Discussion summary
Postcards are still in use, especially for personal and hobbyist exchanges, despite some believing they are less common. Various users share experiences of sending and receiving postcards, highlighting their nostalgic and social value.
What the discussion says
- Postcards are still available and used for personal communication.
- Many enjoy the nostalgic aspect and the personal touch of postcards.
- Some mention specific platforms like Postcrossing for postcard exchanges.
- A few note that postcards are less common but still appreciated.
“Postcards do still exist but you have to search for them.”
“Postcards are one of the very few instances when I write by hand these days.”
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- Hacker News
- postcards dont exist anymoreby dmvjs
- A friend just sent me one from Minnesota!by adolfojp
- Yes they do. In my last holiday I went around in the whole bar and everybody wrote a few word for my mom. The experience to do was very nice, the result was very fun and my mom was very happy and knew we had a fun time :-)by _trampeltier
- I send around 20 a year. Checking the mail is relatively monotonous for people, so receiving one is like a lucky gacha pull in today’s world.
Since they’re so memorable, it’s usually an easy way to make someone’s day without much time, money or effort. There’s also very little scrutiny in what you write, so even an in-depth episode about sun glare at the bus stop goes a long way.
by danbolt - They're everywhere. But if you're short on time, buying the postcard is often easier than getting stamps and dropping it in a postbox.
One petty complaint - generally across the world, stamp design has nosedived. Compared to old postage stamps, they have terrible typography and gaudy colours. I've generally been disappointed when buying stamps to put on postcards. Old stamps were truly works of art.
by jeswin - A year ago I started sending postcards to my 91 year old father because he has difficulties with modern forms of communication. They do still exist but you have to search for them.by tristramb
- Postcards, while travelling, are one of the very few instances when I write by hand, these days. I started about 20 years ago, I most usually only write the address and a smiley — the old school analogue medium is most of the message (that I take the time to pick a postcard, which then has to travel physically to reach the distance to its target).by pax
- I've been exchanging postcards on Postcrossing (https://www.postcrossing.com/) for years, it's very fun! I've even been to Postcrossing meetups, where several members gather to sign postcards so you send them to people.
In Postcrossing you put your address, and then you can request a random one. You put an ID, so when the recipient receives it, they register that number and you get a postcard from a random member.
by ciroduran - I always found https://www.miede.de/postcards/ charming. The creator of a popular LaTeX template for thesis welcomes postcards and posts them on this website. I've sent him one myself!by lwhsiao
- Spatie (creators of a bunch of Laravel/PHP packages) is postcardware, too! https://spatie.be/open-source/postcardsby nticompass
- Yes they do https://mr.bingo/hate-mail/by mrmartineau
- One of my favorite post card collections is the book "Boring Postcards USA" from the collection of Martin Parr: https://martinparr.com/books/books-edited-by-mp/#gallery/8__...
This book is often out in my living room and rarely fails to start a conversation when friends stop by
by pivo - The 711s in Japan let you print color postcards from memory card for ~$1 USD . I would take photos with my camera, go to the copier machine in a 711 (they are everywhere), print the postcards, and sometimes buy the stamps from the cashier. Some stores don't have postcard specific stamps. Just ask for stamps in equivalent value 100 yen.by guardiangod