Hello New Zealand Postcrossers! I’ve been wondering why about half of my postcards sent in November and December 2020 never made it to their destinations and are expired cards. I’m wondering if any other New Zealander had a similar experience, or did all of your postcards make it to their destinations?
I’m thinking they might be in some NZ Post warehouse somewhere, with my Christmas present sent to the US that never arrived either. 
On 22 January 2021 I received a card from New Zealand dated 29 December 2020 (written date). Cancellation date is not visible.
Thanks, Yudi! That didn’t take long at all for the postcard travel time! 
In November I bought some cards and stamps from New Zealand on eBay and trademe and it took about 3 weeks these letters to travel to Finland. Both senders were from the North Island though, I don’t know if that makes any difference. 
Interesting, @nnniiina ! I didn’t know non-NZers could use TradeMe to buy things. I looked up your profile, and coincidentally I’ve been to Kittilä/Levi for a holiday! It was so cold skiing at -16 deg C when I was there!! It is a gorgeous place, and Finland is the nicest country I have been to. Terveisin!
Oh wow, that is nice to hear that you have been here and liked it! 
New Zealand is also the greatest place I’ve been. I had an internship there, I was working for 3 months in Auckland and after that I travelled in South Island for a month. Unfortunately I spent only two days in Christchurch because we had to stay in Queenstown longer than originally planned. I wish I could come back one day!
I’m not sure could people outside NZ “officially” buy from TradeMe. I saw something I liked and sent a message to the seller and we closed the deal outside of TradeMe. 
It’s a small world, isn’t it?!? I’m glad you liked New Zealand and hope you can make it back!
Hi,
It seems that the mail goes in batches now instead of a steady flow of mail coming and and mail going out. April seemed to be a quiet month with not a lot coming in, although that could just be me. I had a lot of mail that was sent to me from mid-2020 that never arrived. It just vanished. I like to think it is in a container at a port somewhere waiting to be loaded on a ship. I had one postcard from Russia which took over a year to arrive. The mail from Russia seems to have slowed down again. Parcels such as books from Book Depository are taking around a month. You an add another week for the mail to get from Auckland down to the South Island.
Postage is going up again in July too.
Hi @barryoc! Thanks for your reply and that’s interesting to hear of your postal experiences. I’m thinking there are “unimportant” mailbags sitting in a warehouse somewhere with everything they couldn’t fit in. For me it was Nov/Dec 2020, as nothing I sent got delivered. Heck, my mother’s Christmas package didn’t even make it to her, even though I spent an absolute fortune. (No compensation either: “should have sent it tracked”, they said). I have no idea if any of the mail to me never arrived; I hadn’t even thought of that!
Thanks for the heads up on postage increases. Boo. I’ll look into it.
I hope you have more upcoming successes!