I bought a set of cards and about half of them have the back like this. Has anyone ever sent cards like this? I’m afraid the German post won’t accept this layout or that it will stump the machines and cause a delay/return. I’m considering sticking a white paper over that back and creating a traditional layout.
To mail it as it is, you need to use Kompaktbrief postage from Germany. Then you’re allowed to do it.
I always turn them to landscape format for stamp and address, but use the lines for my message (the direction of the message doesn’t matter at all). As long as the stamp + address are on the right side, you may mail it for the postcard rate
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I always send them in this vertical format with 95 cents - I didn’t even know you have to pay for a Kompaktbrief when there’s a Lay-out like that 
I always send GF Germany and it has the same layout. As far as I know, they all arrived 
I thought I just have to use Kompaktbrief postage when sending a square postcard 
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I sent some of them with normal postcard postage and all have arrived.
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I make my own cards and this layout suited a few of them as the address was about 8 lines long. Worked a treat! All were delivered. I actually think it’s fun to get something a little different.
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@piasendsletters and @Nordbaer, so did I. But reports of recipients that needed to pay up for the postage due have increased over time. Chances for this are way higher when you send them national. Internationally it’s very rare.
The reason for this is that the card is non-machineable when it is adressed upright. But all postcards (and standard letters) need to be machineable to match the general terms of Deutsche Post. Kompaktbrief doesn’t need to be machineable 
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I received a few of these, mostly for Japan, but never bought any with this layout.
Then, I had to send a couple of chain cards turning the postcard this way.
Had no clue if it would have worked out, but I had a go from my recipients that I made it the right way and indeed they both arrived to destination.
(I am from Italy, if it makes any difference - because of sorting machines, or any other reason…)
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Yes it does as the rules are different from country to country 
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From my experience, cards from Taiwan and Japan are most likely to have that portrait layout.
They arrive as intended, though I don’t know what kind of manual intervention is required by postal staff en route
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If you receive in this format, you can send it too. It’s the same sorting machine
Depending on the coutry offcourse 
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No, that’s not true. For formats the rules of the sending country do apply. E.g. we receive shape cards just fine in Germany, but are not allowed to send them ourselves. It’s a bit different here as we may send them that way, but for more postage than landscape backsides.
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Thanks for the explanation and I’m aware of the strict german rules.
But those are set by deutsche post, for the machine, it doesn’t matter and the machines are the same almost everywhere.
If you follow the rules perfectly, they have to deliver your mail in the time frame you payed for.
If you put enough postage on your letter but change the format (except for square cards), it will be delivered but not in the set time frame.
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I have never used these nor seen them before, but I sure would love to try them. did you purchase them from an online retailer or locally?
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I bought them off Amazon I searched for “vintage postcards” because I wanted a certain look and a package with 50 of them came up. The images are mostly plants with some odd insects and, weirdly, a couple of tarot cards mixed in.
The first postcard I sent was to Germany and it had that portrait layout. I wrote the address on the horizontal lines and it arrived safely. But the receiver kindly taught me something about how to write addresses on postcards (according to the traditional layout). I hope my card didn’t cause any trouble to her…
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It’s possible for some countries with not so strict rules to send it portrait, so that’s why such cards are made.
In Malaysia, the postal service also issues such card once in 2021:
Photo taken from internet
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Arriving to Germany is not an issue at all. Many Asian cards have this format.
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I think for square cards you actually need Großbrief postage.
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these (and postallove-like cards), as is, are also non-machinable in the us, as usps cares about the orientation and location of the stamp in relationship to address location (the machine reads the stamp location which helps it find where on the mailpiece to find the address)
however a quick fix is to rotate it 90° so the stamp box is on the bottom right for a more traditional orientation that doesnt upset the postal machines. i will just then strategically use washi, stickers, stamps and other decorations to “mask” the original markings that look out of place in this orientation (if there is important copyright info or description i try to avoid those areas or incorporate it into the design) something kind of like this:
if you look closely you can see the faint outline of the stamp box behind the bird sticker and the little boxes for the receiver’s zip code are completely hidden behind washi and stamps. and i managed to incorporate the address lines (on the left) into the outline of the girl sticker and informational text (text in blue on the left) like tag name/id, date, temp etc.
vertical cards are some of my favourite decorating “challenges”!
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