If I don’t put my cards in an envelope, I tend to laminate them (stamps on top of laminate, as per the post office).
Does anyone have an objection to this? Does it take away from the authenticity …?
I do it the help protect the card from weather damage.
I had never thought of that. I think it would be up to the postcrosser personally as to how he/she would want to keep, store, and protect their cards. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve had a few positive comments regarding it.
I personally received a couple of cards that were so damaged I had to put a request for help to track down the user because the ID was unreadable.
Forgot to say, I have had some requests say they prefer the damaged, handled cards as it adds to the story. But idk! Each to their own. Happy Post Crossing
Mail normally is protected by the carrier bags etc. so I would never laminate all my postcards.
Only very few have weather damage, and if I think all my cards were laminated, there would be huge amount of plastic in name of protect the few. And I would see the plastic and money gone to that, worse than few ruined cards.
I write the ID twice, and at least the other with water proof liner.
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I don’t want my cards to be laminated, I don’t like the touch of it… 
Indeed it somehow adds to the character of the cards when they show signs of travel. For example, cards from the USA often have nasty smears of stamp ink on them - that’s how they travel… The US mail uses lots of ink.
If I want to protect a very pretty card and the recipient doesn’t object to it, I’d use an envelope.
And I’m sorry, but I also think that it’s a waste of plastic, as there luckily aren’t many cards that arrive damaged, torn or wet. 
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Keep in mind that the glue from the laminate causes the ink to diffuse and become fuzzy with time. I had that problem with laminating some documents and the signature became illegible after a couple of years.
To mitigate that, I cut a piece of acetate film and put it over the areas with ink.
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I don’t like the idea to receive all my cards laminated. I do understand for some homemade cards though. Else I prefer my cards strongly plastic free!
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It makes the card environmental unfriendly plastic waste at the end of the card’s life. And a piece of plastic is not really a postcard for me.
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I actually did that for some time until I got the laminator.
I don‘t like laminated cards. I want to get a postcard, not a piece of plastic. I understand that some handmade cards might need protection but not regular postcards. I use pens that don‘t wash away, to the writing will still be visible no matter what.
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I would much rather receive commercial cards in an envelope than laminated or covered with some sort of protective clear sheet. I feel lamination / covering destroys the feel of vintage cards completely, and with modern cards, even though I hate them being damaged, I personally would prefer the travel scars to the lamination.
That said, I don’t mind receiving handmade cards with a laminated or protected image side, because I feel like the maker intended the card to be be that way.
Whether handmade or commercial, though, having the back (message side) laminated just seems weird to me.
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