Hi! I am a postcrosser and a journalist. Now I am writing a material about how holiday cards are sent in different countries of the world. Once I already asked for help from postcrossers when I was preparing a publication, then you helped me a lot. I believe that you will answer this time too!
Please answer the questions:
Write down what country you are from.
Where and at what price in your country can I buy a holiday card?
How can I send a postcard for the holiday?
How much will it cost?
Are there any delivery options other than mail?
Do you think it is expensive for the average resident of your country?
Are holiday postcards often sent by mail in your country?
Do you have any tradition of congratulating relatives and friends with whom you cannot meet in person?
Is it customary in your country to congratulate on March 8?
If you have the opportunity, I will be grateful for a photo of those greeting cards that are sold in your country.
P.S. My text will be called “Price Question”, so I would like to know the exact cost or price range.
It sounds like a very interesting topic to write about! It’s be happy to answer the questions. I’m from Canada
Regular holiday folded cards can be bought in plenty of stores. There are specific card and stationery stores like Hallmark, usually in shopping malls. But it is also very common to buy them in pharmacies and grocery stores. For holiday postcards, I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen them for sale in a shop here. I buy holiday postcards online.
If you have a holiday postcard, you use stamps that you have at home and just drop it in any Canada Post mailbox. You could also take it to the post office and purchase stamps for it there, but they are more ugly and there is a small extra surcharge if the postcard is being sent to a recipient in Canada.
The average postcard here would cost maybe $1-$3 CAD. A holiday folded card might be at least $5-$8 CAD. Then postage is $0.92 to send to Canada, $1.30 to the USA, and $2.71 anywhere else. All prices in CAD, plus taxes which are not included in the price.
If the person lives near you, you could simply bring the card to their mailbox or directly to them yourself!
I don’t think it’s too expensive for people here. The holiday folded cards in shops can get quite expensive, so if you need more than one it is best to buy them in bulk. You could get a set of 12 nice holiday folded cards for maybe $22 CAD in that case.
Holiday postcards, probably not. Mostly only postcrossers send those I think! But folded holiday cards are quite popular for Christmas especially. Sometimes for Valentine’s Day and Easter too, and of course birthdays.
Yes! Canada is a big country and I live far away from most of my relatives. I also love to send cards and letters to friends and family abroad for their birthdays and holidays. Making cards and handmade gifts, and then shipping it to them is my favourite!
I hope I answered all the questions properly. Wishing you the best of luck for your writing!
Hi! Thank you so much for deciding to help me! Your answer is very interesting! There used to be a tradition in Belarus: people sent small postcards to their relatives around the world to congratulate them on the holiday. But now more and more people are using social media chats and messengers for these purposes. But, in my opinion, electronic postcards do not have a soul. It is joyful to realize that there are still people on our planet for whom live, non-formulaic communication is important!
If I have any clarifications, can I write to you in private messages?
That is a fun tradition! It is unfortunate that it is becoming less popular. I agree, real postcards are much more special than online greetings. Yes, you can send me a message for clarifications )
Where and at what price in your country can I buy a holiday card?
Holiday cards are not very common here. Or, to be more precise, normal postcards for the holidays are not common, but you can find folded congratulation / holiday cards.
You can find them at tobacconists, book shops or gift shops. In my city a normal price for them goes from 1 to 3 euro each, for simplier or more elaborated ones.
I must say that I almost never bought them, because in November / December I usually receive an envelope from Unicef or other social organizations asking for a contribuition and adding some holiday folded cards in the envelope.
How can I send a postcard for the holiday?
Since they are mostly folded cards, you need to insert them in an envelope, and send it from a post office or - if you already have the stamp - post it in one of the red letterboxes around the city
How much will it cost?
1,2 euro to sent to Italy
1,25 to send to Europe
2,40 to send to America, Asia and Africa
3,10 to send to Oceania
(standard price for postcards and letters under 20 g)
Are there any delivery options other than mail?
Often these cards are not sent, but attached to a gift and delivered by hand
Do you think it is expensive for the average resident of your country?
To Italy and Europe not really, to other countries quite expensive
Are holiday postcards often sent by mail in your country?
No. As written before, they are most likely delivered by hand
Do you have any tradition of congratulating relatives and friends with whom you cannot meet in person?
Amongs the people I know, a phone call. Maybe a video call. Or sending a gif or picture via whatsapp or telegram.
Thank you for telling me! This is very interesting and detailed! As far as I know, the Italian post does not work in the best way, my letters do not always reach.
Please specify about Unicef and charitable organizations. Did I understand correctly that they send you sets of greeting cards with their own symbols? How common is this? Do many people use such postcards?
The Italian postal service is, as we say, “un terno al lotto” (= a lottery). You can have your card delivered to the opposite of the country in a couple of days. Or to the nearby city in 3 weeks. Usually mail arrive, but it may take a very long time.
I can explain better the cards from charitable organizations with some photos. These are the front, inside annd back of greetings cards from three different of them.
The paper is thinner than the ones you can buy in shops, but adeguate if you deliver them by hand or send inside an envelope. The logo / name of the organization is only on the back.
I think I get them because I made an offer to these organization in the past, but haven’t done in years. I have card from at least 5-6 different organizations, so I think this is quite common. Usually there is a set of 3 cards in an envelope. Religious organizations may send cards with Nativity Scenes, while others can show Santa Claus, Christmas trees… Many of them are pretty, and there is nothing wrong using them, at least amongs people I know.
Holiday cards can be bought in regular stores or stationery. But they are all folding (A4 sheet folded in half).
The cost ranges from 30 to 100 Russian rubles. It all depends on the design of the postcard.
Postcards for sending by mail in our understanding can be ordered online. They usually cost 16-20 rubles, but there are also more expensive ones.
2-3. The cost of sending a regular postcard:
19 rubles in Russia
65 rubles abroad
For complex postcards, an envelope is required, its cost depends on the size (no more than 30 rubles).
sending in Russia 27 rubles
abroad 65 rubles
Usually, postcards are attached to the gift. You can also send a postcard with a bouquet delivery courier. This is often used by men.
I think the price of sending postcards abroad is too high. This is noticeable when you need to send many postcards at the same time.
Now greeting cards by mail are not so common. In the USSR, almost everyone did this. We still have a lot of postcards from that time at home. Most of them were written by those who are no longer with us… But this is a great memory of those times and people.
We congratulate each other on the phone or on social networks
holiday cards cost between .25c usd to 10.00 usd depending on size, maker etc. I live in a resort area, so postcards and regular cards are rather inexpensive. post cards average 25 cent and cards 2.50 . in other parts of the country that can be signifcantly higher.
a folded card, you put in an envelope and address to receiver. its common to use decorative seals on holiday card envelopes here. for postcards, you just address , stamp and drop in mail.
a post card is .48 cent stamp, international 1.46 . A regular card is .63 cents , or 1.46 if international.
4.- email or fax
not at all
it is so common in america, the post office issues holiday stamps you can buy .
Здравствуйте! Спасибо, что ответили. Вы очень упростили мне задачу, я думала, что информацию о России придётся искать самостоятельно.
Hello! Thank you for responding. You have made my task very easy, I thought that I would have to look for information about Russia on my own.
Thank you, you helped me a lot! Special thanks for the photos, illustrations will be useful to me) We also have public organizations, but postcards are most often available for free at some event or exhibition.
You can get folded greetings cards/holiday cards from supermarkets, newsagents, gift shops, craft markets, those kinds of places (just folded cards, generally; postcards don’t tend to be holiday-themed). It’s been a while since I bought one, but I think they’re generally between AUD$3-7, depending on quality.
Put in an envelope, stamp, address, send. Or hand deliver. Most people I know who still give cards give them by hand rather than posting. Although my grandparents still send and receive christmas cards.
Within Australia, it costs $1.20 except at christmas where you can send a card for 65c (you have to write ‘card only’ on the envelope). To send cards outside of the country, it’s $2.60 to New Zealand, $2.90 to Asia, and $3 to the rest of the world (to get the $3 rate you have to write ‘card only’—letters to RoW are more expensive, but you can get the card rate all year round, unlike for domestic mail).
You can hand deliver (which is more common than posting, I think)
The prices have gone up recently, but I think it’s still okay. I think they were smart to have the special $3 card rate for overseas cards, because I doubt even my grandparents would send christmas cards to their friends in England if it was going to cost them almost $4/card. Having said that, it’s more expensive than phoning or sending an email or other digital message, and that’s what it’s competing with, so in that sense maybe it’s too expensive compared to the alternatives.
It’s not very common. More common amongst older generations, and even then mostly christmas. Having said that, I did get a christmas card in the mail from my dance teacher this year, so maybe some small local businesses like that do it too.
This is usually done by phone.
Nope. What happens on March 8? Is there a special food I can cook to pretend I’m cultured and worldly?
Where and at what price in your country can I buy a holiday card?
For folded cards, you can find them at most stationery shops. It’s around RM 4 each. For postcards though, it is mostly non-existent. You can buy illustrated postcards for RM 3 each but we usually don’t buy that and we print them instead. Printing starts at RM 1 per card for single side printing. (Note that normal touristy cards costs RM 1 so we buy these instead usually)
How can I send a postcard for the holiday? How much will it cost?
Just mail them from any mailboxes. Do make sure you don’t go to the post office to ask for price though, the post office workers generally do not know how much it costs.
Postage for postcards are:
Local- 30 sen
International- 90 sen
Local in envelope- 80 sen
International in envelope- starting at RM 7.20
Are there any delivery options other than mail?
No
Do you think it is expensive for the average resident of your country?
Postcards are okay but folded cards costs a lot more because postage in envelope costs 8x as much as postcards sent nakedly.
Are holiday postcards often sent by mail in your country?
No, since you can’t find them.
Do you have any tradition of congratulating relatives and friends with whom you cannot meet in person?
Probably not.
Is it customary in your country to congratulate on March 8?
No
Thanks for the answer! International Women’s Day (Women’s Day) is celebrated in Belarus on March 8. On this day, a day off is declared throughout the country. There are no special traditions of celebration, except congratulations to all women.
March 8 is a normal working day in Italy, but it is tradition to give flowers to women. The most common flower is the mimosa, and on the days before March 8 small mimosa branches are sold by florists and also in supermarkets.
Sometimes supermarkets also gift a small plant (such as a primula) to women who goes shopping on that day.
Since we are speaking of cards, it is not common to send / give congratulation cards of that day. Much more common to send a picture of a mimosa to female friends on whatsapp or congratulate on social media.
But the postal service often issue a special postacard you can buy at post offices, and a special postmark.
For example, these are two of the postcards issued by Poste Italiane in the past years, and what will be this year special postmark
