In Malaysia, there are not many postcards from my own country that I’m interested in because there are very few options for touristy cards here. Based on what I experienced, the only unique place to get postcards from is Malaysian Borneo, there are many publishers there but sadly not many postcrossers there. Other cards can all be bought online because no matter the brand, it’s always the same people printing and selling them If I receive a card that I know where to buy from locally, it makes the experience less wholesome.
Also, based on my experience turning such a mode on on another postcard website, I receive lots of very “low quality” cards. Yes there are great ones undeniably but there are also people who send a card with only one sentence of words written on it. Oh gosh I hate those ngl If it’s so hard to write to a local, must well just write only to foreigners
I’ll still stick to domestic+ intl mode for that site, but not Postcrossing. It’s to balance and minimizing risk, that’s all
For my first two years I had it off. I only just recently turned it on.
I had it off for a while for the same reasons as you. That and I wanted to get some postcards from a bunch of different countries before getting them from my own. A huge reason for that is that America is in the top 3 for senders and I was worried that I would get a disproportional amount from the U.S. After getting a bunch from other places I decided to turn it on because I kind of thought to myself and realized that different parts of the U.S have very different cultures and I can still learn about other customs and traditions that I wouldn’t normally. For example southern traditions are very different than ones from New England.
I’ll probably go back to only getting postcards from non-U.S countries soon though because I’d like to get a bigger variety of different countries (if that makes sense). I just wanted to get a few postcards from my own country though.
I wanted to send and receive cards only outside my country but then I thought it would go faster if I also put my own country as I am new on Postcrossing and it is very slow at the beginning,but I don’t draw a lot of US address and I still have a lot of different countries so It’s ok for now.
Although I haven’t done a whole lot of Postcrossing yet, I have never turned that option on simply because local postcards don’t interest me nearly as much as international. This may be because I find the UK quite small and would probably feel differently if I lived in the USA or Russia for example. I’ve already been to pretty much every part of my country so I just don’t feel much novelty from it. Perhaps after having done it for a lot longer I will change my mind, but I will probably only do domestic postcards if there’s something I’m particularly interested in, so it wouldn’t be an official one anyway.
I have never turned on the option to send within my own country since I already send and receive a lot of postcards within the US for reasons outside of Postcrossing. Occasionally, I have received Postcrossing cards from within the US from people who have never bothered to switch their account to travel mode while they are traveling to the US.
I enjoy sending and receiving postcards from local people. It’s a chance to make new friends. Postcards from Hong Kong are very beautiful too Even I know where to buy them, I won’t mind receiving them.
I turned this on only a few weeks ago, but being in Norway I don’t think I will get to send or receive many Norwegian cards as we are a pretty small country and not that many active Postcrossers
I have always had the option turned on, but it wouldn’t make much difference if I turned it off : out of about 800 postcards, I only received 6 and sent 1 (yeah!) from and to Italy
Why I keep it on? Because in Italy there are a lot of beautiful place, and would love to see some of them on postcards, especially if they are not very famous ones
I’ve been switching the setting back and forth every 60 days. I’m in the US and about 20% of my cards are to/from US. The US is such a diverse country that I find it just as interesting as international, but I also like the thrill of drawing or receiving a completely new country.
At the very beginning, I also thought the same: that I’d like to hear from different countries.
However, I changed my mind after a few months, for the following reasons: the country I lived in (UK) was not my native country anyway and I figured there would be so many places and landscapes to surprise me. Also, I realised it’s relatively rare to send/receive from a lot of countries so I wouldn’t be swamped with cards from the UK. This must be very different if you’re in the USA, Germany or Russia given how active these countries are. Outside these 3 countries, this option makes very little difference, I think.
During the time I had it on and lived in the UK, I sent to the UK 3 times…2 of which in travel mode! And received only once.
The option is still on but I live in Singapore and I think the place is too small to send/receive from own country. I’d love to but I assume it’s impossible.
This is true. It would be a little like (areawise) an European choosing not to send within Europe (which we can’t choose), if one in USA doesn’t send and receive within USA.
Maybe I would send within my country if I lived in the USA (there is also the possibility to have an PO box address there).
I had disabled this option only once. That was about four or five years ago. I don’t even remember why I did that. Curiosity? Well, anyway, after the 60 days, I immediately activated the Option again, because for me personally there is no reason to leave my own country out. I neither find postcards from Germany boring nor do I have security concerns.
There are so many beautiful areas in Germany that I don’t know yet and maybe never will see and in more than 9 years there has never been a single incident that made me wonder if it might be better to extend the distance to potential senders.
The only strange what happened came from the US: A user who wrote that they always google the home of the recipients and have a look via street view as they want to know exactly where and how the recipients live. Well, too bad for them that I don’t live in a single house in the middle of nowhere and they cannot have a close look inside
This made me just wonder, nothing else, but I understand that maybe some people would be a bit worried about such things.
I live in the USA and I’ve always had it off.
My first intention when joining Postcrossing was my interest in receiving international mail. For me, receiving international cards is like a glimpse into another part of the world. I have lived is several different places in the USA on both west and east coasts, and have made cross country trips many times. While I am sure I am missing out on some potentially fascinating US postcrossers and cards, I can accept that.
I also have a number of friends spread out in the USA with whom I exchange personal mail and postcards with, so I am lucky to be already receiving wonderful US mail.
Secondly, my next motivator was personal security. I realize names are not given in one’s own city, but I have always lived in well populated areas, that are close to other cities and towns. I didn’t want the expense of a P.O. Box, nor do I have time to go back and forth to a P.O. Box, especially since I have lived in apartments most of my adult life, so there’s not always a post office nearby.
Since last year, I do have clicked on the box for sending more mail to one country, so I have now been sending a lot of cards to Germany for the past several months. Like most of them. That’s ok for now. When I want more variety again, I unclick the box again.
I used to send domestic cards on another website and it wasn’t a good experience. Very often I would never get an acknowledgement or mail would not be delivered. Sometimes it would take a month for a card to be delivered. I was put off by those experiences, so I’ve never turned on the domestic option here. In terms of Postcrossing, my country is not big on sending cards and I’d much rather see my card go to an international member.
If I receive a card that I know where to buy from locally, it makes the experience less wholesome.
Even I know where to buy them, I won’t mind receiving them.
