Our Belpost prepares Maxicards for almost every other issued stamp. Maxicards are available in online shop of belpost for several years.
I’ve sent such cards many times. Our post has a rule - every cancellation is dated and every cancelled stamp is valid for 3 days since cancellation - that mean that if you sent a maxicard before the 3 days had passed - it will be processed taking into account nominal of the cancelled stamp, if you put your card into postbox later - you need to add a number of extra mint stamps on any side of the card to pay your sending.
that also means that when I decide to send the first card on a picture I will have to pay additionaly full price of sending the card and the fact that it already contains the stamp with nominal “H” (that is enought to send an enveloped letter) won’t be taken into consideration.
I only learned about maxicards here. Like some others, I first thought they are big cards. Then I thought they are made by printing an enlarged copy of a stamp or finding a card with the same image as in the stamp. But then in one profile I saw something like “maxicards (maximum cards issued by post office)” and eventually I found at they are a real thing! And I fell in love.
I added maxicards to my wishes and this was the first card I received (I absolutely love it!):
Since then, I have received 5 maxicards in total on the official site. They are all my favorite cards. This is my latest, I got it last month:
Eventually, I had no Finnish maxicards but I have been able to get them through second hand channels. As far as I know Finnish Post doesn’t currently sell any. Now I am eagerly waiting for my next maxicard profile so I can finally send one!
It seems that this misunderstanding is quite common! I have maxicards in my wishlist and I received a very big card from Germany once. The sender wrote - it wasn’t easy to find such a big one… I hope you’ll like this… maxicard! And I hesitaed long, a part of me was saying - be polite and pretend it was exaclty what you wanted. But another part was saying - don’t lie, she would find out the truth eventually, so it’s better to explain now.
Well in the end I didn’t dare to tell her the truth
Awww… Im not sure how i would feel if they told me. im glad i think i learnt it this way on my own… smoother! And nobody was born knowing! So I learnt to not judge too harsh either!
I had no idea what these were or that they existed. I went today and had a look in the post office and found some pre-post marked cards - is that what they are, or are they different again? I don’t understand how I can buy a postcard with postage for $2.40 and send it anywhere in the world, and yet I have my own postcard (that I’ve purchased elsewhere) and send it to Europe and it costs $3.20! I asked today when I purchased how can that be - how come I pay more with my own cards - and she couldn’t explain it (she may have been new to the role)
It’s definitely real - I’ve been using these cards for years.
Australia Post makes both pre-paid regular cards, which are $2.40 each, and pre-paid maxicards, which vary a little in price depending on the stamps. They are usually around $2.00 each, but more expensive if the stamp used is expensive. Plus with the maxicards, you have to buy the full set, you can’t get them individually.
Post offices usually only have a small selection, there are a lot more in the online store (postcards, maxicards). But be warned, it’s a terrible website.
I’ve no idea how the maths works! I guess maybe it’s their way of compensating tourists/postcard types - they can still charge the higher rates to businesses who still send letters.
Yes. Maxi cards must have a stamp cancelled on the image side of the card to be considered a maxicard.
It can be cancelled with a standard (non-special) date stamp and still be considered a maxi card.
What I appreciate most about Deutsche Post is the friendly service for philately! I used to send my request to Berlin & Weiden every month and really enjoy that. At first I was unfamiliar with the rules and therefore made some mistakes. Thankfully, the staff replied with detailed explanation each time
That’s just amazing! I wish we had a similar service here in Finland. I think I would send all my mail there. I just love fancy cancellations. Sadly they practically don’t exist here anymore.
This maxicard is the first maxicard that I have ever received. It’s about the Battle of Frankenhausen on May 14-15, 1525. The battle is a pivotal event of the German Peasants’ War, according to Wikipedia. It seems that the stamp is issued by the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, German Democratic Republic) in 1989!
This one is from the Netherlands, with the St. Barbara stamp from Liechtenstein. St. Barbara is a Roman Catholic Saint who lived in the third century. She was sentenced to death by beheading and executed by her father.
A fun fact is that the county my university is located in, Santa Barbara Co., CA, United States, is named after the saint. If the card can come to me several months later (after I return to campus), it can be a St. Barbara card with a St. Barbara stamp addressed to some guy in Santa Barbara County!
Any many more cards received by direct swap and forum games:
The fruits on the card and on the stamp are both litchi (lychee), and the name of the PO from which this card was sent out is 荔枝湾 Lizhi Wan (lit. Litchi Bay). This card is part of a meet-up card series, involving many cities in China.
(I went to the Oct 3, 2020 Kunshan Meet-up and Oct 24, 2020 Suzhou Meet-up and got two cards of this series, loquat and peach.)
I sent the cards to the special cancellation office on March 2 and got them back today. I’m very happy with them! I’ll make another set when the Bundesgartenschau stamps will be released in April.
I was shopping for more postcards yesterday (not that I need more, but you know how it is) and came across some Swiss Maximum cards from the 1980s, so bought some to send out. This is one oof the designs which went into the post this morning.
Great! Maybe you’re also interested in the Sonderstempel with Easter Bunny? It’s easy to find matching stamps and postcards for making such a maxicard.
I’ve done that twice and feel really excited to make every recipient smile
BTW, I also enjoy the stamps with lovely Felix. There are quite a few cute stamps for Easter!
I don’t know if they’ll even notice it, but since they were all Easter cards, I hope they’ll!
Do you have any ideas which card motives I could use for the Bundesgartenschau Erfurt stamps? I thought of different parks and gardens, but I fear I have none that show parks and gardens in Erfurt.
I wish we had a similar service here in Finland. I think I would send all my mail there. I just love fancy cancellations. Sadly they practically don’t exist here anymore.
maxicard to my collection
A good idea!
