Do People Still Send Postcards?

Posted by Brett Slansky | 6:10 AM | 0 comments »

By Jonny Blair


I used to love getting postcards through the letterbox as a child. It was one of my first childhood memories and I got excited seeing postcards. A shiny, colourful postcard will always be more exciting to a child than a brown or white envelope coming through the post.

The first postcard I got came from London, or Holland and I kept it as a souvenir. The journey of a postcard is the classic travellers souvenir. Postcards have been on a journey, however an e-mail has not. Let's hope the art of postcard writing and sending continues as we have now entered a very digital age.

The last time I visited my family I sought out my travelling postcard collection that I had sent them - mostly to my youngest brother. The collection has now amassed postcards from over 50 countries - hundreds of postcards.

All bought in various shops across all seven continents (yes, I bought and posted a postcard when I was in Antarctica!), then written with details about what I did there at the time, then a stamp is put on them, then I find a post office or postbox and post them. Then the completion of the journey when my family receive the postcard. What an amazing journey.

One of the most pleasing things for me was buying, writing and posting a postcard at Port Lockroy in Antarctica in a cold hut, where there was thankfully NO mobile phones, NO internet and certainly NO other way to send home my special travel memory!

I bet there are young travellers out there wondering why people still send postcards when you can do everything quicker and easier on e-mail. But it's the story of the postcard that does it for me.

Spot the difference:

1. An e-mail: E-mail v Postcard? I logged on and typed an email and sent it from a computer. I think we all know the answer to that one, at least I do!

2. Postcards: Postcards v. e-mails? A postcard is physical and real - it was bought in a shop on holiday, written by a beach and then posted in a town. You didn't even need internet.

Which one would you rather receive?

There you go then - next time you travel - send a postcard!! I still receive postcards from all over the world from my friends and family. It means much more to me than an e-mail.

I love postcards, don't stop buying them, don't stop writing them, don't stop posting them and Don't Stop Living!




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