That’s what me and my parents do as well
It is just a tradition for me to send cards
This post made me remember when my brother and I were kids back in the 1980s, and our parents took us on road trips. We always wanted to send postcards home to our grandparents, but our parents always told us that there was no point because we would get home before the postcards arrived. I don’t know why they thought that mattered. 
If we wanted to, we could buy postcards for them, and give them to them in person once we got home, but that seemed way less fun to us, so we didn’t do it very often. It made me feel like there were some unwritten rules about postcards - that you should only send them if you were going to another country or were going far enough away from home that you’d be gone longer than a week. Once, we were in the US on a longer trip and we were allowed to send postcards home from one location (including a card to ourselves), but none of those cards ever did arrive – talk about disappointing!
We knew the thrill of getting a postcard in the mail, because one set of grandparents traveled internationally and would send us cards, and we had an aunt who sometimes went to the USA and would always send us one too, so it was a bummer for us that we couldn’t do the same for them in return. Now that I am older, I always try and send postcards home to someone, especially now that I have little nieces. It’s nice to know that someone thought of you and took the time and effort to write and mail you something while they were off having fun somewhere else! Plus, if you’re like me and keep them all, you end up saving a little moment in time and a physical connection to people you’ve lost - I love being able to hold a postcard in my hand and see a message just for me in my grandparents’ handwriting!
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A lot of the time it is hard to send cards to people just because you don’t have the addresses. And people move a lot too so that makes it harder to keep up with. Just a logistics issue. I would have sent out even more Christmas cards than I did if I had all of the addresses on hand.
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I keep all the cards and notes my grandma has sent me! The thought and the messages are so great. I know I will be able to reread them and smile for many years.
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I was a bit obsessed in the past about sending cards early in the holiday so that they would arrive before I came back 
Now I’m not that fussed, also because I don’t live where my old friends/family live so it’s not like they’ll see me before they see my postcard… 
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My two cents.
I like postcards because I like the stamp cancellation on the postcard too. I don’t really like greeting cards sent inside envelope because that it is two piece items that I need to keep. It is hard for me to throw away greeting cards, I will display them in the living room but after the season is over, I will discard them - I cut out the stamp on the envelope and discard the envelope though I do save some envelopes if they are mailed from faraway.
When I travel I send out postcards to others. I still send send greeting cards to a few close family members. But I am surprise that quite a number of people told me not to bother to send them postcards as they don’t keep them and it is a waste to discard them.
So my short response, there are many I know who do not care about receiving a postcard or greeting cards and may be uncomfortable receiving them because they do not send them to others.
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A card or a letter are much more important to me than a quickly typed message. Nowadays I also exchange long e-mails (mailed letters, because of the costs and travel times of usual mail). But I hate staying in contract with short WhatsApp messages only or receiving e-cards at Christmas time. I love reading my cards and letters again and again. That’s it. Perhaps I will have one in my mailbox today
I’ve had the opposite where I asked friends going on holiday to send me a postcard and they would say there was no point because they would be back before the card arrived. I keep telling them that I don’t care, I just want the postcard, but they don’t seem to get it!
My husband doesn’t get it either. He knows I like postcards so when he goes somewhere for work, he buys me postcards, but he doesn’t send them, he just puts them blank in his luggage and give them to me when he comes back. I want them written, stamped and sent in the mail!
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I collect newspaper clippings too! Would love to write you and send some from Singapore. And a teabag or 2! Always fascinated with newspapers in other countries.
Sadly postcards sent is moving towards culture heritage. The golden age of sending postcards was around 1920. In these years Norwegian post had over 10 million cards to deliver. Today maybe 10% of this figure. I collect handhold items that can make life to times and places my ansestors lived in. And suitable to organize in folders (A4) together with personages. I am thankfull for what postcards can give me. But I am now last generation in my family that send postcards. Me as collector are now considered nerd with an extinct hobby.
This resonates! My parents would tell me the same when we travelled around Alberta ( and we always only travelled Alberta for vacation). I was allowed to buy postcards for my collection, but not mail them home to anyone.
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In Japan there is a culture to send a new year’s card so that’s still a thing where the postal service lives on.
While I don’t expect birthday cards, I do like the idea of receiving something personal in the mail.
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I have a collection of letters, cards, and yes , postcards from the 1920’s thru 50’s that my mother had saved that were sent between family members. I found an entire box of them while I was cleaning out her house after she passed away.
The design, style, postmarks and even addressing is so interesting and so different than today!!
True vintage for sure!
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Well, if I didn’t want to correspond with real text, I would not have come to postcrossing. I always try to tell a story or write something encouraging on the back of a postcard so that people can read it and be happy.
Like, it’s so nice to know that someone was sitting and wasting time writing something just for you! Or when they send you a card according to your preferences, it’s so nice!
I remember a friend of mine advised me on an app that was kind of postcrossing, but completely electronic. That is, you have to write there, glue stamps, an electronic postcard takes the same amount of time as a real one, but … why? That is, for whom was it done at all? I’m on postcross to exchange real, paper mail. Or is it for those who feel sorry for money for postcards? I don’t know, but it loses all the value of the process.
A handwritten letter is always nicer than an email, although I have nothing against email correspondence.
If I wanted to make sure a message was sent, I would just opt for electronic communication.
The postal service isn’t 100% reliable and that can depend on the country you’re sending it to.
Not to mention I don’t remember people’s addresses hahah.
I still enjoy postal mail though, so if I can I try to send birthday cards at least.