In my city (Minneapolis, MN) we have this wonderfully wild store called “Hunt and Gather.” It is basically a store of interesting good junk. Inside the store amidst other collections, there is a deep bin of postcards, some are blank - many of which already have messages written on them. Reading those postcard messages, I feel like I am peeking into another person’s personal correspondance! It is a gift not only from a different place, but another time as well. The jist of the message sometime sends me off creating what might have happened to create that script. It is a brief inside track into someone’s life! I wonder if the messages I write will ever be discovered in the barrel of history???
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I keep having this idea that, in one of my next incarnations maybe I will come across one of the cards I have sent into this world. 
Maybe I’ll find it in a cellar, in an attic, at a flea market. Maybe a relative will give me her or his collection? Who knows?
I should certainly have a special feeling about this, if I do! 
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I certainly hope they will but with people these days throwing everything away I am losing a bit of hope.
I already hear people about cutting up cards for makingnew cards of them simply because they received it double 
so those stories are lost 
(and I have to be honest most of the cards I receive through postcrossing doesn’t contain more than one sentence 
)
And let’s not forget the digital world from now and this will become even more worse in the future.
But to end on a positive note, I keep all the cards I receive and the most beautiful ones end up in my card rack 
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It hurts my heart to see how people give away their family memories… But I love going through these types of photo albums (don’t find postcards anywhere) and seeing their travels, and photos, knowing their fashion styles, the children, the happiness… Oh such beautiful times! But they are often very expensive unlike how it is in abroad, so even though i want to buy them, I can’t 
But yes the cars, the clothes, the fashion, daily life… All such beautiful 
soothes the soul…
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My heart absolutely shatters to know such is done. Once someone showed me how they cut up and keep the stamps 
i cried 
I treasure everything that is given to me though my mother threatens to throw my stuff away almost everyday 
But what concerns me how the digital world has caused people to lose the touch with writing taking and printing photos, writing letters and postcards… And how bad it will be in future breaks my heart
But but but all hope is not lost, then postcards photos and letters and stamps etc etc will be relics and we will be having goldmines
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I sometimes buy old cards. I bought a package with maybe 10, old holiday cards.
But one was a flower card, with such a sweet, exiting message:
“Stina! You have to believe that something wonderful happened to me on Wednesday! I was playing bingo and thought I will have an attack when I saw who came through the door, it was Eero! I didn’t dare to go to him, but he saw me. He asked how I was there, and I told I play bingo. After the bingo I told mum that I go out. So we drove to Borgå, we were there pretty long, I was at home only at half past twelve. Write soon!”
and what happened?
It’s like a start for a book!
The card is over 50 years old, but sounds like today too, but this story is not in whatsupp, but in this card, how cool, and already when I read this I saw myself in historic bingo hall, handsome man coming through the door 
small text in this card is like clips from a film.
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I go to the antique shop next to my house to find post cards to send. I love seeing the old ones that are from the 1900s. Life seemed so much simplier. I am wondering how people feel about getting the blank old ones as exchanges? I sent on of a train and they were very happy. Just curious.
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I sometimes find those cards on flea-markets which pop up on supermarket car parks. I recently bought some from a guy who had some cards which were more than 100 years old! One of them was a new year card to a family in Hamburg - from 1902! The picture was hand-drawn (as colour photography was too expensive in those days).
Absolutely fascinating!
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I love reading them… it’s historical research for me. I don’t feel like peeking into a private life… it’s been a long time and I won’t judge; i’ll just try to understand how life was and how the time you live in affects your way of thinking
I am a longtime postcard collector, buyer and seller. Since I have many hundreds of thousands older postcards, I thought it would be cool to pick a postcard that matched the recipients profile interest.
One of the cards I sent out was from Montreal at the turn of the century with people tobogganing. I picked that card because she said she’d like to visit Canada one day.
Even though the postcards are old. they are in excellent condition and blank so I can write a brief message.
Is there anything feedback from other postcrosses?
Would you be against receiving an older vintage postcard?
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This postcard sounds absolutely amazing! 
I would be thrilled to receive one like that. Older postcards are just special to me. They’re like little time machines, carrying the spirit of that time long gone.
Answering your question though, it really does depend on the person. Some love vintage cards, some hate it. I’d say to stay safe, check if the recipient says anything about vintage postcards on their profile. If they state they don’t like these, it’s self explanatory. If they say nothing, I think it’s fine to send one and write a personal message on the back sharing why you chose this card, what it depicts, etc. It will be obvious a lot of thought and effort went into that card, which would be hard not to appreciate I think…
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On the other hand, people have always thrown things away.
I have the correspondence between my great grandparents in the 1910s. But none of their other correspondence was preserved—and there must have been a lot of it!
It doesn’t bother me to think of my cards being thrown away. Some of them will be destroyed, some will last a few years, some may survive decades. Who knows?
If everything survives, we are buried by stuff. If nothing survives, we lose our history.
————
This reminds me of my husband’s old approach to photography. Once we switched to digital cameras, his philosophy was, keep everything! Give everything! So every once in a while he would hand the grandparents a CD (or whatever it was) of ALL the photos, good and bad, that we’d taken. They can choose which ones to print, themselves!
They hardly looked at it. It was no fun, trying to find good photos of their grandkids among the photos of flowers and cars and misfires and such.
Finally he listened, and we started printing out the best photos for them. They were grateful.
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No
I’ve been going a wee bit crazy buying some older vintage/retro/whatever we’re calling the 1990s cards, most unused, but some used. One card in a lot of them I got today was the person encouraging whoever they were writing to “Go to Sweden, it’ll just get more expensive to do so!” I chuckled at that for some reason. I am guessing this have indeed become more expensive in the 45 years since they wrote that card!
I love older cards. I just didn’t realize standard size in the US was 3.5x5.5 back in the day, so I don’t like the size though it is still postcard size according to USPS. Just worried if they’ll mail ok (most of the other lots I have coming are at least continental sized… learning so much!). I’ve received one card from the 1970s in the official side of PC, and I love it!
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In the future, as I gradually older and leave this world, these cards that I collect will be preserved by my children. But how would my grandchildren or their next generation think about postcrossing? Perhaps my descendants will think, “Oh, my great great great grandmother, whom I have never met before, is a boring postcard collecter. Why don’t I sell them and get some 
!!.” 
Or in the future, I may also become a famous person! These cards will be placed in the museum. In either case, I will never know. Since that’s the case,continue to store it in the storage box at home, or sell it by weight to postcard collectors centuries later. As long as these cards are not burned down by the fire, as long as they are still “alive” in this world,let someone know that I once existed,I think it’s enough. 
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I love reading and purchasing vintage cards. One of my favorites was a child asking his mother to bring his pet turtle when she came to visit him.
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