Hello all!
I’m fairly new to the Postcrossing community and I was wondering how long you all wait before you send out a follow-up postcard. I sent one to the USA which usually takes 2 weeks max in a slow time to get from here to there. But It’s coming up on 2 months and I’m starting to wonder if I should send another?
Any thoughts or suggestions?
In the past, I have sent a quick message to the person letting them know a card is on the way and asking if they’d received it. I also check the last time they logged online to make sure they’re active.
It is not necessary to write a replacement card. If your card expires after 60 days, the recipient’s address will go out again and he or she will receive a replacement from another person instead of your card.
I hardly ever resend (only did it twice in four years), I believe the FAQs also mention it is not necessary but ultimately up to the sender.
But most of all, I wouldn’t worry until a lot later. Mail can be unpredictable and these days even more so.
I used to send a second card after 60 days had passed and my card expired. Keeping track of that, I had less than a 50% success rate wit that registration number ever getting registered. Actually, I think it was around 37%. Checking whether or not they are active and when the last time they logged on is a good idea. Keep in mind that the recipient is not “missing” your card, as they do not know it is coming. Sending second cards gets expensive and time consuming, and Postcrossing assigns you a new number to send to after 60 days. For me, I just move on. Some cards either just don’t make it, or do make it and don’t get registered for whatever reason, Right now, during the pandemic, there are a lot of countries that have postal restrictions as well.
Here’s some perspective for you:
I can currently have 25 cards in transit, and I try to maintain that number full, meaning I try to keep 25 cards in transit at all times. Since 30 DEC of 2019 I have 11 expired cards, and have sent 350, so 3% expired. I suspect this is typical, but I don’t know, as i don’t have access to anyone else’s stats, but if 3% is typical, than you should realize that 3% of the fewer cards you may have sent as a newer postcrosser is going to seem like a lot; that is three out of ten cards. So it will feel like it improves over time as you’ve sent more cards. Also, some of those expired cards do eventually get registered.
Keep in mind that all of these numbers can be bit frangible. Some people ask others to register their cards even though they were never received, and some people agree to do that, for reasons that I do not understand. Also, if your card arrives after a year, it cannot be registered, even though it did eventually make it. I don’t understand that either.
Hope this helps.
Oh, I also just noticed your card is to the USA. In the last few months the USA had enormous mail problems that has slowed down everybody, I have several expired cards there (over 60 days) and lots of them have taken unusually long times.
It will be 3 out of 100 cards. 
I never send a replacement card. If it’s lost, it’s lost. 
No, I’ve never sent a replacement card either. A card can be registered up to a year after you sent it, so even if it has travelled for over 60 days it can still reach it’s destination later. I rather send a new card to someone else.
I will occasionally sent replacement cards if the recipient is registering regularly - and especially within the US because postage is less expensive than overseas.
I agree I never send replacements. Lost is lost. And yes, at some point I did the math and also arrived at approx 3% loss. And it’s totally unpredictable where the losses happen, I have several gone missing on their way to Germany, to very active recipients. Twice the problem clearly was at my end, several cards and a greeting card to a friend posted together (big post box attached to a post office!),none made it! But I have also had several of my cards registered after 100+ days, and those make me very happy. While the card is still on your timeline, not all hope is lost. In the very early days of the pandemic I had a few stuck going to China and it was so cheering when they were registered some time in the summer.
Edit (I love numbers 
): since the start of last December I have sent 515 cards that arrived and I currently have 11 sitting expired in my travelling list (so total posted 526). So that gives me a failure rate of 2.09% which is not that bad really, 2 in every 100 I sent got lost. I can live with that 
2-3% lost is very good… I never did the maths and I don’t get along with numbers, but I remember people in the old forum saying even 5%!
I have 8 expired at the moment but I hope some will make it in the end…
Hello from Winnipeg! Canada Post is taking longer than usual as of late. In the last 3 months or so, all my cards took at least one week longer than usual. Check out my Postcrossing stats to get an idea of recent “travel” times. Some cards I’ve sent to American users here in the forum have taken anywhere between two weeks to a month to arrive.
If i decide to send another, I will first check to see when the last time that person logged on. If it’s been more than a couple weeks I generally won’t.
Yes! This is accurate. The president was purposely making changes and trying to undermine our postal service ahead of the election. He had one of his cronies appointed Postmaster General and they were dismantling postal machines, etc. I have noticed cards taking a lot longer to arrive here than in the past. Fear not, our postal system is still at work and soon we will have a new President 
Indeed. Pesky decimal points. If anyone has a spare brain laying around unused, please send it!
My ‘failure’ rate is 2.325581%. Apparently. 
Thank you to everyone for the help!