August Stats

 

A respectable month of activity in Postcrossing this August:  During the month, I sent 76 cards and received 65.  This month my ranking jumped to 25th highest Postcrossing member in the USA (with 83,875 members) based on number of sent cards.  Still #1 in Alabama.  Incidentally, the USA is only second most active among world countries in Postcrossing.  First place by a large margin is held by Germany.  The USA has collectively sent a little more than 118 million cards, while Germany has sent 160 million cards.  Germany has achieved this with fewer Postcrossing members; nearly 84,000 for the USA, and about 69,000 for Germany.  So per capita, German Postcrossers are nearly twice as active as Americans, sending 232 cards per member, versus 141 for Americans.  Germans end up sending 18.2 % of all cards on Postcrossing, while Americans send 13.4%.  But there is a glimmer of hope: in the last 30 days, Americans comprised 17.6% of all new members of Postcrossing, while Germans were just 6.3% of new members.  I wonder if this is new enthusiasm sparked by the newly issued Postcrossing stamp.  Just an interesting comparison. Write on.

July stats

July was a quiet month for Postcrossing, with just 61 cards sent and 71 cards received.  This brings my all-times totals to 12,432 cards sent and 12,426 cards received.  I'm happy to see that cards are getting through to recipients in Russia- 3 cards sent there this month and 7 cards received- so the sanctions seem to be truly at an end.  Despite my lackluster activity, I did move up in rank and now am 25th of more than 83,000 USA members in terms of total sent cards. (Still #1 in Alabama, too.)  As always, I'd intended to be more active in sending cards, but life seems to persistently get in the way of plans.  Here's to more Postcrossing in August.  Write on!

Turning 21

 In 2005, a couple of creative people had the bright idea to create a system that could connect people all around the world.  With some knowledge of computer databases they created Postcrossing, a project that facilitates the exchange of postcards between individuals who have never met.  Over the years, the system has grown to over 800,000 members in 207 countries.  Each month, this group sends nearly half a million postcards and have sent a total more than 87 million cards.  The distance they've travelled would cover 538,000 round trips between the earth and the moon.  I've been a proud member of Postcrossing for more than 13 years and have enjoyed every minute of it.  Happy birthday Postcrossing.  Write on!

June stats

 The Postcrossing stats for June are in, and during the month, I sent 85 postcards and received 79 postcards.  That brings my all-time total sent cards to 12,368, putting me in 27th place among the 83,000 Postcrossing members in the USA.  Still #1 in Alabama.  Good to see an active exchange of cards to and from Russia once again, after the recent resumption of USPS service to Russia.  Write on.

Back in the USSR

 It was about a month ago when I learned that the USPS had resumed service to Russia.  After years of sanctions and embargos, it was once again possible to send postcards from there from the USA.  Postcrossing first assigned me a Russian address on May 16, and several more in the days that followed.  Today I am pleased to learn the first of these cards has been received in Russia.  My card to Postcrossing member "Boring_Lydia" was registered a short time ago after travelling 5.077 miles in 32 days.  This opens up the 3rd most active country in Postcrossing to American members, and will provide more variety in the cards I send.  Write on!

Rare card alert- followup

 On June second, I sent my first card using the newly issued Postcrossing stamp to a recipient in the UK.  And today, after a journey of 4,217 miles and eight days, the card was registered.  Since then, I've sent many more cards with the new Postcrossing stamps, so Postcrossers all around the world are soon to see the results of years of work that resulted in these stamps.  A brave new era in postal mail.  Write on!

Rare card alert

 After a long day at work and a harrowing commute in a severe thunderstorm, I arrived home yesterday to find my order of the new Postcrossing stamps had finally arrived.  And this morning, I sent off my first one!  As I've mentioned before, the USPS Postcrossing stamp comes after years of petitioning by Postcrossing members to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, the group that recommends new stamp designs to the USPS.  I had written my own letter to the committee several years ago, and never received any reply or acknowledgement, so I had come to believe it was a dead issue.  But then only a few weeks ago, I learned that a Postcrossing stamp issue would be at last released, as it indeed was at the World Expo stamp convention in Boston last week.  So today, the first maxi card (a postcard featuring the stamp image, an actual stamp with first day of issue postmark, and a matching stamp for international postage on the address side) went out in the mail today.  Hope you enjoy it, Richard in the UK!  Write on!

Boston World Expo

 We are now just hours away from Boston 2026 World Expo, a multi day convention featuring all things postal.  This event has special interest, as the USPS will be releasing several highly anticipated new stamp designs, including the long-sought Postcrossing theme stamp.  The USPS celebrated 250 years of existence last year, and the USA will do the same this year, so many stamp issues are of a patriotic nature.  These include bald eagles, American bison, and treasures of the Revolutionary Era.  But what has held my attention more than anything else is the Encore Issue.  On Saturday, May 24, a special repeat release of some previous stamp favorite will be announced.  About a year ago, voting was open to the public to choose which design from a large selection will be chosen for re-release.  For myself, I chose the frozen treats scratch and sniff stamp, which smelled like delicious ice cream.  The chosen design has been a closely guarded secret, and I've not heard any rumors as to which former stamp will once again become available.  The "stamp con" will undoubtedly be a great experience; I wish I could be there in person.  But I will be soon sending a whole slew of new stamps on postcard to recipients all around the world.  Write on!

Back on the list

As I requested a batch of addresses from Postcrossing this morning to write some postcards, I was surprised to be assigned an address for Russia.  Because of US sanctions, USPS mail service to Russia has been suspended for the last couple of years.  I have been receiving postcards from Russia, but could not send any postcard to Russia.  Until this morning.  Not wanting to waste time and expense, I have tried to verify this change.  A check of the Postcrossing Postal Monitor page, and the USPS Service Alerts page shows that Russia is no longer listed as a suspended destination.  But it seems to be a very quiet policy change since I can find no specific announcement of a resumption of Russia service by any reputable source.  So I guess I'll take a chance and write the postcard and I hope it reaches you soon, Nikolai in Leningrad.  Stay tuned for any updates.  Write on!

Letter Writing Wrapup

 Having just dropped a final letter in the mail this morning, I am happy to announce that National Letter Writing Month has been a success.  

• Letters written: 30
• Letters typed: 18
• Letters hand written: 12
• Domestic addresses: 28
• International addresses: 2
• Responses received (so far): 3
• Letters returned, undelivered: 1  (and then resent)
• Months until next Letter Writing Month: 11

It's been a fun month, but it's taken time away from my Postcrossing activities.  I look forward to more postcards in May.  Write on!

Breaking news: Postcrossing stamps

 For about as long as I've been a member of Postcrossing (well over 13 years), there has been an effort to create a US postage stamp design dedicated to the hobby.  In fact, many American Postcrossers have a plea in their profile urging everyone to contact the USPS Citizen's Advisory Committee to include a Postcrossing stamp design in each year's new stamp issues.  Many years ago, I myself wrote the committee on more than one occasion and never received any sort of response.  I'd given up hope that the USPS would ever issue a Postcrossing stamp, even as other nations continue to do so:  Germany, Estonia, and Czech Republic are but a few.  Well, today I was thrilled to learn that in May the USPS  will release a new stamp dedicated to Postcrossing.  The issue includes four different designs, and are triangular.  It will, of course, be at the international 1 ounce rate (currently $1.70).  Seems like persistence pays off, as they say.  I can't wait for the USA to join the family of nations with a stamp dedicated to Postcrossing.  Write on.

Rare card alert

 Today's rare card is a bit unusual.  It was not sent or received from an obscure, small country.  Instead, it is a card I sent to Denmark, a country that ended its postal system last year.  On December 30, 2025 the state run postal system, PostNord, ceased operations entirely, making it the first nation in the world to do so.  Reasons given were the decline of familiar person-to-person letters and other common mail, which has been largely replaced by digital communication.  And yet, Denmark remains a member nation of Postcrossing, and I was assigned a Danish address 17 days ago.  Instead of a national postal system, private couriers exist to provide the same service.  Think of it as sending a postcard by FedEx.  From what I can tell, it's an expensive option for Danish citizens to use the company, Dao, to send their postcards.  In fact, the Postcrossing member I sent my card to mentions in their profile that they live close enough to the border that they send their outgoing mail from Germany.  So today I present the delivery of a postcard I sent to a country without a post office.  Write on.

Feb stats

 Once again, my monthly postcard numbers fell a little short of my goals.  Real life always seems to get in the way.  In the shortened month of February, I sent 84 cards to recipients around the world, and received 94 cards.  This gives me a ranking of 26th among 78,000 Postcrossing members in the USA, and I remain #1 among members in Alabama. My longest distance card this month was one that travelled 8,179 miles in 90 days to Taiwan.  I sent off a batch of cards this morning, with a new emphasis on observing holidays throughout the year.  So a few St Patrick's Day cards are now on their way and will hopefully arrive around March 17.  Write on.

Achievement unlocked

 As an active member of Postcrossing for over 13 years, have been proud to tick off one landmark after another.  Today I mark the sending of postcard 12,000.  That works out to an overall average of about 77 cards per month that I've sent to recipients all around the world. Never could I have imagined when I started this project in October of 2012 that it would endure and grow to such a result.  Card # 12,000 went to Marks in Riga, Latvia.  It took 24 days to travel 5,024 miles.  I've spent untold hours selecting, writing and sending these thousands of cards over the years, and there's many more to come.  This landmark just inspires me to continue on with the effort.  Write on!

2025 stats

 Happy New Year!  2026 is only a few hours old, and I am already up and Postcrossing.  Stats for last month and the complete year are already available, and it was a moderately active one for me.  In the last twelve months I sent 1,043 postcards to recipients around the world and received 1,012.  In December the numbers were 72 sent and 95 received, bringing my lifetime totals to 11,905 cards sent and 11,866 cards received.  That's a lot of stamps and trips to the local post office! Over the past year, I've made contact with 64 different countries, from American Samoa to Ukraine.  My Postcrossing rank is hovering around where it's been for some time: 28th among 77,303 American Postcrossing members, and #1 among 809 members in Alabama.  It's been a rewarding and enjoyable hobby in 2025, and I look forward to more of the same in 2026.  Write on!

So long, '25!

 On the last day of this seemingly long year, some of us inevitably turn a little contemplative and assess the past twelve months and the changes they've brought to the world.  In just such a mood I write this on a cold, sunny morning in central Alabama, while weighing my role in the universe.

From a personal standpoint, it's been a pretty mixed year.  As are most of them, I suppose, with ups and downs that culminate in a general sense of turmoil or serenity, as the case may be.  Early on in the year, I experienced a potentially serious health episode which resulted in my first ever ambulance ride and ICU admission.  Things turned out alright, and I used the episode to spark a renewed effort in personal wellness.  Through the rest of the year, I've accomplished some much-needed weight loss, improved my fitness, and improved some worrisome medical measurements.  By December, my annual physical exam produced a panel of blood test lab results that were, as my medical professional wife called "textbook perfect."  This is an area that I hope to continue in the coming year.  This summer also saw a landmark birthday for me, which was allowed to pass with a minimum of fanfare, as I had hoped.  Age hasn't produced wisdom, but it has certainly provided experience, which is maybe the next best thing.

The past year also saw our first real vacation in over five years.  In it, I overcame my aversion to the hassles and disappointments that so often accompany modern air travel, and we had perfectly smooth travel to a beautiful location on the midcoast of Maine.  Wonderful weather and beautiful scenery made it an enjoyable and memorable trip.  I only wish such a trip could be reliably reproduced!  Closer to home, I expanded my literary horizons with regular participation in the Trollope Society Big Read, where we read and discussed works of the prolific Victorian author.  That's also something I will continue this year.  This year I took the plunge and arranged to have professional landscapers to tend to our property, freeing me from the drudgery of lawn mowing and yard work.  It's made a tremendous difference in my life, and I wish I'd turned to this option years ago.  And finally, I've been diligently puttering along with Postcrossing, where I exchange postal messages with other like-minded people all around the world.  The daily arrival of a tiny personal connection to another human being does wonders for one's outlook on life.

Taking a wider view, things are decidedly less rosy.  My country continues to suffer a despicable felon at the head of government.  In the past year, nearly everything that could seriously be said to "make America great" has been dismantled or seriously damaged.  As a working research scientist, I have grown an astonishing capacity to absorb the daily developments that represent destruction of the nation's once respected and admired scientific system.  Higher education is under assault, research funding is a shambles, once respectable agencies are now run by crackpot hacks, and the nation's proud scientific tradition is a smoking ruin.  Restoration, if begun tomorrow, would take years to return us to the condition we boasted only 12 months ago.  This is just the area of life with which I am most familiar.  But almost every other aspect of American life has been systematically destroyed in the past year.  The environment is being destroyed, the arts are being demolished, rule of law is being contorted to unrecognizable dimensions, public health, safety, and welfare are a shadow of their former selves, international relations are a shambles, and simple American principles like Freedom of Speech are no longer upheld.  To merely express disapproval of the current regime is to invite thuggish retribution from the government or its agents.  It is difficult for me to express how much I despise the current demented resident of the White House (what remains of it) or of his ignorant cult of supporters.  Fortunately, Postcrossing members do not often delve into politics, and I am only occasionally required to apologize for the disgrace that my country has become.

Since my personal life is on balance a good one, and since the conditions of the wider world are so bad, perhaps it is understandable that my coping mechanism has been to ignore the outside to that extent possible, and instead focus on life close to home.  If I were a better person, I might try to do small things to change the world for the better, for that's what will be required if we are ever to return to a sensible existence on this country.  But I simply don't have that sort of energy.  So I'll content myself with my books, my postcards, my experiments - in the laboratory at work, and in the kitchen at home - and try to hold on until the national pendulum inevitably swings back towards sanity.  Will that begin in the year that begins tomorrow?  I'm not hopeful.  But it surely will eventually, given enough time.  And I will try my best to endure until it does.

Rare card alert

 As a Postcrossing member for more than 13 years, I've eagerly (but hopefully not obnoxiously) spread the word about my hobby.  Along the way, I've convinced a handful of family and friends to join me in sending postal mail to random strangers around the world.  But in sending nearly 13,000 postcards to randomly assigned people, it was only this week that for the first time I sent a card to someone I know in real life.  This rare card didn't go too far- just to Jacksonville, Florida to an old friend from my college days.  But in sending this first ever card to someone who is not a total stranger, I achieved another first in this hobby that has occupied so much of my time.  Write on!

Rare card alert

 For whatever reason, there are not many active Postcrossing members in central America, and therefore cards from that region are rare.  So it took over 13 years of Postcrossing for me to receive my first ever card from Guatemala.  Sort of.  The card itself is from Amsterdam and was sent by a Dutch Postcrosser who was travelling in Guatemala at the time he sent it.  So it has an ID number from that country: 2131, meaning I've sent nearly six times as many cards as the entire country.  In fact, there are only 23 registered Postcrossing members in the country.  All this makes for an exceedingly rare card, one I'm happy to add to my collection.

October stats

 A productive month for me on Postcrossing.  In October, I sent 141 cards to recipients around the world, and received 122 cards.  This brings my all-time total for sent cards to 11,759, which earns me the rank of 28th Postcrosser in the USA out of 76,696 members.  I also hold on to my #1 ranking among Alabama Postcrossers.  And on this cold November morning, I'm steadily writing cards that will go out in todays mail.  Write on!

Happy Anniversary

 

Happy Postcrossing-versary to me!  It was on this day, 13 years ago that I joined the worldwide postcard exchange project known as Postcrossing.  On that day, I mentioned on Facebook that I'd joined, little knowing what I'd be getting myself into.  Since then, it has grown into a hobby that I devote much of my time to, not to mention significant expense.  Over the years, I have sent over 11,600 postcards and have so far received about the same number.  From 116 countries around the world, postcard have come and gone, sometimes in days, sometimes in months.  But I value each one I send and receive, as a small symbol of a fellow resident on planet Earth; no matter how similar or different we may be, we share our humanity and our passion for postcards.  I've managed to persuade a few friends and family to join Postcrossing with me, but even more participate in other ways.  My wife and some other family members are now always on the lookout for new and interesting postcards for me to send around the world, and I deeply appreciate their contributions.  So far, I see no prospect of relenting in my efforts to dispatch postal souvenirs from central Alabama to the wider world.  It's a hobby I hope to continue to enjoy for many years to come.  Write on!