Thoughts on members who send the same card to everyone?

Postcrossing General Topics
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I only occasionally look at someone else’s sent wall, but most of the time, I’m actually not interested in what people send to other people. They might put in all the effort in the world or be incredibly lazy, but this is something that I can’t control. What I can control is what I send to other people–and I’d like to think I put in equal effort for everyone regardless how their profile is worded. I enjoy sending more than receiving so I concentrate on the sending aspect more. Besides, this isn’t a direct swap situation–I’m not going to receive a postcard from the person I sent to unless that person has multiple accounts.

There are all sorts of people on Postcrossing and they will have joined for different reasons. Aside from what is already in the guidelines, the site has no requirement or benchmark as to how much effort someone should exert in sending a postcard to another random member. So we can’t expect that everyone has the same tit for tat mindset.

I’ve received such cookie cutter postcards before, but my suggestion is not to dwell on it and move on to the next person. The majority of Postcrossing participants do put in effort in their postcards. Like any other hobby, most will be fun but there will be a minor thing that isn’t. If we constantly only concentrate on the negative aspects, we might as well not have any hobbies at all.

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After receiving an address I read someone’s profile and choose a postcard I have in stock and which I think suits the person - not always their (long) list of requested postcards either will influence my choice. More important is the text I will write. This can be about the image of the postcard or a theme/question from the profile.
I do send the same postcards, because I order mostly online. Nice postcards are hard to find in the stores and I will look for postcards on holidays or days out. At the moment this is hard because of the closed shops…I choose my postcards with care and write meaningful words. A sending or receiving list doesn’t say it all - you never know what message will be on the other side! Keeping an open mind and just be happy with postcards in your mailbox! :upside_down_face:

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I know this feeling too… Normally I don’t look at the “sent” wall of a member whose address I got, but sometimes when the profile is (nearly) empty, to get an impression of what this person likes. Or when a profile has very specific wishes or sounds a bit demanding, I’ll have a look as well because I’m curious if this member puts the same effort in sending.

And then (perhaps in 5 cases so far) seeing the same sent card over and over again makes me feel disappointed too. :slightly_frowning_face: But then I remind me all the things the others already wrote: You don’t know the reasons for this, they’re within the rules, and - most important - they don’t have to have the same conception as I do. :slightly_smiling_face: And then I send a nice card and pay in my “Postcrossing karma account”.

(One time, to someone who “hated” free ad cards but sent an impressive number of them, I admit that I deliberatedly chose an ad card. :innocent:)

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It would not bother me at all. It is a different person they are sending to each time, correct?!

Everyone is here for different reasons. I am here to connect with people through postcards. One person who sent me a postcard, he sends the same postcard each time–it is a lovely photo of his town. I loved it. He found the perfect postcard that depicts the place where he lives!!

From the Postcrossing Guidelines: "The goal of Postcrossing is to connect the world via real mail, by allowing you to exchange postcards with other random members around the world."

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Once I accidentally ordered 20 owl cards instead of two and I discovered that only after receiving them. So I had to send them all a little by little to all owl, bird and nature lovers.

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Ah, so you saw the lovely decoration and the warm and heartful words through the picture side! You’re the eighth world wonder!
Sorry, but the picture side of a card is just one side and it is very unlikely that an addressee ever gets the same touristical card twice. I often send pictures of the cathedral of Aachen, but I send it to different people and they all declared in their profile that they like cards showing the place of the sender or UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so that the picture of the card fulfils their wishes. And there is also the textside of the card, which is often more interesting. I received a number of cards with a not very interesting picture side but a very lovely text.

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Maybe this is the person’s understanding of justice. Maybe he(she) thinks it’s fair - if everyone have the same.

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Hello.
Let me give you myself as an example.
I live in a small-ish town in Lebanon. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of interest where I live. The nearest city is 16 KM away and public transport is almost non-existant.
When I do go to buy cards, my choices are pretty limited. Touristic cards that show sights and places from around the country. I always wanted to get box sets but these are rare and quite expensive in Lebanon (Especially now with the devaluation of the currency they can cost up to USD 80 per box of 50 cards). So there are times that I am forced to send the same card(s) simply because we don’t have much of a choice.

Then there is the possibility that the person sending the same card is very proud of what is on the card and wants to share it with the entire world.

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Well, I wouldn’t be too quick to judge on this. As mentioned by some of the others above, there are many reasons as to why someone might send the same card to everyone:

  • Lack of cards available in a particular region / country
  • Lack of cards available due to the lockdown (unable to head out, shops are all closed)
  • The Postcrosser genuinely likes the cards and believes these cards will suit the wishlists of many
  • Laziness (of course, this might be the case too)

Personally, I try to vary the cards I send, but there are some which I buy in bulk too, such as the Postcrossing meetup cards, because these are limited edition and won’t ever be produced again. I try to send them out quickly too, once I draw profiles of Postcrossers who indicate that they like Postcrossing meetup cards. Also, these cards are seasonal and if I don’t send them out within the next 2 months, it might seem overdue (e.g. sending a Christmas card in May).

You can see on my wall in my profile that I have a number of repeated cards I send too, and sometimes they appear in a cluster too because ven though I spread out my sending of these cards, the arrival also depends on postal speeds around the world, and sometimes the same cards arrive at the same time.

I wouldn’t only have just one card to send to everyone, because I like to have a variety and I like fulfilling wishlists of Postcrossers. But the same cannot be said for everyone as everyone is here for a different purpose. Also, we will never know what is written on the back side of the postcard. As long as the Postcrosser has fulfilled his/her basic obligation of sending a postcard, there are no longer any grounds to fault someone, be it whether you like the postcard or not.

Postcrossing is meant to be fun, and if we focus so much on the negative side of everything, then there is really no point in continuing this hobby, is there? We do have postcards that we end up not being so fond of, but that’s okay because some time down the road, you will receive one that you really love too.

I’m leaving a last piece of advice here too - you shouldn’t change the way you do things just because others are doing it other ways. If you really dislike sending just the same card to everyone, then don’t do it yourself, but don’t expect others not to do the same. Life will be happier that way. :slight_smile:

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In the case of last hundred, I think the reason is as below:

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That absolutely nothing may be very interesting for other postcrossers, for most of us do not live in Lebanon. Perhaps you can have printed your own postcards with it.

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:heart_eyes:

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Thank you all. I appreciate seeing all the responses. It helps me understand better! :slightly_smiling_face:. That’s the information I was looking for…others opinions to help me learn. I tend to see things from my own perspective so all the responses help. I’ve asked to see how to close this topic as I don’t know how to do it.

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:rofl: it Made me laugh so much :kissing: it could have been me writing that :grin:
I Hope it is a bought one (The Person sends) even it feels Like a free one…

I hope so…that would be nice.

That is such an interesting thought! :face_with_monocle:
I have that Sometimes when i am in a RR were it’s Not about a wishlist. When it simply is about a topic For all. If Not the exact Picture at least i Like to send to everybody in The Same price range. (Either everybody gets a 50 Cent Card or everybody a 1,40€ Card. Something Like that)
I Like you think that could be The Personen opinion.

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i think this is perfectly worded and we all need to keep this in mind.

actually i had a profile today with about 4 pages of all the same send out cards and a, well, not very exciting profile text. of course it comes to mind that that person is maybe a bit less excited about postcrossing than i am or maybe cares more about receiving than sending. or maybe they write very long personal messages to everyone but doesn’t care much about the image side. honestly i try to be a positive person but some things come to mind.
but then again it doesn’t really matter what i think. i still need to send out a card, and to me that’s the part that i enjoy most. so i still pick out a nice card, put on some washitape and write a nice message. i did my part, had some fun with it and now it’s up to the receiver.

i recently got a hurray message from someone who said they hoped i would receive as wonderful cards as i’m sending out. that’s very sweet and also something i actually believe in. i see quite a few topics about people not wanting to send out cards because other people are violating the rules by making demands or something. but why is it okay for you to do the same, if you don’t like someone else doing it?

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They probably print their own cards, on a website where you only save money if ordering in bulk.

Not everyone knows - or at least not right away - that Postcrossers like cards to be based on their profile. Maybe now this person knows, but they still need to send out what they already bought.

Another thing: not everyone can afford postcards at the prices we pay. Maybe this person could only afford to join Postcrossing if they got a bulk price for more than 200 or whatever.

Before anyone gets upset: these are all assumptions. I don’t know the sender and this is just what I would assume has happened.

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I don’t have a problem with people who do that, in general. But I did get a card once from a woman who made a big deal on her profile about how she DID NOT WANT ad cards. Absolutely no ad cards!!! Then I realized that she sent the exact same card to everyone (several hundreds I think) and it was an ad card. :roll_eyes:

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I welcome any postcard, and assume that the card the Postcrosser sends repeatedly is either one they love, one that represents where they’re from, or there is a limited variety of postcards available to them.

One thing I wish we could do is access the profile of the sender before registering and thanking them for the receipt of their card.

I’m new to Postcrossing, but more than once I have sent a second direct message to them after I’m able to see their profile. That could be a good time to ask about the repeated card they typically send.

One thing I notice is that Postcrossers rarely respond to those messages. I guess it’s assumed that the card is the message and there is no back-and-forth communication to be expected afterward.

So far I love the experience of finding art and photography and beautiful images from around the world with a note and cool stamps and stickers in my mailbox. It’s doubly fun thinking about the sender picking out this particular card for me (when it’s clear that they do, which is most of the time) and I imagine where they’re seated as they’re writing the message.

One thing I find funny is the members who say in the profiles “send me anything” yet have a long list of what they don’t like and won’t appreciate at all.

The joy to me is having the person send what they want after reading my profile, not a card that I dictate. Where’s the fun in that?

I also love hearing about what they’re doing to survive the pandemic. Never in my lifetime has the entire globe shared such a difficult experience at the same time, and with this horror that’s descended on us all in the last year, there’s a unique “we’re all in this together” kind of vibe. None of us can travel like we want to.

Be well, everyone. Enjoy the adventure of today.

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I am closing this topic at the request of “GrapeGirl”.

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