My first card arrived to Germany 15th February 2007. Someone in Germany got my address 18th Feb 2007 and the card arrived 27th Feb.
My first sent postcard (back in 2015) was registered after 37 days. It was sent to Russia.
I recieved my first card after it had travelled 13 days. It came from the US.
But I also sent cards which had travelled almost one year (354 days, 341 days) before they got registered.
And recently I received a card wich had travelled 191 days.
I sent my first card on 07 October 2013 and I got my first one on 24 October 2013. It came from Chita in Russia.
I joined on October 29, and have sent 9 cards, 6 of which have been received. However, I have not received any cards yet. Is that unusual, or does it take a while for the initial flow of cards to arrive?
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In short. No, itās not unusual. Yes, it takes a while. 
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Even under normal times when the mail was a lot faster, it took almost a month from when I first joined to get my first card. This is a slow hobby and itās pretty typical for the pace of mail to seem glacial in the beginning (and even more so these days with the pandemic).
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I see that your first postcard was registered at November 6. That was the first time your address was given out.
Mail can be slow, even under normal circumstances, so 4 weeks is not unnormal at all from certain countries. And since most international mail travels by air plane (often passenger planes), the mail is delayed now because thereās less flights!
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the combination of covid and december makes the post go a bit slower, but iām sure you will get your first cards soon. and once youāre in a flow of sending out cards regularly, you will receive them sooner as well. i remember my first card came from china, i had to wait a while for that one. totally worth it though!
and i donāt know if itās just me but normally my cards to america arrive in a week and now they take about a month, whilst cards from america to me are still arriving pretty soon. but in the end they all get there, so itās just a matter of patience.
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That is a very good point.
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I have seen a similar delay in mail between me (Germany) and the USA. It was really bad both ways in the summer but seems to have improved in November and December in both directions, but from Germany to USA it still is slower (average 16 days) than from USA to Germany (avarage 11 days).
@Psyprof: Mail between some countries can take well over a month (in Germany I often see that to Russia, mainland China and Australia), so if the luck drew you such countries, they will still be in transit. And yes, sometimes cards just donāt arrive at all.
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Thatās disappointing! But yes, as people have said, it could be that youāve hit a bit of bad luck in terms of your first couple of cards coming from countries where the mail to the US is slow.
I joined Postcrossing this spring and Iād say it was about three months before receiving cards felt like it was up to a steady pace, and I still sometimes hit lulls. (I joined during quarantine so I have to take everyoneās word for it that normally everything moves faster.) Donāt lose hope! Itās very nice when you get to a point where you have enough cards coming and going that it feels like a steady connection out in the world.
ETA - I got one card from a young woman in Russia; it was the first or second card she had sent and it was more than 100 days on the road. I felt so bad for her! I hope sheās had better experiences since.
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That is correct.
I checked and there are as many postcards travelling back to you.
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Yes the initial stage will always be the slowest, because that is when you will be bursting with enthusiasm, and eagerly anticipating your postcards to arrive and others to send a postcard to you.
As the others already mentioned, a combination of factors such as fewer flights, slower postal services, COVID-19, closure or restriction of borders and December being a holiday/resting season, it takes awhile. But things will pick up soon, so bear with this stage for now.
I remember opening my mailbox everyday to see if a postcard has arrived, only to be met with disappointment, until that one day when I finally received my first postcard. It was a really great feeling! 
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@Psyprof - The postal service in the USA has been so weird lately. I have noticed this year, I get the bulk of my cards and fun mail on Mondays. Tuesdays is for mostly those junk mail insert packets, and other junk mail. Maybe a postcard. Wednesdays are bills and maybe a trickle of a postcard or two. Thursdays -Saturdays may have a few more fun mail pieces. But mostly, I get all my cards on Mondays. Which makes the Monday blues a little better to handle! 
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Mine were sent out yesterday.
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We donāt live far away from each other. I just started too. Welcome. Whatās your main reason for post crossing?
Cards from certain countries take longer to arrive to this side of the world. Iāve noticed that cards from Russia often take about a month to arrive to Canada, and cards from China can take two months or longer; Iād expect them to take just as long to get to the US. If your first āsendersā are from there, itās not surprising that youād wait at least a month. Hopefully this week youāll get your first cards!
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I sent my first card on August 8, 2012, to the Netherlands and it was registered on August 19, 2012.
My first received card was sent to me August 20, 2012, from Japan, and I received it August 25, 2012.
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Yes, your first sent card need to be received & registered before your address is given out and the travel time from there will depend on which country the cards are coming from plus youāre starting this in December which is one of the busiest mail months in the entire year. The pandemic will also slow things down as well given the reduced mail services because of COVID-19 precautions in the postal systems and a lot less airline flights.
Just be patient, the cards will come. You could also do some swaps on here, especially within the US to receive cards sooner.
If you do a search on the main site and look up USA & Virginia, you can look at other Virginiansā profile pages & see how long cards are taking to travel to your state right now from other countries.
https://www.postcrossing.com/search/users
Hereās some other replies on the same question.
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Thanks for this kind advice to both of you. That other man complaining is also from my home state! Iām unable to initiate direct swaps now.
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