I was at a coffee shop this afternoon that’s also a little specialty food market. They had some postcards with their logo on them, and I thought it’d be nice to send to someone with coffee shops on faves list or that like learning about my local area.
I took it to the counter and the woman told me it was USD $5. I put it back. It’s a piece of paper and cost more than my cup of tea. My husband thinks I was rude, but I was genuinely surprised. There was a huge pile, so I first thought maybe they were free! I think most people just agree that USD $5 is too much for a postcard.
Postcards from a shop with photos of our local town are USD $1.75 and I stopped buying them a while ago. Last “expensive” card I bought was USD $3 and it’s large, screen printed, and going to be hung on my wall.
When I was on vacation in CT I bought some pretty cards at a Hallmark store for USD $1. That’s the most I’ve ever paid. Here in FL I can get nice tourist cards for 4 or 5 for $1, and the many non-tourist cards I have I got online for about the same. WalMart has a great selection for 48c and I don’t go near them because they are so much less at Publix and Postal Express. If I plan on staying a PXer for any length of time, I have to be as frugal as I can
For a postcard like you described, inacceptable. For a very special card 2 Euros. Once i got a card which had a three d mechianism in it- a birthday card…a pop up card like this one. I paid five euros for it. But it was for my sailing cousin for his forthieth.
The most I’ve paid for a postcard was $3 , it was a limited addition by the artist . Usually I buy set of cards , 10-15 cards for $8 .
$5 for one is definitely too much. I really doubt anyone buys those.
You bring up a good point in regard to the cost to print the physical card. Yet a postcard is much more than apiece of paper now. Someone had to dream up the idea, act upon it, create the art, edit the art, find a way to print the art, & those costs are rising too.
I find it quite inexpensive to support a local business/artist with a couple bucks extra for the courage to follow their dream until it is reality.
Personally, postcards for me are my luxury cheat. I don’t look at the price if it is something I do not already have, and I am sure to use or love. I have a couple series of cards that were a tiny bit pricey even for my non budget. They will be on display on my blog and then they are off to make someone happy. Much more fun than a cup of coffee!
The most I’ve paid has been $.65 USD. Last summer, on vacation I saw a display of absolutely drop-dead beautiful gorgeous cards, but they were something like $3 USD each. If it happened again, I’d be willing to buy a small amount of those, but the person’s profile would have to “click” with me to a significant extent to send one. In other words, I’d have to feel as though they would be truly appreciative rather than just another nice card.
That experience aside, my limit is under $1 USD. I’ve received so much “I love this” response from recipients that anything more expensive wouldn’t be worth it.
For modern cards that you buy online or in a shop (if you find one ), the prices can range from $0.25 to over a dollar,or more. For quite some time, I priced my cards in my online store @0.99 each. Not too much traffic. Then I lowered the price to $0.49 across the board and the orders started to flow in; sometimes repeat orders from customers. Other times, they have bought multiples of the same card <—I guess for swapping?
Sometimes at postcard shows, I can pick up some good items for $0.25/each. Some dealers who are clueless wanted to charge $0.50 or $1.00 per card. I ask if they can do any better; if they say “no” I walk away.
For a rare 1890s photocard needed for my research & publication: $50 USD (but thats really pushing it!). For a 3D: maybe $4 and for special cards bought at airports around $2. All the others I get for officials and trades are usually 2 or 3 for $1 so I dont mind a few splurges now & then
Recently I bought a gorgeous 3D-card for 2 Euro - for sending it to a friend. She loves special cards and buys special ones for me too. And if it is for a special person, I probably would spend more, but then the card must be as special as the person.
Otherwise my more expensive cards cost 1 Euro, it’s about the same I paid for most of my own cards which I got printed professionally.
I guess the musicians-art-special-edition with motives of a book about flow for musicians did cost more, but they were included in a package with 2 books, so I don’t know exactly about the calculation. They are really good quality, limited edition and artists illustrations same as in the book.
Maybe a fun-fact: I thought of giving away for free a hand signed autograph card from Robin Gibb - but looked up what they are traded for, before I announced it. Wow! What would you think they cost? - Between 80 and 150 Euro. So I decided to not offer it for free. Though once upon a time I got it for free from the artist …
That reminds me. I have spent more on vintage postcards. I didn’t think of them because I don’t send them to others. They are for me to keep (I’ll use them in the na wbmp rr or send them to myself when I’m on vacation). But even for those, I’ve not paid more than $5.50 for one.
2 for $1usd seems to be the best price I’ve seen for tourist postcards here in Portland, Oregon. Sometimes they are $1 each The train station downtown had the two for one buck deal; I haven’t seen that price in too many other places. Postcards were cheaper when I lived in Seattle, and more accessible, even the drug store carried affordable ones.
For artist cards, I’ll pay more. They start at $1/card but most are $2/card and up. Not in my budget right now but I bought some cards last year from a local photographer and gradually used those up.
There are a couple of thrift and secondhand stores where I can sometimes get a better deal on postcards. Sometimes they even have the tourist ones too.
I don’t think I’d pay $4 or more for a postcard.
Here in Italy prices have been skyrocketing the last few years… At the north principally they cost much more. Like it’s almost impossible to find one for less than 1€. When I went to Rome I could find good deals as 10 postcards for 5euros.
There’s one famous Italian series that costs 1,50 each. I only buy those if they’re at a discount offer like 3 for 3 euros.
Last time in Rome I saw a beautiful card in a shop and it costed 1,50, as I had this idea of not buying cards costing over 1€ I didn’t buy but I regret not having bought at least one for me and one for a close friend.
@iamtracylee
Postcards with their logo should be given for free! As someone would think it’s an ad card, can you imagine paying that much for an ad card? You did the right thing putting it back!
The most I’ll pay for a postcard is $1.60 USD. That’s my budget and helps me decide “no thanks”. Gotta have money for postage. I would have had sticker shock at that $5.00 price too!
In Ukraine, you can buy postcards from 1 hryvnia (0.027 dollars) to 60 hryvnias (1.60 dollars), but the average price is 12-18 hryvnias (0.4-0.5 dollars) per postcard.
The most expensive postcard I bought cost 40 hryvnias (1.1 dollars).
This does not include delivery (because I buy postcards in an online store)
3,50 € for a puzzle postcard. But the intention was to do a lottery with that card, I would never ever send out such an expensive postcard via the main site to someone I don’t know. While it is a postcard it could only be sent in envelope and it had more than 20 g, so also more postage. I think in the end I sent it to a good friend.
It is not that I think a stranger isn’t worth such a card and higher postage but I prefer to know before if they would be happy or not.
Meanwhile I found more puzzle postcards for a lower price.
@Kaydee Oh, I’ve sent several such cards like on your pic. But only to very close friends. They are definitely worth to get such a card.
By the way, the card shown on your pic I bought for 4,50 € at a local shop last autumn
The train station downtown had the two for one buck deal; I haven’t seen that price in too many other places. Postcards were cheaper when I lived in Seattle, and more accessible, even the drug store carried affordable ones.