I’ve read a few posts that discuss this similar sentiment (long travel times, members who don’t register cards timely, slot limits) and usually members who have sent thousands of cards (and thus have many slots) voice the opinion of keeping the status quo, while members with fewer sent cards (lower slots) want to raise the slot allotments.
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And all the members with thousands of sent cards have started with just five slots and sent lots of them to countries with a very slow postal service like Russia or China back in the days, while nowadays many do not get Russian addresses and mail to China partly has become very quick.
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I haven’t read every entry in this thread so maybe someone already voiced this…I think it’s important to remember that Postcrossing is all about the snail-mail process. We’ve gotten so used to instant electronic communication that it’s frustrating to wait days or weeks for a postcard. I feel kind of lucky that I’m old enough (65) to remember when it was the only option! My first Army assignment (in 1976) was to the beautiful country of Germany. At the time, it was cost-prohibitive to call, so there were only letters that took weeks to arrive and more weeks to get a response, but that’s just how it was. So, now I participate in Postcrossing because it’s fun, not necessary.
I prefer sticking with the official Postcrossing, but there are so many other options on this site, and others, if you want to get more postcards out in the mail! But always remember, it isn’t a competition! Now, I think I’ll go check my mail!
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Thank you for your service! I understand the spirit of your response is to honor the intrinsic value of Postcrossing but I respectfully counter that we should not hold postal service to a standard from five decades ago. Technology has advanced considerably and most postal services have OCR and many types of automated sorters, processors, and bundlers now at their disposal (see USPS innovation and international post office innovation)).
We also now have much improved international cargo air options.
Given these improvements, I do believe it’s warranted to voice frustration with a multi-week waiting period for international and domestic postcards to be registered (assuming the recipient’s country is not undergoing strife).
But I very much agree with you that it’s not a competition. And it is because I enjoy Postcrossing so much that I would love the opportunity for this increased frequency in interactions. 
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On the other hand letter mail has reduced massively because it has been replaced by e-mail.
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I thought having been a member since early may this year I would have sent/received a lot more cards. Currently it seems a big gap receiving cards too. I send one as soon as. A slot opens and when I receive a card I register it straight away, just wondering if there’s anything I’m doing wrong.
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Your stats look fine to me. In your first almost 3 months you’ve sent 16 and received 18. In my first three months I sent 13 and received 15. 
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I don’t think it’s your fault, it’s probably the postage speed of Royal Mail and other postal agencies.
After the pandemic, speeds have fallen. There are many reasons - lack of manpower, cost cutting measures etc.
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Mam, you are 100 % right. Today is my first official day and I am addicted! The only problems stem from my health & my wallet. However, I still think the whole point is to use the USPS (in America). Snailmail Is the point. This is an amazing opportunity to look at the intrinsic value of something and cherish & embrace it.
Would you mind explaining the details of the arrangements?
Snailmail “Lovin” since '94,
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No. I don’t. To me it’s very helpful to have the limited slots. I wouldn’t mind, if the limit would stay around 10-15 slots per member.
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Thank you for your help. What is a slot and spending limits? Having a hard time figuring it all out without spending my weekend reading the whole thread.
This is on the home page (not the forum page):
I miss understood & thought it was about financial spending limits. 
Thank you for the help anyway.
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Well, I suppose for a lot of people they have their own self-imposed spending limits, as sending postcards can be quite pricey. There’s another post somewhere about how some people spend the equivalent of 10-30% of their monthly rent on buying and sending cards.
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I am on a disability income & can’t afford much, so I’m kind of freaking out about that. I know postage is a kind of currency, so I guess we can’t do games to trade that, right?
Yes! There is so much to read & learn, but I’m loving it. I plan to start a game tomorrow. Wish me luck.
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People who only want to send 10-15 cards at a time can continue to do so. Increasing the slots does not affect members who do not max out their slots.
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So true.
But not necessary to tell me, as my post was an answer to another post I quoted: Someone stated that ALL members with few slots want to increase the slots - which is NOT true (because if it were, I would not be satisfied with only a few slots).
I don’t mind people having many slots. I just don’t wish for that.
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The post you quoted was by me. So I was responding. The part you quoted - I did not say “ALL members.” I just said “members.” I do appreciate you clarifying that you don’t mind other members having more slots.
I would love more slots. The sending is what gives me the most joy from Postcrossing. Mail from Australia is really slow. My mean time for a card to arrive is 25 days. The day a slot becomes available I send a card. I look with envy at profiles of people from Europe who joined around the same time as me and they have been able to send so many more cards than I. My ideal would be to be able to send one official card each morning as I drink my cup of tea. It feels like it will take a long time for that to be a reality. I do understand why Postcrossers are limited in the number travelling initially. I think it is a good idea that newbies prove themselves so we don’t get people joining who don’t send all cards required. I also understand the logic behind the upper limit of 100 cards travelling at a time, so we don’t all mainly get cards from the super users but I feel like the numbers we are allowed to send in that middle zone grow too slowly.
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I feel your pain @Queen_of_the_Hounds. I’d love to be able to tell you that one year on and it will be vastly different…but I am still at the point of waiting and watching and twiddling my thumbs and stalking my recipients’ accounts to see if they’re registering cards and hoping that my cards will eventually arrive and that they will be registered promptly. It’s just a tad frustrating…but my patience skills are improving.
With our long travel times and high postage costs down here, it doesn’t surprise me that there are so few Aussie Postcrossers 
.
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