The more I learn about Postcrossing, the more admiration I have for the complexity of algorithm that makes this site work. It is a balancing act & while not perfect, it does a pretty amazing job.
I was a bit frustrated at the very beginning with the limits, but I just did a ton of direct swaps & now do some with the forum and that works well.
This IS snail mail & it involves patience, some frustration & some mystery and that’s what I’m coming to appreciate more & more as time goes by.
Same here. I’m a sporadic Postcrosser. I’ll send a bunch of postcards all at once and then none for several weeks. Whenever I want to send more than my limit, I join a round robin. I just joined the Boring round robin in the Weird RR group. I inherited a bunch of cards from a friend and I’ve got several cards of places like parking lots that make me wonder why someone would bother to make or buy such a postcard. I’m so excited that I can finally use them!
thanks for all the inputs, personally i think 11 gifted after 100 sent is low. it takes alot of commitment to even get that in the first place.
I think the starting numbers for beginners is perfect, but i would like to see atleast 2 open spots every 50 sent, one every 50 is very low.
With my thoughs said i have never heard of anyone cherry picking and i think thats totally unacceptable and if youre doing that and see this thread; Shame. I know i have been seeing people hoarding cards for weeks until they get a stack and then claiming it and that makes me upset for the sender waiting for it to be delivered.
Well, once you have more slots, you’ll get the next 50 quite easy, so I still think 1 slot each 50 cards is enough, but how about one more slot after 60, 70 and 125 sent, so that the 50er steps start, when one has sent 150 cards?
Hi all,
Just happened to stumble upon this thread while searching the Postcrossing site for more information about sending limitations. While I agree with the majority of what’s being said (yes, I read the whole thread) about these limitations, as a new Postcrosser, I am incredibly frustrated with only being able to send 5, 6, 7 at a time. We (my husband and I) joined Postcrossing in December 2021 and we can currently have 8 cards travelling at a time. These last 3.5 months getting started has been absolutely agonizing for us. It has been hard to maintain interest when we can only send 1 postcard every 1-1.5 weeks, after having sent the initial 5 all on the day we joined the site.
Myself personally, the cost and time commitment is a non-issue and honestly, I would like to devote 1-2 hours per day to Postcrossing (yes, I realize I am probably a “rare breed”). I have been participating in Round Robins, Tags, etc. in the forums - but it’s just not the same. I really like the statistics aspect of Postcrossing and being able to see exactly where your postcards have been going and have the photo and map to track/remember it. I would much rather be able to send more “official” postcards.
I wish there were a way to specifically request “extra” postcards above-and-beyond your limit…at the very least, as a new Postcrosser. Especially if you’ve shown that you request/send/receive/register reliably. It would be absolutely amazing if I could just be “bumped” up to having 40-50 available slots… I realize this would almost certainly be a complete logistical/programming nightmare.
Also, completely a side note regarding the “cherry-picking” of addresses if the limitations are higher…what the heck? I can’t even fathom that someone would even do that??!
Cheers,
Tara
But I can. And you can do, too. Just look out for the complaints about always sending to the same countries. Many people would draw addresses until they get a rarer country. But on the other side they know that cards and postage are pricey and would not write the cards to the boring countries. So the limitation is a good exercise to get patient and to keep people from getting too much addicted!
I would like to have more slots, and I think it would be nice if we got an additional slot for every year we were here, for example, and I also wish there were a way to purchase extra slots. I know I would definitely take advantage of this and I think PC could probably use the extra revenue as well.
You are around for eleven years now. You could have more slots if you sent more cards in the past.
I know. For many of those years I could only afford to send a few cards and / or had to take a break for various reasons. My situation has changed for the better and now I can afford a lot more.
As a newbie with only a 5 card slot and having none of those registered yet, I can say I have no problem with the limit. I appreciate that there is one. It keeps things more interesting and makes you wait.
Also, you can send endless cards through swaps and tags. So for anyone wanting to send more cards, just do that. I have mailed 19 cards thus far and only 5 are official.
I hope this never happens, as it would be totally unfair to those who can’t afford to buy slots but would very much like to have them. Just because people have money doesn’t mean they should get special treatment in every aspect of life, they already get more than enough!
I agree. It would become a site where people with more money got most of the postcards. That doesn’t seem right or in the spirit of the site.
May things keep going on this way for you!
And what about people who would like to participate at all but cannot afford postage and cards?
By the way someone else could buy them slots.
Now people with a cheaper and better postal service get more postcards. That is why most of your official cards will go to and come from Germany.
Interesting that many people saying the amount of cards is fine with them are also people who participate in forums. Not everybody wants to swap on the forums.
I did for a long time but most of the time it was the same people over and over and sometimes i thought some people used the forums to just receive a lot of cards and not put a lot of thought into the quality of cards they were sending
I have said for a long time that the amount of cards new people could send should be raised. Ive been a member since 2017 and it was five when i joined. Time to raise it i think.
I started in 2013 and after sending out the first 5 cards I too wished it could be more. But then I realized it is perfect (for me) as it is. It took me a bit of time to get into the whole process. I started the forum (RRs etc.) about 1 1/2 years later. At the beginning I would have been overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, I can send 80 cards and also like to participate in forum games).
But I understand very well that everyone thinks differently about it. However, I also understand very good the reasons why there is a limit.
There are great potentials of value-added service. If money-for-slot is realised, then other proposals will follow, like getting more or avoiding users from certain countries, ages, genders, years of participation etc. The managing team needs to cautiously reckon all possible merits and demerits.
I would like to have more spots, but i understand that you have to have patience also to have a hobby like that.
I can send 6 cards at he time and when some them take over 30 days at the time its a long wait.
I tried a lot of tags, liked some of them but not all, like someone sad there same people a lot of times in there, its not a bad thing but if you look variety its hard. Tried first time a RR that works like official card sending, i liked that alot, its like practice of thinking with every card what would other person like to receive.
That would oppose the idea of Postcrossing as meiadeleite stated it in the latest blogposting, so I doubt that this will come anytime soon.