2022 Postcards
Postcard swapping sites are online websites where you exchange postcards with random people around the world. How it generally works is that you sign up with your real name and mailing address then request an address of a random person in the world who is also a member. Then you snail mail a postcard to that person, and once your postcard is registered as received your name will go into the pool and someone else will send you a postcard.

                                         Links to Resources at the bottom of this page.


                             Following  are the postcards I've received in the year 2022!
This was my first postcard received from my short time as a member of RAOC - Random Acts of Cards on Reddit. It's a card swapping page but mostly for folded greeting cards, not many in the postcard arena. Still a good site if you like getting and sending mail to strangers!
This was the first card I received from someone in Costa Rica.
Every card that shows support for Ukraine is a favorite of mine!
This was the first card I received from someone in Bulgaria.
Based on this multiview card, it certainly looks like a beautiful place!
This is a card from the Effin' Birds series, one of my favorites! This website produces other products with the Effin' Birds illustrations, including greeting cards, trading cards, t-shirts and more.
This is a card from a member of intpostage swap site, of which I was a member for a short time while they were still active.
This was my first postcard received from someone in Hungary.
The written side of this postcard from China gets a favorite point from me because of all the adorable rubber stamp marks she used! Love!
This was my first postcard received from someone in Poland.
This was my first postcard received from someone in Belgium.
Receiving this postcard was pure delight! She pasted old cancelled stamps onto the graphic side of the postcard. Total favorite. Love it!
This postcard was a favorite because the sender actually used a vintage postage stamp on a vintage postcard!
This postcard was a favorite because the sender actually used 2 vintage postage stamps!
Another favorite from the Effin' Birds series!
This postcard was mailed by someone in China but was postmarked by the Tulsa OK post office on the image side of the card while in route to my post office. I did a double-take when I saw this and had to pull out the card to verify I had named it correctly!
You're not seeing double! This was the one and only time (so far) that I've received two of the same picture postcard from different people in the same city and country. Top card sent by Shufen on 2022-March-15 , bottom card sent by Annie on 2022-July-14, both from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The card info says:Mount Kinabalu is a mountain located at the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is protected as Kinabalu Park and has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status. Standing majestically at 4,095 meters (13,435 feet above sea level), mount Kinabalu Is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographic prominence.
Resources
Where to buy stamps

USPS - United States Postal Service is the place to buy stamps. If you order them from their website they will mail them direct to your mailbox (no charge for shipping!). You can pay by credit card or PayPal. Alternatively you can just go to the post office, wait in line and purchase stamps there.

The current postage for mailing postcards (not in an envelope) as of August 2023 is:
Domestic (USA to USA) $0.51 cents
International (everywhere outside of USA) $1.50


Where to buy postcards
Amazon is a good source, in addition to your local stationary stores, card shops, museums and hotels. Travel stops like Love's usually have a postcard rack with local themes.  Sometimes you can find them in drugstores, they still have a few at my local CVS. (The last time I went looking in my local Walgreens and Walmart, they had stopped selling postcards). Etsy and Ebay are some other online places to get mixed lots of new and vintage postcards.


Postcard Swapping Sites (free to use) and Letter Writing Clubs (pay to join)

Postcrossing is the original postcard swapping site, with loads of resources and a very active forum. As soon as you request to Send a Postcard, you will receive a random member address and a Postcard ID. You are then expected to snail-mail a postcard to that member. When the recipient receives your postcard and registers it, your address will go in the pool and you will receive a postcard from another random member. Initially, you can have up to 5 postcards traveling simultaneously. As time goes on, the number of postcards that you can send and receive will increase.

Postcard United is another great postcard swapping site, this one starts you out with up to up to 7 postcards traveling simultaneously. This site is a bit more rudimentary than postcrossing, and it does not have a forum or any active support, so it's better if you are already an experienced postcard swapper. However, because your card limit increases exponentially, you will receive many more postcards from Postcard United members. For example, since 2021 I've sent 74 postcards and received 101 postcards, and I can have up to 30 travelling simultaneously. (Compare to Postcrossing, since 2021 I've sent 38, Received 37 and am only allowed to have 9 travelling simultaneously).


Geopostcards Club Another nice but small postcard swapping site. This one starts you out with 3 postcards. This site has a slew of sister sites for other types of swapping that I've also participated in such as papermoney swaps (good if you already have foreign paper money you'd like to trade), sticker swaps and stamp swapping.


The Letter Exchange is a subscription-based service (about $23 per year). They will send you a lovely printed and staple-bound booklet that lets you find snail-mail pen pals through listings posted by people like you. The booklets are interesting reading by themselves, even if you don't decide to participate. The listings are mostly for letter writing but there is a section for people interested in Postcard swaps. Bonus: There are people who want to exchange letters written in Fountain Pens here! The booklets are sent to you 3 times a year, with an Autumn, Winter and Summer edition, each is about 30 pages long. They are jam-packed with letter-writing history, interesting articles, nostalgic images and illustrations and much, much more.


Letter Writing and Postal Related Sites

WriteALetter.org A lovely and interesting blog by a retired postal carrier.


The Letter Writers Alliance is an archive with free downloads, recorded events, and blog posts (it was previously an active member-based organization dedicated to keeping letter writing alive).


Postal News - Daily news digest from the postal world!


Send Me a Postcard!
If you include your mailing address on the card I will send you one in return.

Barbara Ann Claridge
PO Box 93437
Lubbock, TX 79493
USA

I will be happy with ANY postcard you send me, but if you want ideas, here are some things I love:

#1 Any postcard (not in envelope) with lots of different stamps, stickers, doodles and your handwriting! Please write the date! If you want you can add the time, temperature and where you are writing from! (kitchen table, coffee shop, bed...)

Greetings from, single view or multi view
Airplanes, Airports, Locomotive, Train Stations, Railway and Bicycles!
Post offices, mailboxes, mail carriers, stamps, philately or post related
Zoo, Aquarium, Theme park, Brewery, Winery, tourist attractions
Maps, Charts, Blueprints, schematics, circuit diagrams, etc
Books, bookstores, libraries, authors, any bibliophile related
Female power, pagan, druid, earthen, elvin, wiccan
House cats, raccoon, possum, dog, wolf, fox, coyote
Animals: any common to your land
Technology, Machines, Inventions, Robots, AI, Geek, Programming, Computers, Linux, Phones
SciFi, Spaceship, Alien, UFO, Extraterrestrial
Optical Illusion, Lenticular, 3D, holographic
Steampunk, Cyberpunk or just plain punk
Cryptids: Kraken, Loch Ness, Cthulhu, Chupacabra, Yeti, Sasquatch, etc
Mashups: Centaur, Mermaid, Jackalope, etc
Recipes, restaurants, menus, foods, farmer, farming, gardening
Handmade: Anything you can print/stamp/draw/paint on! Cut a 4x6" postcard shape from your favorite products cardboard box!
Or print your photo/or pic you like on cardstock, mail it to me!

GO SNAIL MAIL! _@/ _@/


Barbara Ann Claridge
PO Box 93437
Lubbock, Texas 79493
United States of America
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