I would be ok with that. I have received some beautiful homemade cards, postcards made from food boxes, recycled greeting cards and calendars. I love receiving different types of cards and “meeting” people through postcards.
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I’d be curious what the team decides ^^ Maybe you can let us know 
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When I said bookmarks, I meant bookmarks that you put inside books - not postcards that are bookmarks. The Admins thought I had a valid complaint and had the sender resend a proper postcard. Trying to explain what a real postcard is to some people…I am sorry, but that ship has sailed long long ago. You [plural] don’t join a postcard exchange group if you don’t know what a postcard is. My opinion.
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Wouldn’t a homemade postcard have to be made of postcard material though? We can’t just start sending each other pieces of paper without envelopes.
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Do you mean you send a thin long piece of cardstock as a postcard? This would be problematic in many countries. In Canada, the smallest postcard allowable is 3.5" x 5.5".
People use all kinds of materials to send postcards - pizza boxes, cereal boxes, cork, metal, origami, construction paper, magazine paper and scrapbook type paper clearly has made it through the mail many times.
And I haven’t even scratched the surface - there’s a whole thread devoted to unusual kinds of postcards.
Here’s Ana’s definition from the longer thread What is a real postcard?:
It says right in the description that you just posted that the postcard is to be paper stock quality. That is much thicker than a piece of paper. Cardboard would be fine. It’s the durability of the paper that’s the problem; not that the card is homemade.
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I’m sure we could have long threads about what is paper stock, but I’m not going to. I read that as the noun & there is tons of different paper stock.
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I suppose. It is typically used to mean stock paper or card stock around here. I have never heard someone use it to refer to scrapbooking paper or ordinary notepaper. Might be different in Ontario?
I take paper stock to be the generic & there’s tons of kinds, weights etc. Card stock is a particular kind.
I don’t worry about what people send me too much these days after being on Postcrossing for 2 years.
Some cards I will love, some I will like & some I won’t like so much, but they all did participate & I have to respect that even if I don’t like what they sent me. I have no idea of their circumstances, tastes or motivations so I accept what I get & move on.
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But if you take preference out of the conversation, there is a problem with sending a regular piece of paper through the mail without an envelope. You aren’t even allowed to do that in Canada, right?
I think that the person you quoted was using the term “paper stock” in the way that I explained. If your read the whole sentence, you will see they specified that it had to be thick.
“A postcard is a piece of paper stock, thick enough to safely travel through the mail without an envelope.”
So, while you personally may appreciate receiving someone’s junk mail, journal page, scrapbooking materials etc. in the mail, that doesn’t mean that those things are, by definition, postcards. And, just as you are thrilled with them, others are allowed to be disappointed. Most people would not expect these things if they signed up to swap post cards.
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We’ll agree to disagree - I don’t think paper stock implies any thickness other than it makes it through the mail, which this one did.
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They are generally of the same material as regular postcards. They just have different dimensions (17x7 cm or something like that) and on the back have a note that can be used as a postcard and/or as a bookmark. I always check if this could be a problem before sending something like that. Same with shaped postcards and panoramic postcards.
Oh ok. So long as it’s an actual postcard size and material, I can’t see a problem with that.
Russian post doesn’t have any demands for material or thickness of paper.
In order to send a postcard from here you need to fit in only with weight (max 20gr) and dimensions (min 90x140mm, max 120x235mm).
So even plain paper would be fine as long as it’s cut to proper size and has an address and suitable stamps. Would it survive the delivery is another question though.
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Yes. I think that’s the main problem here. Mail machines are ruthless 
. This card came with a slight tear, but it could have been a lot worse. It is a waste of time and effort (and money) to send something that may not survive the journey.
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I received a response from admin. There was minimal effort in what I received. They are going to reach out to the person and let them know. I will register receipt of the “card”. The admin suggested that I comment to my partner in my disappointment in what I received. However, I don’t want to make this a negative but instead make some helpful suggestions to them.
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Thanks for coming back to us. It seemed pretty clear to me that what you received is not what is expected. I am happy that we aren’t going to start accepting this kind of thing as standard.
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I registered the mail and thanked the person. The person has a sent a lot of mail. Some look like mine and some are regular store bought postcards. Many of the registered cards do not show pictures of what the person sent . I don’t know if that means anything at all. I did urge the person to try to find postcards including looking online. Also gave person some ideas of things to put on homemade cards.
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