Hello. I’m just coming here to post to let off some steam (minor problem!) about how when I changed my official address, I registered 25 cards that I never received. For people who haven’t done this before, Postcrossing will ask you if you want to register all the cards in transit or if you will take care of them with mail forwarding. I do have mail forwarded, but I prepared for this by keeping my account inactive for a long time before my move so that no new cards would be in transit. Therefore I selected “register all” cause I thought it would be more fair to others. I didn’t expect that the number of un-received cards that got registered was really high – 25!! I was expecting a much smaller number–maybe 10 maximum.
I also want to state that Postcrossing the site did nothing wrong, and I think that this was a good thing for many people who worked hard to send me a card that I never received (not their fault).
When I look at the cards I see today, there were many that were sent months ago, with IMG files, so I can see the cards that the users sent. In the United States, our mail system has been really really slow and was particularly bad around the holidays. So I think a lot of these cards got lost in our mail. But I also see some cards that have been traveling a long time where the user has not been active for a long time, so I’m not sure that person really sent a card.
Anyway, I am trying to balance my feelings about this. I know when I send cards I put a lot of thought into trying to pick the best card I have for the recipient (plus it is not cheap), and lost cards make Postcrossing not that fun. Still, I really like to receive cards, and I feel a little bit disappointed.
Sending to the USA has been an absolute nightmare for the past year or so, it’s been better for me lately but I know of people who have several cards expired and probably lost forever to the USA (I only have one which will drop off the system in a couple of days). From some countries in Europe, sending to the USA is ridiculously expensive so I know of a lot of disappointed people from the sender’s side.
Things have been getting lost in the post since the post existed, unfortunately. I literally spent the 1990s worrying about letters since at the time you had no other way to contact your penpal if a letter never made it. It is nice of Postcrossing to offer to register anything outstanding when one moves - I agree 25 is quite a lot but if your postal system has had all those problems we know of (and were discussed at length when it was at its worst a few months ago), what is there to do? Maybe a complaint to them is what is needed.
Also maybe some of these cards weren’t on the way that long and could technically still make it? Though if you were inactive for a while that is unlikely I guess.
The notion of people not actually sending the postcards is interesting - I like to believe that would be a very small minority (so it wouldn’t really affect your lost cards), but what do I know. I am actually not sure from your post what it is that makes you sad… the fact that these cards never made it, or that it looks that some people didn’t send them? From the title I thought you were surprised that Postcrossing registered them but obviously that’s not the case as you followed the process.
I understand your feeling of disappointment, 25 is a large amount indeed. Is it possible to retrieve the cards from your previous address after some time? I believe those cards are either still on the way or lost. It’s very unlikely that people upload the picture without sending. I remember cards to USA were fast years ago, no slower than to Europe. But it has become unreliable lately and I don’t know why, hope everything will get back to normal before long. Good news is that most cards did arrive in the end.
I think this would be rare. I hope!
I have 6 expired to the USA between 90 - 357 days. All have been sent the same or the next day I got the address.
( But this is kind of funny, that you think if the cards were sent at all, and in another thread someone thought if someone actually got the card, but did not register it. Suspicions in both ways .)
But, 25 is really a lot. I think you will receive at least some of them.
I sometimes wonder how many cards is travelling to me, but in reality, I don’t want to know. I already know at least one is travelling way over time, and every day I hope it arrives. (The sender asked if it arrived, so that’s how I know.)
Hello there, I was one of them who (really!) sent you a card. I just came here to the forum to ask, whether my card really or just virtually arrived (it was the 2nd time for me postcrossing registered a card instead of the receiver) and found your message here. What a coincidence!
I went to my stats to find out how long my cards usually travel to the USA. That time I had an average travel time of 47 days, but most of them made it within one or two weeks. Perhaps this helps you to find out, when my card to you might have gone lost.
Expired cards are sad and sometimes even make me angry when I suppose one person just gave up. Recently I even had a lost card within Germany, but another one was just forgotten to register. That`s life!
I hope you can enjoy all the images of the cards and wish you a great summer
.)