I remember as a child when I was on vacation and wrote a postcard, my parents always told me that I had to write the address very clearly so it would get delivered. It seemed like this big scary thing that you have to write a perfect postcard, otherwise it wouldn’t be delivered.
Now that I am older, I of course know that you don’t have to write the address super clearly for your postcard to be successfully delivered and now that I started postcrossing I am realising more and more that you can get creative with your postcards which I would have never thought of as a kid.
I started attaching stickers to them and that is a lot of fun. Then I used a puffy sticker for the first time and I was worried. Would it arrive even though it is not completely flat? It did. Then I got even more risky and attached googly eyes. This time I was really worried, but the postcard arrived and the googly eyes were still on it.
Now I had the idea to attach a tiny envelop with a poem to a postcard because the poem relates to what is on the postcard. Would the postcard still get delivered or do you think this is where it finally is too much? I’m from Germany btw if that is relevant. I of course always have the option to send it in an envelop but I know not everyone likes that.
What is the biggest thing that you have attached to a postcard that you got away with or what is the biggest thing you have received on a postcard?
Coins (with double sided tape plus cross tape on top), teabags (double-sided tape), tiny envelopes… Coins did not always survived, but others traveled fine
Besides the risk of the little envelope to get ripped of during the sorting process, I would guess that a postcard with attached envelope doesn’t count as postcard postage-wise and you’d have to pay 1.10 instead of 0.95. But as long as you pay for a letter, this should get delivered. But you can bring this postcard to the counter instead of throwing it into the mailbox and see what they say…
You are right! I would not send envelope-postcard to USA, for example, their sorting machines are vicious! Sending lots of handmades openly to Europe and Asia (from Russia) though shows that chances of safe arrival are very high
I use kitchen scales for postcards to check 20g limit (here that is the limit for postcard), then use up to 100g stamps if it’s heavy
I already did that in the past and it arrived fine. I put some washi tape over the envelope (that the sender needed to remove) for protection. The envelope was on the front though (it was a selfmade card), I posted it with the postcard rate. The envelope was only glued partly, so it could be opened.
The biggest thing I attached was another (thin) postcard (washi tape all around the edges) when I forgot that the person wanted it in envelope and already had stamps on the swap card. I was asked to put a sheet of paper for protection over the front… but I decided to take another card
My postcard is 16 cm x 11 cm which means it is allowed to weigh 8,8 g if I calculated properly. According to the kitchen scale, the postcard weighs 8 g so it’s close but theoretically I am good to go!
Thank you everyone for your advice! I’ll definitely keep it all in mind when I send this card.
You don’t need to “calculate down” for a smaller postcard. The 20g weight limit is valid for any size within the allowable range.
On single postcards I have taped teabags and also little envelopes that are part of the decoration on the front of the card successfully. So long as all of the edges, flaps, etc. are securely washi-taped down I haven’t had a problem. These I have sent using the postcard rate.
I have successfully also sent up to 3 postcards taped together with washi tape and also 2 postcards taped together with a teabag in between. I postaged them with the envelope rate, because I think in that case I am using the two outside postcards as a sort of envelope and it’s only fair to pay the envelope rate.
Now I immersed myself in the mysterious world of Deutsche Post’s Terms & Conditions In this document I found confirmed what I already said about weight limits and also a definition of postcards on page 15 (a rectangular piece of paper or cardboard consisting of one piece). And postcards must also be machinable which means that they may not have irregularities in thickness caused by affixed items. (page 16)
But I think you must be really unlucky to get caught by a nitpicker who refuses delivery of your postcard
When you fully attach the mini envelope and seal it with masking tape - it is one piece
When you craft a handmade card, you often glue two pieces together and thus making it to one single piece.
But really, if it’s a bit too heavy or you are really worried just use stamps for standard letter and you’re good to go! 60 vs 80 cents (national) or 0,95 vs 1,10 € (international) is only a small difference if you don’t plan to do it for most of your cards!
No tape used on this one. A little doll beach found attached with ironthread only. The stamps had a written story on blanco side.
I was amazed it was received as we all know it’s risky to sent.
Shells can make it undammaged into a matchbox taped on the card. Same for little plastic bag filled with beachsand. Or whatever fits in a matchbox.
Today we are not allowed to sent non-paper items on postcards or in enveloppes. Those must be sent as parcel or letterboxparcel.
With a costumsdeclaration of content value and gift or not.
Edit I’m from NL but forgot how to change flag. So I keep this colourful flag.
My understanding is that the “150-500 g/m²” refers to the weight of the paper not the weight of the overall postcard. In other words, you can’t use an 80 g/m² sheet of typing paper or a 600 g/m² piece of super-thick cardboard as a postcard.
Yes, it does refer to the weight of the paper. But since a postcard is defined as a single sheet of paper without any items attached to it, which would cause a variation in thickness, this means that the allowed maximum weight depends on the size of the paper sheet. But as I said: the official definition and what a postal worker accepts is not necessarily the same thing
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