What a cool story! Good that you are still living at the same address and what a beautiful card! 
I always used to put my addy on the cards, then stopped and soon after the pandemic started to “rage” I have started to put the addy on the cards again, because I’d rather have it back, if it doesn’t reach the recipient. And Austria does not send to so many countries. And that sometimes changes.
I have way too many cards expiring, but none has come back home to me recently.
Or maybe the whole sorting centre moved, haha!
Haha yes 
I can’t imagine what must have happened to that poor card. Maybe it fell behind a shelf or something 
.
I don’t live at that address anymore but my mother does. And I was visiting her when the card arrived.
I was like “what on earth is this!” and sat down for a few minutes turning it over in my hands and just couldn’t believe it. When I told my mom, she thought I was trying to fool her 
I’m pondering if I should try and find the recipient so the card can finally reach its destination, or if I should keep it.
Poor thing has been through so much already. I kind of want to frame it and put it on my wall
Keep it! It is obviously meant to be YOURS! 
Incredible
Well, once I got a card form New Zealand nearly 1 year later.
It seems to go shipping delivery and visit Singapore post.
How does the stick ‘Fast’ mean 
It went via Universal Mail as seen on the stamp. It was not sent thru the official New Zealand Post but a private service called Universal Mail. I think it’s a total scam as cards can take a year to arrive and that is not unusual. Other Postcrossers have mentioned this when using these competing services rather than the official national post. As I understand it there is no cost savings in avoiding the “real” post office. I am so glad this is illegal in the USA.
Ah, don’t worry there, @GonePostal1840 . All of the official mail services can lose things. I am still waiting for my Christmas present (2020) to arrive to the USA, sent through the “official national post”. (And by the way, we don’t have one official national post in NZ; competitors can deliver mail here too, and if competitors keep the major service on its toes, so be it!).
Sorry but these services like Universal Mail have a track record of very slow service and other Postcrossers can attest to that. Besides there appears to be no cost savings in using one of these. But I do agree that the official posts have problems and certainly the US Postal Service has many, but until recently the US Postal Service has generally been reliable with a much better record than something like Universal Mail. Likewise for the other major postal systems. This is one reason these services are illegal here. Who wants to trust private messages and documents to an unregulated shady entity? Of course we do have private courier services like United Parcel (UPS), FedEx, etc. which are regulated and provide services outside of the scope of the U.S. Postal Service ( and might even do a better job of it), and therefore are exempt from the law prohibiting private posts from carrying correspondence and documents.
When you put it like that, of course no one wants to do that. But please. I take a little bit of offence jumping to conclusions that the little lamb postcard from New Zealand took a year to get to its recipient because of an unregulated shady entity. You might not know the ins and outs of our postal legalities here in New Zealand, and your comment (maybe unknowingly) puts my country down by implying it allows scams and shady businesses to operate. I will quote from the New Zealand Post website:
“The most significant regulatory responsibility for New Zealand Post came into force on 1 April 1998 with the enactment of the Postal Services Act 1998. The Act deregulated the New Zealand postal market by removing New Zealand Post’s monopoly on delivery of the standard letter. Under the Act, anyone can process and deliver mail, at any cost, as long as they registered as a postal operator with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. There are currently over 25 individual postal operators, including New Zealand Post, registered on the Ministry’s register of postal operators.”
Back to topic, the international postal system is a mysterious beast, and I love to imagine the journey each piece of mail takes, whether it is successful or not!
My most sincere apologies. I’m very sorry if I caused offence. That was certainly not my intention. And clearly the United States allows plenty of scams to operate unlike the rest of the world. Anyway, the recipient of that card did say it took a year or so to arrive and as other Postcrossers have mentioned they have had the same bad luck with these sorts of services. Any company that takes one’s money and offers less advantage over similarly priced services sounds like a business I would avoid like the plague. Universal Mail, no matter how legitimate have a track record of sloth that very few national posts do, and that is not my opinion but that of many, including other forum members, and tourists who have reported their experiences in other forums. I should have made it clear that I only mean this one company, which I believe operates in the UK and elsewhere.
Our prohibition of private services carrying private correspondence does date from a time when there were many truly shady entities offering delivery services throughout the United States. It was decided to just eliminate them altogether. The other reason is that it was felt that only a single entity such as the US Government could guarantee universal postal service at a fair price. Some people have called for the repeal of these laws and we should do as New Zealand has and regulate them. Currently there has been little support for this due to past practice as well as the generally reliable service offered by the government post (until recently). Private parcel and courier services have always been allowed and are specifically exempt from the prohibitions, and for the protection of the public are subject to the common carrier statutes. And even then, history has shown that the American public has preferred the government post (or used to). Over a century ago, the public demanded the post office carry parcels due to the unreliable service and exorbitant charges of the private parcel carriers, and this was unsuccesful for many years due to the powerful courier companies fighting the government post from carrying more than letters and packets. In 1913 the public finally prevailed and parcel post service began. Fast forward to today, and many Americans would rather NOT use the government service, but that is the history behind what we still have here.
But as you said, this is actually kinda fun!
Thanks! 
And thanks for the clarification. It’s all good.
I live close to Trier. I could hook you up with local newspapers
I went on holiday to NZ and sent cards by Universal Mail - none were delivered. Beats me why they are allowed to get away with this.
That is so crazy! I agree with the idea of trying to contact a local newspaper!
Amazing! how lucky you still live at that address!
Those sorting machines are huge and hoovering, washing, dusting etc the floors is done on a regular basis. You never know what happens in between the parts of machines. My guess is that the card somehow was blocked by the tribes of the machine (happens quite often) and landed on the floor between two pieces of machine. Then, maybe, the sorting center was moved to another place, all machines moved out and they found your card waiting to be delivered on the floor. I am no longer surprised that card sent to me or those I sent are not delivered.
Wow! That is wild!
Omg!!! So my hopes are still alive for all lost mails:)
Thank for sharing amazing story if this wonderful Postcard))
