Having received two postcards without ID-numbers in the past month (from different countries), may I suggest that, when requesting an address, the prompt “Don’t forget to write the ID number on the card” be changed. Could it read something like “Please write the ID number on the card before writing the message”? Or can anyone suggest something more suitable - it is a bit of a mouthful! Thanks for your help…
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I don’t have a better suggestions, but I feel you. Now I have the fourth card with a wrong or completely missing ID in about 10 days. Maybe it should be written BIG AND BOLD
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Once the address appears there could be a button that says “Send Postcard” and a box that says did you write the number on the postcard that must be answered Yes before it is acknowledged as having been sent. If the answer is No then the card is listed as Saved until the Yes button is selected
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I agree with Angelthecat! Big and bold would probably catch the eye of the sender! And if it could flash, no-one would miss that!
Poetland has a good idea, although it wouldn’t work for me, because I collect my addresses, writing them on a sheet of paper. I read the recipients’ profiles and select the cards to send. When I finish selecting my addresses for the day and switch the computer off, then I start writing.
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If you print the addresses the number comes out with the address, eliminating this problem entirely.
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If possible, I would avoid flashing words as they can be problematic for people with certain medical conditions, but big and bold seems like a great idea.
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True! I wonder how many Postcrossers print addresses?
A very valid point! I’m so sorry I thought of that idea. Back to big and bold, perhaps in a strong colour.
If I’m not mistaken, when you print, the ID is placed right above or right below the address and it should really not be put in that place on a postcard, as it might confuse the postal sorting machines causing the card never to be delivered.
And no, I don’t print addresses, unless they are in Chinese. And even then, I copy-paste them to a separate document, I don’t use the print function on the site. Never had an address printed together with an ID.
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I think the ID should appear between address and the profile text, for when I read the profile after drawing a new address, I do not automatically scroll back to the top of the website, sometimes I do just scroll back to the address.
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That would annoy me!
The ID is already big and red, but that does not help if you scroll down on your smartphone to read the profile.
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“Write the ID on two different places on the postcard”
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I write the ID vertically along the left edge of the card in a different color (usually green), making it difficult to miss.
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From my personal experience
When I’m signing cards I’m always having two pens on desk, green and blue color. Even if i forget to write id my eye see green pen and I’m checking if I wrote ID on card because I’m using green pen only for writing ID. So my green color pen is the best reminder for me.
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I definitely do. Haven’t owned a printer in years.
But I think the issue is that people are forgetting to write the ID at all, not so much where it appears.
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Let’s avoid designing for the exception.I think what we have is good enough.
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As someone who forgot to write down the ID myself a few times 
what me helped the most was a changing in the stamp system in my country. Now the new stamps have QR codes that can be scanned in an App. I always do and then chance the generic system name to the ID. A few times I noticed then that there wasn’t an ID on the card 
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I only print the addresses with Chinese signs (when available) since at least in my experience it speeds up the time until it someone gets them A LOT. I’m the type who prefers to write the address by hand too.
I bought a blank Postcrossing stamp, which has a central role in my writing ritual. The first thing I do (after selecting a postcard) is to stamp the card with the Postcrossing stamp (using an indelible ink pad), then write the ID number into the stamp’s empty slot using a Sharpie. Next, I write the ID number again elsewhere on the card – usually vertically along the edge. Finally, I use a fluorescent yellow marker to highlight both numbers so that they really stand out.
This has been such a fixed routine that I don’t think I’ve ever missed it. Because I start with the two ID numbers first, there is always room to write them in 
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It has been interesting to see the way members write their addresses and message in different ways. I personally always write my messages in blue or black and write the ID number in red in two different places. I can’t possibly go wrong.
I was thinking only yesterday that it was time to close this topic. But today I received a giant postcard from the Netherlands - a lot of space, but no ID number at all. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
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