I have that same issue. I toss them in a fabric cube or photo box meaning to organize at some point… its been nearly 3 years and several thousand cards and I have no organization yet. Haha. Some winter I hope to undertake the project of putting them on Flickr or something similar, then I would likely organize them somewhere by person and keep only the ones that were chatty so I could reread and continue the conversation…oh, and handmade ones need a place of honor as well. I have some that I have framed around the house.
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I thought I was going to use the pandemic to finally sort out my ‘piles o’ cards’ but I haven’t. Actually making a start on it right now!
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That is a really interesting topic! I personally, do not discard any postcard. I respect the fact that the sender, took the time and put effort on sending me the card, even if it isn’t one that matches my preferences. Of course, I don’t blame anyone who wishes to think and act different.
Taken the opportunity of this topic, I offer myself, as a volunteer, to whoever wishes to get rid of some cards he/she doesn’t like. You can all send me a message and I will send you my address. I believe, it is better for someone else to keep or store these postcards, rather than be thrown to the recycly bin.
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I don’t think every card is special, but I used to keep them all out of respect for the person who sent it… until this year.
Between moving to another country, being a person who doesn’t enjoy having meaningless things laying around and the realization that I am here for the message part (as I always say, and pardon me if this sounds rude, if I wanted to have just pictures I’d print/buy them myself) and creativity, I had to get rid of some who were sent out of obligation with no care/interest/effort at all.
What is my approach? I cut the stamps to use them to create or decorate postcards (or even to send to some people who like them) and I throw the rest of the card in the recycling bin. These stamps have brought some joy into some people’s mailbox, so I’m glad something good came out of it. 
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to hear that postcards sent are almost easily thrown away makes me sad even though I understand that you have so many that I don’t know where to put them. rather than the pulp, send them to you who will keep them preserved
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Hey, Tizy78! Welcome to the forum! 
I used to think like you, and I know it seems I’m just discarding them but I assure that is not the case. I don’t take them out because of the quantity - I had more postcards than clothes on my bag when I moved to Finland, for example, as I treasure them - I got rid of them because they have no personal, historical, geographical, philatelic value. They are just printed pictures that someone sent out of the obligation so they could receive a card in return for their collection.
I know some people have the possibility to have them preserved in some storage place, but if I can make something special out of it than just send them away to someone else who won’t see them ever again, I’d rather take that approach, that’s why I cut the stamps and reuse them to create, send or decorate postcards. 
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I could never throw away a card. Well, I just started postcrossing so we’ll see in the future. 
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Yeah, I feel you on both of those things. I generally don’t collect things because I find that collections weigh on me after a while. But having to decide what things to bring with you to another country will certainly even further impact one’s opinion of what “needs” to be carried around.
I scan them, and I use the folder they’re in as a rotating background for my desktop, so I continue to see them. But I don’t want to feel oppressed by keeping cards that aren’t meaningful to me (plenty of the ones I’ve received are meaningful in some way, though).
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Oh wow! It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who hasn’t fully organized my postcards, like I wanted to do during this pandemic.
Though I don’t think I have an emotional attachment to my postcards, I know (for now) that I don’t want to toss them out.
Postcards and Postcrossing, especially, are great reminders of all of the good that still exists in our world.
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I keep all my postcards except one I received that stated I was going to hell for not being Christian. I deleted it off my wall as it was digitally uploaded. But I have all 2200 postcards in binders organized so I can look at them and show them to my young nephews who are obsessed with travel and monuments. I have seven 3” binders in my craft room of postcards and I pick a different one to take to look at with them each time. I even started him an account so he can collect them and have a binder for him.
I see this as a way to collect and connect and unless I get another awful message, I probably won’t throw another one away. I almost worry now that the effort I put in to writing and sending is wasted if so many people just throw them away.
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i don’t wanna throw my cards away. i tried a few weeks ago but i have cards with a lovely picture and a short message and cards that i don’t really love but they wrote a nice, long message. they’re all meaningful to me and once in a while i love taking a look through all my cards. i ‘only’ have a few hundred, i think maybe 700 i don’t keep track of the cards i receive through the forum. in my first year or two of postcrossing i tried to keep them organised in binders but after a while that’s too much work and too much binders and the cards are all different sizes and i didn’t know what to do about that. so now i put all my cards in shoeboxes. i have 3 now and like i said, i don’t wanna throw them away but i also don’t wanna end up with a room full of shoeboxes.
so if someone has a great idea of what to do with old received cards, i’d love to hear it!
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Wow, what a way to promote Christianity… not. 
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I also use shoebox, but I have a small collection yet. Later I’m going to use a larger shoebox 
And there is another topic here about poscard storing:
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I think it depends on how you look at it, whether you think your time is “wasted.” A postcard and message may bring a smile to someone on a gray day. They recognize that and so they just enjoy the card for the moment an then let it go.
That, in itself, has value I think.
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I’m not a collector, but I have saved every postcard I’ve received. I view it as a snapshot of humanity at a particular point in time–so I save the bad with the good because the choice of postcard also reflects the sender’s personality. If it came to the point that I needed to get rid of them, I think I’d probably contact a museum or a school or an actual collector and give them away. They might as well have a second life with someone else if I’m unable to keep them.
I was thinking, however, that maybe postcards from 2020 should perhaps be specifically kept together. They’re kind of a historical document for all the crazy and unprecedented things happening this year.
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Right? Suuuuper welcoming.
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It’s kind of my philosophy on lost cards I guess. I certainly don’t mourn when they don’t get registered because once it goes in the box, it’s on its own until it gets to its new owner. 
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Mmm hmm. I have deleted one for similar reasons.
I hope that you won’t feel like the effort is wasted. I feel like sending Postcrossing postcards is like giving a gift - you do it freely, with the hope that it is well-received and makes someone happy. Sometimes people may not treat the gift the way you would have wanted it to be treated, but they still appreciate it (someone cuts the sleeves of a shirt you gave them and remakes it in some way), and some appreciate the thought but it’s not right for them (they re-gift the vase).
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Number of cards that I actually threw away is really low, probably those cards could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
In case I do not like the card (mostly due to motif that do not fit into my interests, less because person did not write something about the place but about some xyz stuff), I simply put it among my available used cards for trade. I do not have problems with swapping such cards, as many people like themes that I do not, and vice versa.
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I am relieved to know that I am not the only one who decided that I could not keep all my cards! Earlier this year I went through all of them and recycled most. I now have a few A5 clear folders which hold my current collection of highly sentimental cards, or my collections. The funny thing is, I am a collector but nowhere on my official profile do I say what I collect anymore. I just want to leave it all open to chance and see what I get.
As said earlier by others, for me the joy comes out of the sending and receiving process, and mostly not by the card itself. If the card is great and I can feel it gives me great joy, I’ll keep it. If not, then I will scan it, thank it, and then dispose of it. Lately, I have been using certain cards in my junk journalling, but they will eventually be recycled when I’m done with the journal. My tiny room is much happier this way!
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