Try the Cyrillic one, that is not so difficult and may ease the job of the Russian mail carriers.
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Drinking beer and writing postcards is never a good idea. But, yes, I did it several times too.
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itās funny to read that some people have a problem with smudging ink. iām left handed and iāve been having that problem all my life. but on my cards i always write the address first so thatās perfect for me.
my postcard ritual is pretty much the same as most of you. i only write cards on my days off because i love taking time for it. i sit on my sofa with my boxes with cards, washitape and stickers around me. usually i write 3 or 4 cards at a time, as it takes about an hour to write them. i enjoy going through peoples favourites and choosing the best card for everyone.
my received cards take up some time to. i scan them in at the same time i scan my sent cards and unless theyāre terrible i hang them on the space in my living room with all my most recent cards. which means i also have to choose which card must go away. itās a whole thing, haha.
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Hello everybody 
What a great topic to discuss! Iāve read the whole thread with pleasure and felt that I want to share how this ritual goes for me even though a lot of things might be the same.
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Usually I canāt resist and read the profile information straight away. Then I request the next address if I have more slots available (you see, I still have quite few
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Then I come back to the first profile, read the profile information again and check their received postcards (if many, I go only for the postcards from my country). I also check favorites if needed.
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I look through my digital collection of postcards and make up my mind, then take the chosen ones out of a box.
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Itās time for the stamps! I choose something up to my mood, may use a generator of random numbers if I have a series of different stamps, and can take the wishlist of an addressee into consideration. It really depends
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Then I write the address (never have printed it), always adding the name of the country in Russian ('cause our postal workers barely know English and may be a bit confused), and the postcard ID. I put the date, location, and weather when Iām asked to do that.
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I also decorate the backside with the washi tape and stickers when the addressee likes it or at least has nothing against itā¦ @PinkNoodle, @syaffolee, @Axolotl_, @MariceNZ, omg Iāve never put washi tape first! Guess I should try itā¦
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Then goes the message. I briefly tell about myself and write something up to the addresseeās expectations. Itās always hard to write so little as my handwriting isnāt one of the neatest, although some recipients say that itās beautiful
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Last, but not least: I mail my cards. Iām studying from home, so I never know when I get to the nearest post office. It normally takes 2-7 days to finally send my postcards, and I hope it doesnāt affect travel time that much.
I really love 
! I do it even during my lectures in History of Linguistics, which are not the most exciting ones 
I hope that my postcards make people a bit happier. And I havenāt received cards since August. Hope to open my mailbox tomorrow and see some greetings from anywhere 
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I think you are the second person here to mention having a digital collection of cards, along with @Cassiopheia! If you donāt mind, I am interested to hear more about this. Do you keep a spreadsheet and update it regularly? Is there special postcard-organizing software of which I am unaware? I am learning so much from everyone here! 
I have online albums for my cards. As I had a faulty HDD this spring, itās not complete right now (itās a lot of work to re-upload everything). If you want to take a look you can find the link on my user card here.
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I write a batch of postcards every weekend.
First Iāll check the messages to see what cards are due and pick about 20 addresses to be sent.
Then Iāll go over the profiles to try to figure out what kind of cards Iām supposed to send. This is my favorite part! I love picking a card that fits the wishlist. 
Next itās stamp and address time. I stick the stamps first and write the address below. Usually I use 3-4 stamps and they will cover 1/3 of the space. 
After all the addresses are written, I put on my address labels on the cards.
And finally I decorate the cards with washiest tapes and write a little message on every card. Topics include what I eat today, how my week has been and other absolute randomness. 
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It just came to me that what if you put washi tape on where the bar code is supposed to be? Will the bar code still be printed there or a little higher?
The bar code should bring in roughly the same place every time, but it does somewhat depend on the size of the card and how it transits through the sorting machine. The machine will not adjust the position of the card if that block is filled, it will just print over whatever is in the box, handwriting, wasbhitape, stickers etc.
This is a great idea for a thread, thanks for creating it! Iāve very much enjoyed reading all of the responses. Hereās my routine:
1 - I send cards as soon as I have available slots. I do not wait and let them accumulate. It intrigued me to hear that people did that. Postcrossing is part of my morning routine, I log yesterdayās arrived cards, check the email for what arrived elsewhere, see how many slots are thus open, and then have at it.
2 - Copy the address from the Postcrossing email you get when send is requested and paste it into the label making software for my label printer. This is also where I record the Postcrossing ID number. I always check the difference between the ID number of the last card i sent and the one I am now sending, it gives me an idea of how many cards have been sent in-between. I donāt know why this matters, but I find it interesting! My handwriting is not great, so i always use labels for the address and ID number. This also helps if the address is in another alphabet other than the western alphabet. Print the label.
3 - Read the profile. Probably more than once. Iāve started in my mind to build a picture of the person, and also started to down-select categories and maybe even specific cards which Iāll choose from in my head. Iāve also started to formulate the nature of the message I will write, based on the profile.
4 - Pick the card. Iāve accumulated quite a few in a variety of categories and topics, so that I will be able to find a card that brings joy to the recipient. This is why I do this activity, to be able to share joy. My joy in finding the right card for you picking the write stamps and sending the right message is what this is about for me. If I have done well, then some stranger will smile and be moved on some random day in the future. All that said, I donāt always have the perfect card, as there are an infinite variety of interests, and I have a finite number of cards. In these cases, more depends on the message.
5 - Place the address label on the card and select the stamps. Stamp selection gets almost as much attention as card selection, but I am more limited in what i have to work from. I have most of the current U.S. forever stamps, and Iāll use two plus appropriate additional postage in olde unused stamps I get from eBay. I should admit that for domestic cards, I donāt follow this routine so closely and usually just use the regular domestic postcard stamp.
6 - I write the date on the upper left corner of the card. I then rubber stamp my ID stamp, which includes the weather, it looks like this:
Now I go check the current weather and then I hand draw the weather in the WEAX section, and add the temperature either in Celsius or Fahrenheit depending on where the recipient lives. This, too, goes top central or top left.
7 - Now I compose the message in my mind. This is entirely dependent on the impression Iāve developed from the profile. For the folks who have not shared much, it is harder. I then often paint a picture in words, a sort of āhere is what life is like here at this moment as I writeā word-painting, in the hopes that this will sound familiar to when they write to others and thus bring us closer for a moment. For me there is a unique quiet stillness in the morning as I write these missives, these letters of love to a stranger, for this, to me is really what this is. Not romance, but love for being human and sharing who we are. Sharing intimacy. The message I write on the card is the most important part of what i will send. I always try to include a hug and a smile if i can fit it.
8 - Ok, done (sort of) how much room is left? Iām not keen on all the decorations (stickers, washi tape etc.) as to me the most important part is the words. If I do have room left, I will try to fit my āThank You Postmanā rubber stamp impression, and an āairmailā rubber stamp impression on international cards.
9 - I use a highlighter to mark the post crossing ID, which is in a safe location on the label above the address.
10 - I photograph and upload a photo of the card, as I recognize not all recipients have the means to do so.
11 - I try to visit the post office daily and have my cards hand cancelled. This is important to the philatelists out there, and I think adds another personal touch. I canāt always make this happen though as life gets in the way.
I would also note that as I work through each card, I again take note of the difference in ID numbers assigned when I start the next one. It is my own little silly thing, but when i go to write my second card of the morning, if the ID number has increased by say seven, then I know that somewhere in the world, seven other people are doing exactly what I am doing. I find solace in picturing that.
Thank you so mjuch for this thread!
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I also do that and have the same kind of though. Itās nice to know that other people in my little country are also writing cards in the same time as I am. 
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@Lleytoncassidy, you can certainly put washi tape in that box (I sometimes do, when Iām feeling rebellious 
), but if you write part of your message or the ID there, it will sometimes end up looking like a bunch of gibberish after being covered by a bar code!
It has been a while since I have received a postcard from within the US, so I donāt remember exactly, but: I vaguely recall that sometimes the bar code is (or used to be?) printed on a paper label, which is then adhered to the bar code areaā¦? (In this case, the washi tape would be obscured, too!) @eta55, am I crazy?! (The answer is yes, but am I misremembering this?)
In any case, yes, the bar code is annoying.
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Writig in the bar code area could make the card taking longer, for it might be necessary to sort it manually.
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@PinkNoodle, sometimes the barcode is printed directly on the card, sometimes the barcode is printed on a sticker. The sticker can be white or yellow. The sticker is usually easily removed from the card, the glue used is similar to that used for "yellow stickies or 3mās "Post-it Notes. If everything went the way it was supposed to, the card should go through the sorting machine in a way that prints the barcode, or adds it via sticker in the area previously discussed. Some times the card goes through flipped over, and one finds the sticker or printed barcode on the reverse (picture) side of the postcard. In any case, if you receive a postcard with a barcode sticker from the U. S. that sticker should be easily removable, revealing whatever is underneath. Note that recipients in the U. S. will sometimes also get cards from overseas with these stickers added once theyāve gotten here to our sorting process. I think I make mention of this in my bio, Iāll have to go check now.
Anyway, weāre wway off topic here, apologies to the OP!
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Very good to know, and glad to hear that I am not accumulating false memories!
I am the OP of this topic; feel free to deviate to your heartās content! 
I totally forgot to mention on my routines that while I scan the cards I do a little dance, because the scanning takes too long to aimlessly stare at wall, but also too short time to move to do anything else and the scanner is bit awkwardly placed on corner without place to sit down, so the dance time it is.
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If you are powered out from dancing, then you have written too many cards, definately, and your bankaccount will be empty from the insane Swedish postageā¦
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Ooh this is an interesting topic!
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Clean the kitchen table, where I always work at since the lighting is great, and my drawer of blank postcards, pens, and all other supplies is kept nearby.
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Request an address - A lot of times profiles gives me a good idea of what they would like, but if not Iāll go into their favorites to get a feel for their tastes. Sometimes I look through their received to avoid sending a duplicate. (Houston Texas postcards seem to be very common to get, haha)
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After choosing the card, I add stamps that may be relevant to their preferences or to the card, and always write the address first. I get nervous about writing the address wrong and ruining the whole card after Iāve already filled it all out, so doing it first helps get it out of the way. Depending on the pen or postcard material, Iāll let it dry a bit. I havenāt had any issues with smudging, luckily.
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I write the date and weather, ID in two spots, then the message, in that order. If there are any gaps on the message half, Iāll draw some little pictures.
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I like to take a photo of the message I wrote for reference when it gets registered. Sometimes I get hurray messages that are a little vague in response to what I wrote, and I canāt remember what I had written most of the time! So the photos help understanding.
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After scanning, I place all the outgoing mail in the mailbox in front of our house. If itās raining or very windy, I might wait to put it out until itās close to when the mail truck usually picks up. (Even though the mailbox is pretty safe, canāt be too careful!)
Iām always super excited to both send and receive cards. 
Itās fun to read about the ways other people go about this!
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I pick a card and some stamps, write on the card, stick some silly stickers on most of them, use my āfunnyā āRegister me ASAPā pre-inked stamp, make sure Iāve put the ID on, and then take them to the Post Office.
I usually even manage to remember to address them 
Seriously, Iām impressed by all the very detailed accounts that have been shared here. I havenāt READ them, but I AM impressed.
This is very clever; I often have the same problem, especially if the card traveled for a long time! I read the āHurray!ā message and have to scan my memories to find out what the recipient is responding to. I imagine this happened a lot when written correspondence was the only option and took even longer.
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