems to be running slow, but evidence that the recipient ‘batches’ entries every so often rather than logging them as they arrive.
Not trying haggis pakoras in Glasgow one of my definite travel regrets!
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Hi! I’m more or less having the same issue. I’m new to Postcrossing. My first two cards that I sent traveled in a reasonable amount of time (6 days for national and ~10 days to Germany). However, the last five cards that I sent are nowhere to be found. I’m on day 15 with waiting for a card to be delivered form FL to NY. The other four cards are going to various countries and are on days 10-15 as well. One of those countries includes Germany, and I am slightly confused being that my first card to Germany arrived there rather quickly. I don’t know what’s going on and I do find it a bit frustrating, as now I can’t send any cards since nobody seems to be receiving the ones I sent out. I hope this changes soon. I was having so much fun. 
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My first card within the states took almost a month 
I had a quicker travel times to Japan, Canada, and Germany. I just bide my time with tags and other forum games. Highly recommend!
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After 2 months your slot opens back up to send another official. You still get credit for those cards up to one year from the date you requested them. You can get active in the forums and do swaps in the groups! That is how I got really into postcrossing… while waiting for my officials to finally arrive you want to find a good mix of domestic and international swaps.
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The delayed card is logged into the system as a completed transaction within one year, but after 60 days (as I understand it), any “credit” towards future slots transfers to the replacement card sent to another member.
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International Post in Germany arrives in Frankfurt am Main first. From there the post is distributed to the citys in Germany. So it can about one or two days from Frankfurt to the city or the post centrum in the city but as I know not all cities have one. So there it may take a bit longer. And because of Covid there are still restrictions for employees at Deutsche post so that not all colleges working at the same time. If there is a person tested positive for Covid sorting and delivering post is still possible
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Since all of your cards are delayed i would question whether they got lost or stolen if you use an outside blue box. It happens i always walk my cards inside the post office rather than leave them in a blue box. They also can get hung up on chutes more easily than an envelope, but that would only be one or two… not every card you sent.
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That makes sense and would be so much better than my postcards having gotten lost in the mail. I hope it’s a technical issue along these lines. Super informative and helpful, though. Thank you!
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