Will we ever get given a country that our country doesn’t send post too?

As some of you U.K. folk like me have noticed about 40 countries have been temporarily banned from receiving post from us. 2 of those counties are Germany and Russia which we often get given when we pull an address. So my question is does the system know that we can’t send post here for the time being and will it only give us address from countries which are still accepting our post?

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You can always check the postal monitor on the main site. There you may check if all currently banned countries are already implemented into the Postcrossing algorithm.

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The postal monitor is where I found that my country had been banned by loads of countries. I just didn’t know if that meant it was put into the postcrossing algorithm. That’s all

Ok, then the good news is that you won’t draw any address from countries listed there.

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As soon as we know about a restriction, it gets added to the postal monitor and taken into account when people are requesting addresses, so you shouldn’t get given an address that you can’t send to. :slight_smile: It is a human process though, so if you find that a restriction isn’t mentioned in the postal monitor, definitely report it!

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Great :slight_smile:
This might be my chance to send a postcard to somewhere that isn’t Germany or Russia haha lol

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Yeah, I was thinking, maybe I should use a VPN to request addresses from the UK :joy:.

I’ve just looked at the Postal Monitor and it currently lists 8 countries the UK aren’t sending mail to. On the Royal Mail site, it lists countries that post isn’t being delivered to from the UK - https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incident-bulletin

Appreciate it’s New Year’s Day and there’s been holidays, so understand why the Postal Monitor isn’t up to date. I’m just beginning to find my way around this part of the site! Really appreciate it.

The Postal Monitor is only updated if everyone takes part in giving information about the delivery status in their countries. There’s no-one in the Postcrossing team who has the resources to check all mail services themselves. As many other things, this only works if the community helps. So maybe you should put your information here:

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It’s all up to date now :slight_smile:

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I don’t know how Postcrossing system is programmed and how it’s run, but I am 100% sure it is not a simple click to enble/disable destinations.
Enabling and disabling destinations are not easy decisions. It could affects thousands, tens of thousands members. UK alone has 17,782 members.

First, Postcrossing will not change suspended or resumed services just because someone told them so. They take it seriously and make decisions based on official information.
It is even more vital since Universal Postal Union, though they have information, will not release it to the general public. Also there are countries that post multiple and contradicting information, or countries that never post delay/suspension information.

Also, a big-scale project likes this run on an extremely complicated system ( Tons of thinking, coding, updating, tweaking, maintaining, etc).
COVID-19 adds extra workloads for frequent service changes involving 248 destinations.

Postcrossing has been running so flawlessly over the years with no data breach is truly amazing, and it’s simply just simply because we have a few smart individuals who work very hard in the background, with such dedications and careful considerations and planning.

It is very unfortunate the suspensions happened right before the Christmas day, and we all are so used to instant services, but I think a little more patience and appreciation would be nice, especially Postcrossing provides this service accessible and FREE (donation-based) to everyone :slight_smile:

@reisegern, thank you for posting the link :wink:

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@Chieusa Woah woah woah I wasn’t having a go, I was just asking a question. I was just curious that’s all. I really didn’t mind if I got an address I couldn’t send a postcard too I was just curious about how the system worked that’s all

I would like to point out that I made this post when the U.K. had suspended 48 countries and it included countries like Russia and Germany and as those are countries that are given quite often I was just curious wether or not people in the U.K. would still get given those addresses or not. I wasn’t complaining or having a go, I was just curious

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Did you use the chance to get addresses from less “common” postcrossing countries? Did it work? Would be interesting to see :slight_smile:

I asked for the postal monitor to be updated when the UK Europe suspension was over. It started because of the Covid /channel tunnel incident so when I got a fistful of cards from Germany I checked, and the suspension had been lifted.
I understand (please correct me if I am wrong) that the Postal Monitor drives the algorithm for choosing addresses so it’s up to us to help keep it up to date.

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I got USA, Japan and Hong Kong

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I sent 2 cards just now-it’s my first time to send,but i was worried becase COVID-19,can i send my cards successfully?What about yours?Do you send recently?Is is successful?

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Welcome, @anon13869687

Yes, they are arriving. To/from some countries they are being rather slow, but the finally make it.

Do not worry for COVID related mail issues. Postcrossing update mail alerts regularly and you wont be given addresses to countries that cannot receive mail from China. Of course, your address won’t be given to any country that cannot send you post.

Be patient, anyway.

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