Hello fellow Aussie Postcrossers
Just wondering if you have been receiving your postcards in large batches lately? I seem to go awhile without many postcards, getting a few here and there and then suddenly a huge amount arrives all at once.
This pattern seems to be happening more and more often. Just wondering what the experience of others have been?
Actually I was wondering the same thingā¦
My sister (who lives in Belgium) sent me a letter the first week of March and sent me another letter the first week of April. They arrived at the same day! (yesterday)
Iām not sure about postcrossing cards, because they arrive very irregularly anyway. But I must say, after a long āsilenceā I got 3 yesterday and 3 todayā¦
Yup ā¦ same in Canada.
A large postal distribution centre has struggled with several Covid outbreaks, resulting in worker shortages, etc.
So, I remain patient as we all muddle through these unprecedented timesā¦ and grateful when a batch of postcards arrives. On those days ā¦ itās like my mailbox is filled with gifts of joy from around the world! 
A lot of mail gets transported in commercial flights, and with so many borders closed and practically no tourists traveling around, there have been much less flights in the past year. The few that make it through are probably packed to the brim with all the goods that need to be importedā¦ including all our postcards. 
Donāt they realise how important our postcards are?? 
Are you still getting deliveries every day? If so, Iām jealous, we get standard post only every second business day now. So between all the mess with restricted flights in/out, and reduced deliveries, I can go weeks without anything and then suddenly everything arrives at once, with postmarks weeks or even months apartā¦
Iām not sure to be honest. 
We donāt get mail every day, but that could just be us not getting mail. 
Thatās exactly what I have experienced. Last month, I received 4 and 7 postcards on different two days. It usually comes after a long weekend. Guess the post office in my region knows that I play Postcard. So they collect my cards and deliver them in one day so they donāt need to travel to my place for just one card. I donāt mind this at all. At least they are taking care of my card. So far I didnāt miss any postcards.
That you know of 
I find majority of my postcards arrive on a Tuesday and the travel times have increased. Quite a few of my Sent travel much longer than they used to pre-pandemic.
Some of the times make me feel that they went by sea.
I ordered some maxis and prepaids last Tues arvo and they were delivered this morning 
Iāve never had a Sunday dlelivery before. The man from the van told me they were so inundated with parcels they have to work Sundays or theyād be delivering late at night! Iām so pleased common sense has prevailed as I feel a bit sorry for my regular guy chugging along in his golf buggy style cart loaded up with all sorts of things. The local Posties tell me theyād much rather deliver every day. To think my guy used to ride a bike not so long ago. Anyway, Iāll order again this Tue when the Queens Birthday is released.
My local Post Office confirmed that a lot of mail is going by sea these days. She did say that there was a shortage of ships! I wonder if that is because so many crew are ill or the cargo space is full due to other freight that would usually go by air.
I am still waiting for majority of my unofficial WPD postcards to arrive OS that I sent 2 weeks before 1 Oct. I have had a couple of officials sent on 1 Oct arrive though, but travel times are over 30 days, whereas previously the average was 21 ish days.
If they send our postcards via sea, then they should decrease the postage. And delete the āAir mailā logo on Maxicard.
I find that my address is also given out in batches. So far, I have received 23 cards that were āsentā on 5th November. On that date, I only had one more card sent than received ā¦ although I did have 62 travelling because they travel so slowly.
When I register them all, I then have to wait weeks (sometimes more than a month) before anything arrives again. And then all sent on the same day again. Frustrating.
ā¦ and still they come ā¦ 40 cards so far where my address was given out on 5th November. And so many expired cards - travelling in that 90-150 period.
I guess that it will only get worse as the pandemic ploughs on.
Forty cards, thatās amazing. I remember once figuring out my address was given out more than 15 times in about 24 hours even though my max to send at the time was less than 10, I guess maybe that scales up as your max increases?
But it does kind of take the surprise out of it if you know youāll get a ton all in one go and then nothing for ages. My stats graph is pretty stable for sent cards but my received graph is like a wave with big ups and downs.
Thatās my excuse for going nuts on the forum, I have to even out the gaps. 
I found an old thread where thereās lots of discussion about your address being given out in batches and some people tried going inactive to minimise this. I donāt know if it proved effective or not, but it sounded like a lot of work to me anyway so I didnāt bother following up 
I feel like Iām a whinger ā¦
Delivery today. Unusual to have delivery on Saturday, but there hasnāt been a lot of action by AP this week. 17 cards in this batch. Nine of them were sent on 5th November taking that total to 49.
Iāve spent the better part of the morning registering them. Itās hard to be enthusiastic and to make a connection with people if it takes hours to register. I send one card a day in the hope that Iāll receive one card a day ā¦
Now my received are 24 more than sent.
What was I going to do with my Saturday?
Oh registering that many in one go isā¦ a lot. Sucks the joy out of it. Iād be inclined to leave them in a pile and tackle a few a day, or whatever I was up for at the time.
I wonder if the logic of the algorithm is, give the address in one go and everyoneās different postal systems will spread them out. But then since thereās such limited incoming to Australia it all gets backed up and delivered in one go anyway? Just a theory.
Your postie must think youāre a celebrity as they drop off 17 postcards in one day