Hi All,
A few weeks ago I inquired about this communities’ experiences with other services similar to Postcrossing. That thread generated some discussion and I thought it would be worthwhile to report back on my experiences with other services since then.
First, let me say that without questions, Postcrossing is the biggest and the best, as well as having the most aesthetically pleasing and robust web interface. That’s just my opinion, but anyone with different thoughts would have a tough argument to make.
But that said, it doesn’t mean that the other services are not worthy of your consideration; indeed, many Postcrossers are also on these sites. Like me, I imagine some others took such a deep dive into this and as a newbie on Postcrossing found that the cards weren’t moving fast enough, even with side trades. I wanted more, and here is what I found.
Postcardunited.com
According to some, these folks completely ripped off Postcrossing. Could be. I honestly don’t now. Also, people had concerns about what they’d do with your data. Again, I don’t know. Didn’t really care on both counts. I dove in head first a couple months ago and the postcards are moving along nicely. No complaints.
Postfun!
This is a phone app only. The interface is basic and there is no forum or blog, so no real sense of community. But it works exactly as it should and the cards are moving along.
geopostcards.club
This is an interesting site. Not all that many users. Website colors were picked, I’m sure to evoke National Geographic, and the site has a somewhat narrower mission that Postcrossing. It matters on this site where you send a postcard from, and whatever you send is supposed to be from your hometown, because-- apparently, I guess, I think --people are collecting the cards almost like the piece of a puzzle, attempting to get a card from every “subregion” of the world. All of this is about as clear as mud, though, on their website, and I got called to task for running afoul of this. But lots of people clearly just cut/pasted their Postcrossing profile, which might indicate that they like Disney cards, or holiday cards, or whatever. Consequently I once sent a Disney card or some such and got a bad review for that trade. But otherwise, I’ve had a good experience here and now I just resort to always sending a local touristic card from my hometown. Oh, another quirk about his site, which surely has to do with the low number of people on it, but also the mission of trying to match you with regions you have not traded with before, is that when one of the cards you sent is received, thus opening you up to send another, another “compatible” trader is not always immediately available. I’m glad to be on this site, but again, aspects of it are a bit of a mystery to me; if anyone else has any insight, I’d be game to hear it.
Postcardhub.com
Definitely not recommended, though of course, what’s the risk? A couple stamps and a couple of postcards, right? They allow you two cards out of the chute. I sent them two months ago, but neither has been registered. Coincidentally, one of those recipients was just across town from me. The site is very minimalist, with no info on how long it takes for cards to expire, for example. I assume those cards will expire eventually and I’ll be able to request a new address, which I will. Again, little risk.
Reddit Postcard Community
Not sure if I got the name exactly right on this, but I signed up for this, and get an email every now and again from them, but for the life of me, I just don’t get what is going on here or how to grab a handle to hop on this train. Made a concerted effort on a couple occasions to see if I could figure it out but gave up.
Am I missing any? Good luck, and wishing you all full postboxes.
Travelling_Slim