Sending Maxi-Cards from Germany

[farine]

Hello fellow Postcrossers

Maybe someone can help me: I’ve got a calendar with maxi-cards and would like to send them (from Germany) , but I’m not sure how.

Can i actually just send the card with stamps on it or do i need to put them in an envelope?

Thanks for your help!

[shugal]

That depends what exactly you mean with “maxi-cards”. If you mean philatelistic maximum cards, where the front side has a cancelled stamp and an illustration matching the stamp (see the Colnect maximum card catalog for examples), you can mail them as postcards. Note that in Germany the value of the stamps on the front does not count as part of the postage (there are countries like Czechia or Australia where they do count), so you need to affix the full postage of 0.60 Euro (inside Germany) or 0.95 Euro (outside Germany). For international mail you should also affix a Priority/Luftpost sticker - in those countries with fast and slow post (e.g. Belgium, Switzerland) those with Priority sticker go into the fast mail, without in the slow mail.

If you mean with “maxi-cards” very large cards or square cards, the situation is different. In Germany, postcards must be between 14.0 cm x 9.0 cm to 23.5 cm x 12.5 cm in size, and their shape must be rectangular, where the length must be at least 1.4 times as long as the width (example: width 10.0 cm, length must be at least 14.0 cm). Those cards you can mail as postcards. Cards that are closer to a square or are squares, or are smaller or larger than the limits above, you have two options: You can mail them as they are for the Großbrief postage (1.55 Euro inside Germany, 3.70 Euro outside Germany - there’s a beautiful stamp 50 years of moon landing with that postage), or you put them in a regular-sized rectangular envelope and mail them as letter (up to 20 gram) for 0.80 Euro inside Germany or 1.10 Euro outside Germany.

Postcards made from anything but paper (e.g. wood or metal) and postcards in any other shape than rectangle or square (e.g. circle, heart, or shaped like the motif) are only allowed inside an envelope for the leter rate.

I hope I was able to answer your question.

[Axolotl]

@shugal already gave a perfect answer to your question.
I just wanted to ask where you got that calendar.

[farine]

Thanks for the detailed answer, that helps a lot!

[farine]

@Axolotl it’s actual an advent calendar from a German cartoonist (Ruthe) with just Xmas-related themes