The US international rate is actually about 60 cent cheaper than our national one…
In France, the postage for a stamp to the world and Europe is € 1.47.
And I am not talking about the card itself. A French postcard can be very expensive: you rarely find one for less than two euros per unit (with the exception of tourist cards, but it all depends on the region).
We do not all have the same budget, it costs me quite a lot but it is a passion. And like every passion, we put in what it is possible to put. I give a lot if I can, and less if I can’t.
It is normal to receive a lot of cards from a country like Germany because this also goes in relation to the number of members that the country contains.
It was interesting to read your comments.
It is nice to receive cards from all over the world, but what matters most to me is what others write on the back of the card and not necessarily the postmark.
Have a beautiful day and happy postcrossing
Mélody
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I have almost always deactivated that option, but even if not, it wouldn’t help a lot… as usually cards within Germany take 1 day to be delivered and then my address is in the pool again.
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I love this 
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I like the surprise and the randomness. If I wish to send (or receive) more to(from) one specific country I use the forum tags, RRs, Postcrossing on Facebook.
I also think we should not punish good behaviour. We want people to join Postcrossing and participate, so what do we do, we limit their use?! That’s crazy! For me it’s: Welcome everyone the more the merrier!
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It would be nice to exclude postcrossers in a circle of 100km. Instead of blocking your country.
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Why is it not just a simply ‘first in first out’ kind of thing?
I don’t mind sending or receiving postcard from my own country (and it would be cheaper as well). I have checked off that I do want to send and received from my own country, but so far I have sent only 9 card and received only 4 card from Norway.
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I definitely agree that the button “Sent to your own country” should be mandatory for certain (or for all) countries. The problem with amount of accounts from Germany, Russia, USA is quite annoying and the system should be fair for everyone
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The Postcrossing system cannot raise the number of active Postcrossers in rare countries, for it can neither reduce the postage in those countries nor can it make the post there more reliable nor faster nor can it make postcards available there. So Postcrossing can hardly do anything to make more addresses available in rare countries. And more and more countries raise the postage and worsen the postal service.
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I just thought this, why is a general assumption members don’t send within their own country? Is it so? No.
I looked a few: from my quick take, about 70% of Germans do send within their country. I checked 60 members, from which 42 had received a card from Germany (I only looked the last 25 received from the list). So it can be even more.
Members were newish with few sent, and old with thousands of sent.
But it showed what I think: German sending in their country will quickly get the more slots. A member about a moth here had already 6 sent, and Australian newish this time, maybe not even one.
In USAn members about 78% had received card from USA in the last 25 of their received!
Also multiple profiles cause imbalance.
I really start to think, is the “problem” caused that the rest of those don’t send within their country, or maybe rather, that so many already do?
Did no one else ever check this?
I think the team has the info, and of course I know I took only small amount, and members can change this, so it’s not always the same.
Should it (rather) be, forbid (certain countries) to choose “send to own country”.
(In reality, I don’t like mandatory doing anything, especially different countries have different rules.)
So, if the rest of those would choose send to own country, would it help?
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@borealis
I see you do not seem to be interested in direct swaps now, but in this case, why not direct swaps on the Postcrossing forum ?
This way, you can always ask you would like to receive cards from various countries and not from the top 3 countries you mentioned above. At the same time, you can be picky about cards.
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I have received 6 official cards from the U.S. this month. I don’t mind, but it was a bit different than my usual mix of countries.
Very sorry to have annoyed you! 300 million people over 5 time zones can certainly seem like the same experience again and again.
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I am happy to send postcards to my country, including on the forum.
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To be honest, I’m tired of hearing people complaining that so many cards come from DE, RU and US.
Why can’t we just be happy with the way things are?
We are all postcrossers.
Someone chooses a nice card and write to someone they don’t know a few sentences about their life, how they spent the day or something else.
And all this to make a stranger happy.
It shouldn’t really matter which country the card comes from.
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I disagree that you picked out one person for your personal frustration.
You could have written this in general as part of the discussion. Even yellowblocked it.
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@Bille I completely share your sentiments personally, but acknowledge that many others don’t. It shouldn’t matter, but frankly to some it does. Having said that, such strong statements and labeling folks as complainers may discourage others from expressing their viewpoints (or frustrations, complaints, etc.), however tiresome or vexing we may find them, especially coming from a person of authority in this forum.
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And the other way round it may discourage people from sending and receiving postcards on the main site. At least it discourages me (and not only a few more people, which I know for sure) and nowadays I only draw addresses at some special occassions and the rest of the year I take part in RR, mostly in the German forum and in private swaps to avoid getting in touch with people who are frustrated about “the same three countries”.
Life’s too short (and also too fantastic) for being frustrated about people who dislike postcards from “the big 3”, so I avoid such confrontations nowadays 
Bille is not only an authority in this forum but also a private person and I think she can tell her opinion as any other user, regardless of her role as a moderator!
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The way I see it is that even if it’s the same country, it’s coming from different cities, regions, etc. It’s not like every card is coming from the same exact city or the exact same person.
To expand that, each card is from a different person! And each message unique to that person, who takes the time to pick out a card, fill out the card & mail it! Every card is unique, too.
I am just grateful when I find postcards in my mailbox. I hope fellow Postcrossers know that little piece of mail brings me joy, and I hope mine do, too.
The majority of my cards come from the forum, where there are opportunities to get cards from specific countries if that’s what is wanted.
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