What about larger than average postcards?

Postcrossing General Topics
#1

I’ve read in some profiles that they prefer not to receive “oversized” or “larger than average” postcards. What do they mean exactly? I suppose they consider standard or average sized a postcard of 10x15cm, is that right?

I’ve sent several postcards larger than that (about 12x17cm) so far for a couple of reasons: they are quite common in the place where I live (and often they are more interesting than smaller ones) and there is more space to write a message, which is something that I consider important and of which I never have enough.

What do you think? Are you okay with receiving those larger cards or would you prefer smaller ones?

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#2

I don’t mind the size of the card. People who write something like that are probably collecting their cards in special albums where larger cards don’t fit. I use a more flexible system.

First I go for wishes / preferences, then I go by size. So when I have multiple of the same theme and someone asks for standard size, I will choose the one with standard size. If I haven’t I send a bigger one.

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#3

Personally, I love different sizes and shapes!

When picking a card for a user with size limits, I go the opposite road than @Cassiopheia. If I don’t have their interests in a standard size, I send something else. I fear an oversized card would be wasted on them since they can’t store it in their system.

However, if the preferred size is smaller than an average card or something super spesific, I usually don’t worry about it at all. I think everybody should accept the standard size (and with that I mean a card which fits in C6 envelope).

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#4

Once I got a very big postcard, it was very beautiful but to fit in my postbox, a postman had to roll it in half, so looked very bad. But the text was so interesting to read! I was happy to receive such a postcard.

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#5

Like what has already been said above, these Postcrossers likely keep their postcards in a standard size album, hence their request.

For me, however, I’m fine with postcards of any shaoe or size. In fact, some of the nicest postcards are those that don’t fit the conventional size.

For instance, this one which I received from Malaysia was in the shape of an outfit, and is one of my all-time favourites.

But back to the topic, yes, larger than size postcards are actually interesting because sometimes the Postcrosser is able to write more too, which I appreciate. That said, I also enjoy the conventional size ones. I enjoy each and every postcard that I receive, because it is really the thought that counts. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#6

Since I store nearly all of my cards in plastic sleeves, I prefer the standard size. But many countries, particularly the Balkan countries and several in Southeast Asia, the larger size cards predominate.

If they are sent as Official cards, fine; but I rarely if ever trade for those larger cards.

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#7

I am the postcrosser who keeps my postcards in an album. And I love it when they are standard size. But in my album 2 cards 10 × 15 fit in one cell, so if the postcard is large, then I put not two, but one postcard in the cell. I try to treat postcrossing not as a collectible, but as an opportunity to learn and see a lot of different things, so I try to adapt myself, and not try to adapt people to my interests.

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#8

I don’t exclude them on my profile (I had, but that produced the opposite ^^) but to be honest I don’t like them very much as it’s a question of storage for me.

Like CaptainSoul I would say: Official ones - okay, but I prefer other cards in RR or for trading.

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#9

I don’t care about the postcard’s size myself. I am only keeping selected ones and my storage system is flexible (really flexible as right now it is just a pile on table and I got a huge table. Haven’t got around to fix proper storage yet).

When it comes to cards I send… To be honest, I would not bother to measure the official cards. If the profile mentions “standard size” I will select card that seems to be standard size but I am not fetching the measure tape for that. Especially because the standard size I am thinking might not be the standard size they are thinking.
For trades it is another deal. Then I will be more careful and measure the cards to check they match, if the partner gave measurements.

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#10

I didn’t know why at first but last day I received a larger postcard than others and my post box small but as I see postman tried to put in it and it is damaged and I think I should add my about I should prefer small postcard.

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#11

Yes, some people are very serious about their albums/storage. But, there are other ways to store postcards. I found an album specifically for larger prints, which is very useful for any that don’t fit in my main album. My main album will eventually run out of space, anyway!

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#12

I try to respect the recipient’s wishes regarding card size; it’s part of my trying to find the perfect postcard for each person.

If they don’t specify a size, I do tend to prefer to send a larger card because I like a larger picture personally, and I imagine a larger card is less likely to be lost in the mail.

Very recently I addressed the most perfect larger postcard to a Postcrosser who had a rare hobby, and then realized too late that they wished for a smaller card. So I also sent a pretty good smaller postcard and apologized for my mistake.

The very kind recipient thanked me for both cards and let me know they changed their profile to allow all sizes of cards, so they would never miss out on a great postcard just because of size. :heart:

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#13

Like others have stated above, I assume that when someone specifies a size, they’re trying to fit all of their postcards in an album. I know some people are pretty strict with organization, so I usually pick a card that first matches their preferred dimension and second matches their preferences as closely as possible.

When I first started, I also used an album, but I quickly realized that it is too rigid for this particular hobby. And since I enjoy postcards because of the messages and not because they fit some sort of physical dimensional ideal, I ended up switching to a filing system which allowed me more flexibility.

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#14

In Belgium it’s an issue the other way around. The size of postcards requiring a single stamp for Europe €1.55 or the world approx €2 is determined. Anything outside the normed format is three stamps. So this stops me very quickly sending unusually sized postcards.

I have gotten maxi sized postcards however and they were delivered without request for additional postage.

I store my cards in shoeboxes. When full I may have to buy a new pair of shoes :slight_smile:

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#15

I keep my nicest cards in a postcard album. It doesn’t fit anything bigger than a standard postcard. If I receive a bigger card, it will have to live in a box with other such cards until I eventually cut the stamps off and bin the rest. There’s a number of cards that just live in the box forever until they get too ratty to keep.

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#16

As long as it fits in my mailbox, the card is just fine!

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#17

@alemrl, keep sending the bigger cards, if you like them better and have easier access to them! If you can find some 10x15cm cards that you like, it would certainly be nice to have a stash of them, just in case someone requests that size. But that is entirely up to you. :blush:

Perhaps it’s not ideal, but I have trimmed down a card to fit a Postcrosser’s size request. I would only trim the card if I can avoid sacrificing the image or any relevant text on the back (otherwise, I would just choose another card). It takes negligible effort on my part, and if it makes the Postcrosser happy, then I’m happy, too. :woman_shrugging: However, most of the profiles I draw make no mention of size!

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#18

Lovely cards :slight_smile:

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#19

I once got a trimmed card. I know that because after registering, I saw the whole untrimmed picture of the card. I don’t requested a specific size, so I don’t understand why the sender had trimmed it. (Before trimming it was not so big, that it had to be send with a higher postage, I guess, since there only are a few centimetres from the image at my wall missing on the real card.) :woman_shrugging:

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#20

Once the image of the scanned card was bigger than the card I had received, but I don’t think it was trimmed. I just thought the sender had both standard sized and square cards of the same image and had uploaded the square card one.

The biggest postcard I have received was about A4-size (it was not an official card). My mail slot is wide enough for such mail, but it was slightly damaged on its way here.

I would rather have a big card than an unusually small one. Like many have pointed out, there is more room for a message in a larger card and often there are great cards that are bigger than a standard size. I have no problems storing cards of different sizes. I am no card collector, though. I just like getting mail :slight_smile::postbox:.

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