No cards from or to Norway and Sweden

Hello,
me and my mother both do postcrossing and just noticed we haven’t got any cards from Sweden or Norway, and also have not sent any to those countries. I got one from Denmark and Iceland.

Are there so few postcrossers there or why does it seem so rare?

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I’ve always found it fascinating how high the numbers of Postcrossers are in Finland (17,230) & how low the numbers are in Sweden right next door (1669) & wondered why. What cultural or historical differences contribute to those numbers?

And I understand Finland used have an even higher number of members & then high postal rates sadly affected the numbers of members.

Norway has 1252 members.

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Lucky you! I have received two postcards from Sweden and one from Norway but I haven’t got any from Iceland or Denmark :smile: There are few postcrossers in the nordic countries but I think the two you got are the rarer ones :smile: I am sure you will receive cards from Sweden and Norway eventually too.

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Wow, those numbers are really low. I have no idea why. :thinking:

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Out of the 1252 members in Norway, I would say that tops half are active, and even less who are very active.

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The cost of mail is different in each country and that probably has a lot to do with it.

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My first postcard from Sweden :sweden: arrived just this year (4 years on postcrossing, soon 400 postcards), no postcard from Iceland :iceland: and Denmark :denmark:, 3 postcards from Norway :norway: first in 2018 and last in 2019, waiting for another…

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There is just so few of us. I have so far sent 19 to Finland and received 35. I think you got just lucky with Denmark and Iceland, I haven’t got any from either! (and only one from Norway)

I wrote a lengthy reply on that in another topic long ago. I don’t even remember which topic it was and I am living in chaos this week, but if you are still curious, send me PM and I will do my best to get back to you over weekend :slight_smile:

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Mainly cost, I think. Sending a card inside Norway costs more than many other countries’ international rates.

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I drew an address in Norway a couple of weeks ago and it was to a forum member :sunglasses:

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Would you also like to share it here if you find it? I’m actually curious too.

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Finland is by far the most active nordic country. After ~1000 officials, my stats look like this:

Country Sent Received
Åland Islands 1 0
Denmark 0 0
Finland 64 45
Iceland 0 3
Norway 6 1
Sweden 3 3
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I haven’t gotten or sent any to Norway either. But I did send one to Swedan. Never got one from Swedan though.

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Sweden is not in my stats. I’ve received 2 from Denmark, 1 from Iceland and sent 2 to Norway. One of my received cards from Denmark is actually from Indonesia :rofl:.

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These are my stats:

Denmark: sent 0, received 0
Iceland: sent 0, received 1
Norway: sent 3, received 7
Sweden: sent 1, received 5

These countries do not have so many postcrossers and postal fees are high. When I was a child, there were lots of penpal ads in papers and magazines, it was very common to have penpals. International Youth Service (IYS 1952 - 2008) founded in Turku, Finland used to be the world’s largest pen friend organization for school children. We had letter writing (and also postcard sending) culture in Finland and I think that is why Finland is still so active in postcrossing. Increasing postal fees and electronical communication explain why letter writing is not so common anymore here either.

I don’t know if correspondence has been as popular in other Nordic countries. I remember that one of the representants of Posti claimed that there is practically no letter mail in Denmark and we are just a “decade behind”, our amount of addressed mail decreases in a same way. Friends in Denmark have told me that practically all official mail is electronical there (we are heading there too, for example all my bills are electronical), there are fewer deliveries (nowadays it is usually three days a week for me) and that postal fees are so high that they mail their letters in neighbouring countries. If we had the same postal fees as Denmark, I don’t think I would send as many cards and letters as I do now. The postal fees in Iceland Norway and Sweden are not cheap, either.

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I have about 1800 officials and my stats are like this:

Country Sent / Received
Åland Islands 1 / 1
Denmark 0 / 3
Finland 75 / 95
Iceland 1 / 0
Norway 4 / 10
Svalbard 1 / 0
and Jan Mayen
Sweden 5 / 7

But I must admit - if postal fees were as high here as in Scandinavia, by far I would not send so many postcards as I do now!

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Very interesting topic!
Actually, I don’t know why some countries are very active, while their neighbours aren’t. It is also the case in Eastern Asia, with China, Taiwan and Japan being very active in comparison with South Korea. And it seems hard to blame the price of stamps in that case, because stamps are very very cheap in South Korea.
Here are some data (I didn’t put Nordic countries because they don’t have minimum wages):
Compare the cost of sending a postcard in your country with other goods - Postcards & Mail / Mail, stamps & postal info - Postcrossing Community

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Interesting topic, so I share my stats so far…same experience as most of you…
Recently I changed my settings for no exchange with the own country and none to the same country at the same time…curious where this will lead :slight_smile:

Funfact :wink:
Just drew my first adress to South Korea these days :slight_smile:

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All mention costs, but actually in Poland it’s not cheap either, yet there are many postcrossers from Poland (and yes, it’s a bigger country, I already took it into account).
I’ve read that Norway and Sweden just don’t have a tradition of sending postcards and letters, definitely not as strong as Finland. So it’s cultural as well.

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