A lot of people say written correspondence is dying out. With the advent of email and cheap telephone calls, people send far fewer letters and postcards than before.
But it may be due for a comeback. A postcard swapping organization called Postcrossing just sent its two millionth postcard last week. Postcrossing melds the internet with good, old-fashioned snail mail by having an online database and forum through which members can meet other postcard collectors--or deltiologists, if you prefer. The main activity is a random swap. A user requests to send a card and is given the address of another user and a code. The user sends the card, and when it's received, that person enters the code into the online database and the sender is now next in line to receive a card.
After only three and a half years in operation, Postcrossing has more than 80,000 members in 192 countries and just last week a member in Finland received a card from Germany that was number two million through the system. Postcrossing founder Paulo Magalhães said,
"The best part of the whole process is probably what’s done 'offline' - choosing the postcard and writing it up. And then, of course, there’s the thrill of getting a surprise in your mailbox, a postcard that was especially written for you, from anywhere in the world. The Postcrossing community has extended the 'offline' side of the project, by creating meetups that take place in several different cities in the world. There is even one happy story of a couple who met each other through Postcrossing and are now married and living together in Finland."
Postcrossing is a lot of fun and brings back the time when a trip the the mailbox wasn't just a weary search through bills and junk mail. I joined a couple of months ago and have already gotten some great cards in the mail. Actually, since my profile mentions Julián likes cards with trains and cars, about half the cards I receive are actually for him! If you're a member or if you decide to join, check out my Postcrossing profile.
by Sean McLachlan