Today, for the first time since I have started with Postcrossing, I have received a letter instead of a postcard. The envelope contained a one page letter, which is fine, but no card. So, nothing to scan and put on my “Received” wall, no picture to collect. I have to admit that I’m a bit disappointed. 
The person said that she had “none of my favorites”, but my profile states “… every postcard is welcome”.
Has anyone ever experienced the same? Is it okay to feel cheated ?
Was there an ID number on the letter? If yes, that’s not a postcard and should be reported, then the mods can deal with it.
If you haven’t registered the card, this is exactly the sort of thing you should report to the admins beforehand using the “contact” feature on the main page.
You are owed a postcard, not a letter, and this needs to be explained to the sender.
Yes, there was an ID on the letter.
Congratulations! You have received an item from someone who can’t be bothered with following the rules. I’ve gotten bookmarks and other assorted junk. Report them to the Admins at once…
I would feel cheated too.
First of all, when we state our favourites in a whishlist, we are stating suggestions. In reality, we have to register EVERY card we get regardless of whether it is on our wish list or not. So the excuse that they did not have one of your favourites is moot.
Secondly, it is more expensive to send a letter than to send a card. I have no idea what they gain from doing so.
They could have made a card themselves (from a piece of cereal box) and put some effort into creating a card. I personally would have appreciated that more since I care about the writing side as much as I care about the image.
You wrote this in your profile: “I have no postcard preferences, it just makes me happy to open the mailbox and find a postcard or letter in it.”
It might sound ambiguous to non-native English speakers.
That’s not true everywhere. In the US, for instance, it is cheaper to send a postcard than a letter inside the country, but internationally, it is the same price.
Oh, so that is where it comes from. No one in 8 years ever misunderstood that sentence. Especially as it says “I have no postcard preferences” which implies that every postcard is fine. It was a general statement, meaning that I’m happy about the letters I receive (from my pen pals, of which I have plenty). For me it was always clear that Postcrossing is about sending postcards. But yeah, I will change that sentence then, in order to avoid future misinterpretations.
This reminds me of a story that I read in the Old Forum. A man felt cheated because the person who drew his address wrote a letter instead of a postcard. The writer was a newbie and didn’t speak English. This could be what happened.
You could always take a picture of the stamp and upload it as your picture.
Depends. Has a person written a long letter? Why would you be disappointed? If s/he put efforts in doing so and wrote something, why being so bothered? I always want to say so much, and I don’t find enough space on a postcard to do so.
I am a native English speaker and even to me this sounds like a letter is fine. I would change the profile, register it and move on. It was a simple mistake.
Sorry for spying on your profile 
I saw your received list and noticed that the sender is a newbie.
There are members who ask for letter. An active (old) forum member from France clearly wrote in his profile that we can send him a letter instead of a postcard.
Recently I wrote letters to 2 members from US who also asked for letter. However I attached blank cards in the envelope.
Are they wrong for requesting letter instead of postcard? Not really.
It is said that we are here for connection. Letter is a good medium to make connection.
In my 11 years participating in Postcrossing, I have received some odd correspondence, including letters (only about 5 max). These letters usually are written with the misunderstanding that I will write back. Perhaps it is a language issue here, and that’s okay - it’s super diverse here. I still register the letter and in my reply I kindly let them know that this platform is for postcards, not penpals (although penpalling might stem from an interaction on PC).
One letter stands out in memory: a young man from China wrote to me a two page letter detailing where he is from, his studies at school, and his family life. He included a few (3 or 4) photographs of himself and other photos with his friends. It felt rather personal receiving such correspondence! Especially adding the fact that he expected a reply with photos of myself, too! Don’t get me wrong - the message of the postcard is more important to me than the postcard itself, but I found this letter to be just a bit intimate. I still thanked him for his letter and reminded him that Postcrossing has a different mission. I do wonder what he’s up to, though…
Sorry for the little rant, just wanted to share this experience from some years ago.
When I opened an account, I wasn’t very clear what a postcard is. I was excited to find a website to exchange mail and ready with my pen and paper to write a letter 
.
Thankfully, I did some more research before sending anything and sent a real postcard… So, yeah if it is new member it might be genuine mistake. But, good to tell the admins, so that admins can inform the user.