You send to people, not to countries. And it does not help me, if you send to other people in Germany instead of sending to people in Russia.
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That sounds reasonable, just like limiting the number of cards that one can send at a certain moment. Even a shop cannot make every product available at all times; ‘currently not available’.
It’s not really reasonable when you remember there’s a human who should be sent a postcard.
So here’s Sara, and one of her cards has arrived - hooray! But she’s not going to get a postcard in return for a long time because so many people already have cards on the way to her country, so she has to keep being moved down the list to get a card.
While we’re speaking about “fair”, that seems unfair to me that people should have to wait longer because it’s “more important” to have a mix of countries on your travelling card list.
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It’s always ‘not really reasonable’ when one understands things only from one perspective and denies others’ validity. Not everyone has a problem with sending limits, but those who are concerned about it are entitled to a proper discussion about it.
It’s reasonable to see ‘no available addresses’ for those who question the reality of getting the same countries, and they don’t ask others to think in the same way.
The slogan on PC’s website, ‘Postcards connecting the world’ is a decent ambition. Keeping getting the same countries undermines this ambition, or PC has a different understanding of ‘the world’. I doubt.
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I apologize.
I got quite frustrated over it, specially after the guy at the post office looked at the Russia and Belarus postcard, laughed and said “you know, these might get delayed or not even get to their destination”.
I did put in my post that I understand their addresses may have been in the pool for a bit, waiting for someone that could mail to them. In fact, I got one of them 5 days after their last sent registered.
All 3 Russian addresses seems to be new Postcrossers, so I hope my cards do get to them so they remain in this project.
I’m sorry if my rant came too strong and bothered people.
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I am sorry that I was not nice to you! I just wanted you to see that you send to individuals, but I could have pointed it out in a nicer way.
And if your postal service publishes, that they do no longer deluver to Russia, then the PC staff will block Russian adresses for you.
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I have to disagree with that.
The goal of the Postcrossing project is to enable anyone to exchange postcards with random people around the world. That’s using real mail, not email!
The FAQ literally states its about connecting people, not “collecting as many random plots of land someone put a border around and gave a fancy name as possible”.
As I have stated before: If people are so concerned about some countries being more active in this projekt than others, do not blame the members of active countries or even try to punish them by giving out their address less. Instead be proactive and try to get less common (? Sorry I don’t know the right term) countries to participate more in Postcrossing.
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Same here. I just got Germany 6 in a row… I was wondering if it has anything to do with the russia issues
Slightly off-topic, but I have sometimes thought that I wouldn’t mind if I only got a card back for every fifth sent card or so because I enjoy sending so much more than receiving. 
But I guess this wouldn’t solve problem because Finland must seem a welcoming relief efter all the German, Russian, and American addresses in the eyes of all these complaining postcrossers.
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I’m fine with a different voice, but here are 2 worrying facts:
First, I regret that this line doesn’t exist in PC’s F.A.Q., as shown in the search result. The only matching result is in Post No. 100 and 101. Perhaps you know where we can find it?
Second, I’m afraid you couldn’t find these behavious in my post (No.97). I didn’t do this, but made a remark on PC’s slogan and operation.
Alas, I thought this round of exchange was ended after Post No 98 & 99, since the two users reached a sort of mutual understanding. But, anyway, that’s PC forum’s routine.
Postcrossing FAQ->Postcrossing:The Basics->What is Postcrossing?
I think you might have missed a word when reading my post, I wrote :
And the last paragraph of my post was not about you , it is my opinion on the topic at hand. And a suggestion on how to resolve the “problem” of getting the same countries.
Many thanks for the kind clarification. I noticed that the line was put in quotation marks, so I thought that was an original line in the FAQ, otherwise it should have not been put in quotation marks.
Good night!
The FAQ literally states its about connecting people, not “collecting as many random plots of land someone put a border around and gave a fancy name as possible”.
And the last paragraph of my post was not about you , it is my opinion on the topic at hand. And a suggestion on how to resolve the “problem” of getting the same countries.
I know what Postcrossing is about. It’s the reason I joined in the first place. And I have already apologized for my rant, because I realized I was having a bad attitude.
Edit: Because I realized you are talking in general and not me in particular.
Still, I’ve decided that instead of thinking “ugh repeat country” it will be “Cool, I can still send to them and keep them engaged with the project”
As for getting other people to join, we’ll… to put it nicely, let’s just say that in a 3rd world country with a high illiteracy rate and extremely low basic salary, buying and sending postcards is not even something people might consider.
I’m considered the odd one, even by my family. Nobody’s fault really. Just a general cultural shift into the belief that mail is no longer important or relevant.
I tried to get people to join in the past with no success, but I don’t want to give up. I’ll get my niece to join, once she’s old enough.
Peace.
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If the USA doesnt send to Russia right now, it has everything to do with it. And if you chose to not send within the USA, then only Germany is left among the big countries. Someone like me would get Germany, Russia, USA constantly, especially if I have “Repeated countries” on (which you probably do by the way, from a quick look at your sent. If you want to try for more variety go into your profile and switch that off :)).
I have Repeated off and one to USA and one to Germany and I got three different countries today. I almost feel guilty when I get that much variety so might go back to Repeated soon…
I heard that in the early days, Finland was what Germany is now 
(meaning, the most common country).
But this is exactly what we try over and over to explain to those who complain they don’t get exotic countries and blame it on the algorithm and whatnot. If there are not enough people to play, for very valid reasons sadly, what can Postcrossing do? And what can they do if instead in Germany/USA/Russia so many people want to play because they have the means to (or are able to save enough to afford it), as well as being interested?
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I feel the same. I requested five adresses yesterday and got five different countries. Same thing the time before. Usually I send with repeated countries, but switched it off because I feared that cards to russia need very long travel times (I’m fine with long travel times, but don’t want all my cards to get expired.) But since Germany - Russia is supringsly quick from what I read in the german subforum, so I can switch back to repeated countries.
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I admit I was a bit worried too but Russia is suspended from here so I wouldn’t get a Russian address right now. So I know that when I go back to Repeated it will be Germany/USA. I’m thinking of waiting a little longer to see if I get something really unusual, but it might not be worth it (I mean, I don’t care that much about collecting countries and those German and American members in the queue might be waiting for their cards!)
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It seems that a lot of us switched repeated countries off, all for the same reason (waiting for cards to Russia to expire, therefore not being able to send any out for weeks). I’ve been getting about 5 addresses without repeated countries switched on, then switching it on till I get 2 Russian addresses together, then I switch it off again. It seems to be working, postcards are being delivered, even a couple of ones to Russia that were sent after the war started.
However, I look forward to the time when I can keep repeated countries switched on permanently, with a reasonable assurance that postcards will be regularly delivered to Russia.
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Yes, I felt so guilty, I couldn’t cope with it for more than a few days! 
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Im ok with sending postcards to same country. Its just another postcrosser really anyway! Everybody needs happy stuff in their mailbox!
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