I sent a postcard to Taiwan that has been travelling for 48 days now. The receiver registered on March 31, 2023 on Postcrossing and they have only sent one postcard themselves and have not yet received any postcards. My postcard is probably the only postcard on the way to this person. They have currently not logged in for 24 days.
Two possible scenarios:
My postcard is still travelling. In that case, the receiver may be disappointed with Postcrossing, because they have sent a postcard themselves, but have still not received a postcard back.
My postcard has arrived, but the receiver did not know that they have to register the postcard or forgot to do so.
I now doubt whether I should message them to either let them know that a postcard is on its way or to ask to register the postcard. The disadvantage of sending a message is that it takes away the surprise of who you will receive your first postcard from. What would you do? Many thanks for your answers.
I wouldn’t worry about it yet. All my cards to Taiwan took between 33 and 79 days, so it might be still travelling.
Also, many postcrossers only log in when they have a reason to do so. If they didn’t get a card in a while and decided not to send some either, a 24 day time periode with no log in is quiet normal.
I would advise you to be patient and wait a bit longer before you contact the person. I usually only do that after 60 days.
I had a similar situation and I messaged the person. They had received the card two weeks prior and had forgotten to register it. I see no harm in asking. I’ve even had people in the forums forget to report the cards I’ve sent them. Life sometimes gets in the way. I have lot going on here with taking care of my elderly parents and an elderly dog with major health issues. I wouldn’t be offended if someone asked me. I will be the first to admit… sometimes I forgot to do things, especially if I didn’t add it to my to do list. It happens.
As far as I know, Postcrossing is part of the curriculum in sime Tauwanese schools. So maybe the pupils register for Postcrossing, draw sn address, write their card for they have to, but they might never come back. So I would not worry too much.
In your position as newbie, I would ask them politely, if my card arrived and if they please could register it. In my opinion 48 days is not too early to do so.
But in my position I would just wait, because I do not lack of free slots and I know that cards can even get lost.
My cards to Taiwan from the USA seem to take anywhere from 4-6 weeks. I always wait until the card expires before contacting my recipient.
It’s harder to know when they are new, because there’s no pattern to look at in their profile. I hope your card arrives to them soon!
My cards to Taiwan arrive about the same time as @Selena mentioned. Some can take a couple of months. One recently arrived after 4 months of travel time!
You’re still relatively new to the a Postcrossing world, and it seems that 30 cards sent already is a wonderful feat! If you keep this up you’ll have stacks of received and sent! With that said, that will be a lot of work tracking users activity when more and more slots open up for you.
My current method : I actually wait until 90 days. Depending on their activity, I may send a second card without contacting them via the website. Most of the time this works.
I always send a friendly message saying it’s on its way and enjoy. If it’s a holiday or coming up on one I mention that as well that it could be slower. I also had someone message me telling me they bought a special post card for me and it hadn’t arrived yet due to it not being shipped to her even though they said it had been sent via site. It’s always nice to send a note! Remember be kind and patient.
Thanks for all the responses and sharing your thoughts.
It doesn’t matter much to me if the card has already arrived but not yet registered. I have enough slots and can regularly send new postcards (in fact, I just wrote another new postcard). And that occasionally postcards don’t arrive at its destination is part of Postcrossing.
However, I would feel bad for the recipient if they have not received a postcard after all this time and now think that Postcrossing is not working. I think as soon as the card expires I will send a message to them and ask if the card has already arrived and if not I will be happy to send them another postcard.
Why people don’t respond to messages sent in relation to expired cards and also for the second Card sent. I sent twelve cards and messages only three responded. Friends please respond
I sent a message to a post crosser. The friend just replied the card is not received and could not register. But for that reason I request them and it is not got in line
Here’s what I did: I mailed the card. When they registered the card, super. When they didn’t, not great. But I moved on; no messages; no second card. I did my part.