How fast do you send a postcard?

I draw and write my cards in the evening, so they go to mail on the next day on my way to work or home from work.

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Hello! I usually do my best to write and send them the same day, even though where I live the postal service pick up the stuff from the postal boxes before 9 am from Monday to Saturday, so sometimes I cannot do it in time. When itā€™s raining I skip to the next day, because the boxes are not waterproof (actually, no longer, as they were so when they were built), so I risk to have my postcards soaked in water.

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I donā€™t request a name until Iā€™m ready to write and send at that moment. So far, there was one person whose name i drew, that i wanted to accommodate one of their requests of a specific card. That took me about a week and a rare thing for me to wait at all, but it was something i thought i could get that might be a treasure for that person.

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i always write a card straight after requesting an address, but most of the time i send the cards out the next day.
usually i write cards when i have a day off and doing some householding, so whenever i need an excuse to wait a bit with vacuuming i write a card. this can take all day, so i scan all my cards in the evening and put them in my bag i take the next day.

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The public letter boxes here are only emptied monday to saturday at 8am
So I usually draw address on sundays and send them out monday morning

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When I started, I was so enthusiastic and I felt that I should send my postcards as soon as possible, so I did on the very same day, could be even straight away.
Nowadays it takes me usually up to one week, it depends how much energy/time I have or if Iā€™m in the right mood/mindset. Sometimes itā€™s one day, sometimes three, sometimes six. I definitely prefer composing a longer, heartful message to sending my postcard in haste.

To be honest, Iā€™m sometimes thinking that weā€™re living in very crazy times. People are apologizing when they answer you after one day on social media instead of the same hour. Iā€™ve seen people informing me that they are going to send me a card three days from now on, not tomorrow, and asking for forgiveness because of that.

When you think about it deeper, itā€™s so strange. We are stealing our own sense of having time. I donā€™t like the idea of putting time pressure on everything we do.

Take your time. Quality over quantity. Chill out. Have fun.

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I agree with @holeanta sometimes, more often than not, I need several days to finish a card. Postcrossing for me is a slow hobby. Once I put the card in the mailbox itā€™s going to be slow too. But eventually, some day, it will arrive. And it is the same for cards I receive. They can be slow. But I donā€™t mind that. I donā€™t care about the statistics. When they arrive, all is good, when they donā€™t, I wait longer. That is okay and the I feel the whole being slow thing does something positive to me. I donā€™t want to be stressed out about Postcrossing. I already have enough stress from other things.

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I donā€™t want to make the recipient wait too long, so I always send the postcard within an hour of receiving the address. In fact, since the mailman picks up the letters at a certain time, I always draw an address an hour and a half before, so that the person Iā€™m going to send the letter to doesnā€™t wait too long.
In fact, this may sound a bit ridiculous, but once I got an address at 11pm, but the mail was picked up in the next day at 9am, and I felt so guiltyā€¦ :smile: Thatā€™s why I never get an address on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, because the mail is not picked up.
Itā€™s also because I always look at the stats, and when it says it took X days for the postcard to travel, I want that to really be the case.
Yes, Iā€™m a bit psycho-rigid :laughing:

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Same for me! If a slot opens too late to send the card on a Saturday, Iā€™ll wait until Sunday to request that address; Iā€™d rather not have more than a one-day gap between address selected and time USPS takes possession of the card.

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I will usually batch draw addresses on my day off, and sit down and write anywhere from 5-15 cards at a time, then mail them that day or the next day. Every now and then I forget theyā€™re in my purse to be mailed and it might take a bit of extra time. I just find it easier to write multiple cards at a time, since I have to get everything out and spread all over the table (cards, stamps, washi, stickers, pens). At the moment I actually have all 20 official slots available, but Iā€™m trying to get caught up on Bingo cards and RRs before drawing any new addresses

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I usually donā€™t draw an address unless Iā€™m ready to sit and complete the card, but occasionally Iā€™ll draw one before bed (when itā€™s dated the next day) or first thing in the morning, to remind myself to make time for it later that day. It can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to close to an hour to read the profile, choose and decorate the card, and write a message. :love_letter:

Because it can take me a day or two to get the cards out to the mailbox, I prefer to request an address Friday evening or on the weekend. Like others have mentioned, thereā€™s no mail pickup until Monday morning. It means that I donā€™t feel like Iā€™m causing the delay - the cards would just sit in the mailbox anyway, so they might as well sit safely on my side table where they donā€™t risk being rained on!

For tags or other forum cards, I try to be as quick as I can about them. But sometimes they get delayed for various reasons (more work involved, waiting for an address, etc). Because there arenā€™t any official stats being kept, Iā€™ll give myself up to the two week grace period that seems to be acceptable on the forum. Usually I get them done quicker than that though :sweat_smile:

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On the day I request the adress in the evening on this day i sit down and write the card. I send it the day after i write it.

Itā€™s always a magical thing to create the card.

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Oh the boxes are not waterproof ! It is crazy.

I always write on the day I draw a name and post within 24hours, the travelling time starts from the day itā€™s drawn so it all adds on to the time, a long delay can seem as if the postal service is slow. If Iā€™m busy I leave drawing a name until I have more time.

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I remember my first cards very well. I was totally stressed out when I noticed that the travelling time starts as soon as the addresses are drawn. I thought you would draw the address, and then, when you put the card in the mailbox once it was ready, you would press another button to start the travel time. I thought the immediate start of the counter meant that I HAD to send it the same day, since the travel time should be reflected accurately. I really struggled with that, felt rushed, did not enjoy the process since I did not know where to get suitable postcards for each profile within the same day, and was not 100% happy with my cards.

However, it did not take long until I received a card where the travelling time on Postcrossing and the real travel time according to the post stamp did not add up. At all, sometimes. Only then did I start to think that it was ok to take a few days to send the card. And I also noticed that of course people can take a while to register your card even if you send the card on the same day you draw the address, so the real traveling time is shown only in the rarest cases, both sent and received. And thatā€™s ok.

I still like to send my cards asap though. The whole system and the other party rely on it. This is easier nowadays than in my beginnings, since I have a small stock of common blank cards now. And I only draw addresses when Iā€™m ready to write a card. So usually the cards I write start their journey the next business day, when the postbox is emptied. I just like it better that way for my own records, since I can estimate a bit better about when the travelling cards should arrive and itā€™s time to get excited :wink:

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Usually I draw an adress when I want to write it.
And then take it to the mailbox soon as possible - or reasonable. For example there is no sense in bringing a card to the mailbox at once, if it is not emptied same day. So cards written on Saturday naturally take one day extra to move on.

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Nameste from India,
I usually post it the same day or the next dayā€¦
I have stocked up all types of PPC from past 2 yrs
So itā€™s easy for me to select a card .

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Thereā€™s another similar thread with lots more interesting responses to this question here:

Well worth a read.

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Lately Iā€™ve been drawing addresses in the evenings after 6 or 7 pm so they have the following date. I then write them out and mail the following day from one of two post offices where im certain they will be collected when they say they will be. I always try to have cards traveling within 2 days of pulling addresses.

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I write immediately and post it as soon as possible.

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