Next month I’m moving to Canberra - I’m really excited and I can’t wait to continue my postcrossing hobby there! I see so many cool stamps on the auspost website, and I’m wondering what was usual to buy from an Australian post office? Maxicards? Sets of new stamp issues? Smaller makeup values? If so, which post offices in Canberra are good to buy these things? Thanks!
4 Likes
I’m not from Canberra, I’m in Victoria - but what I also recommend doing is stopping in at your local post office or newsagency, because often they have beautiful local cards! I’ve been sending some out that have pictures taken by a photographer who must have some sort of deal with my closest Auspost - they’re gorgeous photos and always in good stock for a good price 
1 Like
Thanks for the tip!
1 Like
Also not from Canberra so I can’t recommend anything local there, but up here in Brisbane I find local POs vary widely in what they have in stock. A few have a nice variety of cards/maxis and a range of stamp issues, some have only random odd stock from ages ago, and at some the staff give you weird looks if you ask for a particular stamp design, as if they don’t even know what stamp issues are.
So if the first PO you visit is a dud, don’t be discouraged, just try another suburb over and you might get a totally different response! And if you really want something in particular, I recommend ordering online.
Good luck with your move!
4 Likes
Thank you for the advice!
You can buy aerogrammes!
On a side note, I have seen some Australian Postcrossers send out maxicards to people
They come with prepaid postage worldwide already and many Postcrossers like maxicards so it’s a win-win.
Something for your consideration
And maybe you can check if there are meetups in the area?
1 Like
Woahh really? That’s so cool!! I think I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that!
1 Like
Good advice, thanks!
Australia has the last issuing Aergramme program in the world, costing AUD 2.85 each!
1 Like
Singapore still sells aerogrammes, though I’m not sure if Singapore Post are still issuing aerogrammes or they are old stock
2 Likes
This is so amazing! Thanks @Seracker , its a great news. I didn’t know that Singapore still issues one! 
1 Like
G’day Holly and welcome to Oz!!! Well…soon, when you get here 
.
How exciting to have another Canberran on the forum. There are not many of us in here. And not that many active Postcrossers in Canberra at all!
As Amanda mentioned above the stocking of our official Post Offices varies wildly. It seems, from my own observations here, that they are not ‘required’ to stock anything much in particular. It seems like they can order whatever they please…and some do, and some don’t.
I live southside so my main (Australia Post run) post offices are Tuggeranong/Greenway, Mawson, Weston Creek and Woden/Phillip (I should look and see if there any others). Tuggeranong get a small number of Maxicards in, and a couple of the minisheets, and the stamp packs and minisheet packs etc. Most f it is held behind the counter so I have to know what I want and go ask for it. They don’t get in any of the single prepaid postcards.
Mawson do not get in any Maxicards at all. They have a handful of older prepaid postcards and they get in small quantities of packages stamps (including Minisheets).
Weston Creek - I don’t visit as often. They have/had a wider range of prepaid cards and I have bought Maxicards there before too.
Phillip do not get in any Maxicards at all. They have a small number of prepaid cards.
All of the post-offices will have sheets of the various international denomination stamps behind the counter - to be bought whole or one at a time or whatever you want.
And if they run out, there’s always the online Oz Post site where postage is free if you spend over $30.
Then we also have LPOs here - Local Post Offices…which is an Australia Post counter within a privately owned newsagent. I have a couple nearby. Both sell a handful of prepaid postcards. Neither sell Maxicards. One occasionally gets in some of the more interesting Minisheets…but not often. I think they both have the more standard international denomination stamps $2.90, $3.50, $3.70. But I don’t think they stock many of the smaller ‘make-up’ international denominations.
The biggest post office in town is in Civic - the centre area of Canberra, near the Australian National University (ANU). It stocks most things I think but I don’t go there often because it’s a 25 minute drive from my place AND parking is a bit of a nightmare and it costs to park in town and generally, I don’t need to be there. But it’s the only post office that sells the prepaid ‘Canberra’ postcard with postcode on it. I can show you a pic…if i can find one in my stash later (it’s only 6 am here and too dark at present for me to go hunting and not wake anyone else up ).
There’s also a place in Civic called Edlins. They’re a couple doors down from the main post office. And they sell older individual Maxicards cheaply. They had a huuuge box of them when I was last in (last year) and they were cheap (six cards for $5 I think). But they were not necessarily the nicest available Maxicards. And I’ve also told a few people about it…so there might not be that many anymore if they haven’t restocked.
There are, of course, more post offices over northside of Canberra. I’ve only visited the one in Belconnen Mall I think. It had some Maxicards the last time I was there. And would stock all of the usual stamps.
ETA: There’s an official post office within Parliament House. Anyone can go there as long as you don’t mind paying for parking and going through the security hoopla to get into the building. The post office there sold a couple of prepaid cards and the usual international denomination stamps. It also has its own pictorial postmark. It’s a very large postmark…so if you are preparing your cards in advance, leave a lot of room for the postmark. There is also a gift shop in Parliament House and it sells some lovely postcards in there too.
There’s also another pictorial postmark available in Canberra. Over northside somewhere. I’ll go look for it one day and show you. It’s of an owl…which is also a local sculpture. But there’s a bit of a story behind that owl…and what it looks like at a casual glance.
I also buy sheets of older small denomination stamps on eBay (to use as extra stamps on Maxicards and prepaid cards) but I think you need to be careful that they are real stamps and not some knock-off. I bought a couple of sheets of an older stamp (not expensive) but I have questions in my head about whether they are real or fake. They feel different…but it could just be because they were printed in the 1970s. I don’t know and I don’t know how to find out. I use those for decorative purposes only.
If I am buying stamps from eBay for actual postage I stick with the sellers who I can recognise as actual stamp dealers.
We haven’t gotten ourselves organised enough to have an official PC meetup here yet. But I have met up privately with one other Canberran local.
If you need any info on anything else about Canberra, I’m more than happy to try and help.
All the very best with your move! And again…welcome!!! 
4 Likes
Wow - thank you for all of the advice and the tips! I’m sure they’ll really come in handy. It’ll maybe be fun to have a meetup whilst I’m there, maybe on world postcard day? But I’m not sure where’s best to host it!
1 Like
Welcome to Australia (said with an australian Crocodile Dundee accent)!
Local post offices are really nice shops. They provide you with many services. You can even make a declaration or issue a passport there.
They are selling nice toys for kids, gadgets for everyone and interesting illustrated books, very often heavily discounted.
Most importantly, every two weeks there is a new stamp issue coming out which will be available at any local post office. So if you like collecting or just browsing new stamps, there is always something new for you to look for.
One thing to remember is that they have this ridiculous pricing strategy here about overseas postage. In a nutshell, when you are sending something overseas you are only supposed to use stamps that mention “international post”. If you are a postcrosser that likes sending cards with multiple colourful stamps, that limits your options. That’s because Australian Post may issue new stamp designs every 2 weeks but issues new “international post” stamps once a year.
One thing you can do is just use regular stamps and add 10% for VAT.
The required postage for a postcard is currently at 3$. For my cards I use normal stamps of 3.30$.
You can also use maxicards (sometimes you can find older ones for 50c). In theory, you can just send them without adding any more stamps. However, it’s always nice to add some low value stamps (5c, 10c, 20c) just for the beauty of it, just like @Tinkatutu mentioned.
Btw…many official postoffices in Australia have a special tourist (pictorial) postmark. So, if you like sending cards with fancy postmarks then you can always ask the clerk if there she/he has one available.
1 Like
A meetup while you’re here would be awesome Holly! And with World Postcard Day being on a Sunday, hopefully more people can join us.
We could potentially meet somewhere like a museum or gallery coffee shop. The arboretum has an amazing visitor centre with a huge seating area, and spectacular views. But you’d need your own car/transport to get up there…I don’t think there’s any public transport up there, but I could be wrong. I thought the coffee shop at Parliament House would be a good spot too…but I’d have to check if it were open or not.
Australia Post offices are, unfortunately, not open on a Sunday, so the one at Parliament House wouldn’t be available, but I asked my LPO owner if he would give me a 1st October postmark on my postcards, and he said he would (not that it’s essential, just fun to have)…so LPOs are a possibility for that.
We can talk about it more closer to the time. I’d love to get a card printed for it!
1 Like
I do this too, and an additional tip is this website:
For $70 or so you get $100 worth of domestic stamps and they are old, so often there’ll be some low denomination stamps in there like 5c and 10c. The last lot I received even had 2c and 3c stamps.
Sometimes there are bigger denominations too, up to $1 or so, and I use a selection of those for regular postage on normal (non maxi / prepaid) cards.
1 Like
Would it be possible to just use one international stamp and the rest normal? Or is that not possible?
This sounds so fun! And having a card printed too let’s definitely talk about this more closer to the time