I learned about snail mail in 2013 when I was in a scout camp at Lake Baikal. I’m a kid of 2000s, I didn’t know how to communicate without the Internet. So when a girl suggested to exchange addresses of our houses because her village didn’t have a network connection, I agreed but didn’t believe it would work. But it did! We were sending sheets of papers in envelopes, putting stamps, waiting months and receiving a reply. I learned you can decorate these sheets with markers and stickers instead of writing it with a graphite pencil. I also learned that the girl had to walk to the post office to check her mails and distance could be a challenge in the winter. That was beautiful while it lasted.
It broke one day when I simply didn’t write an answer. That was bad, I agree, okay?? Only many years later I found old envelopes with her address and send a new letter with excuses and ways to contact me online. Even though she moved out, she received the letter the same season and contacted me in social media.
In 2022 I started to travel in Southeast Asia. I visited big cities and less popular towns, and I started to send postcards to friends and family in other countries. This can be another “I can’t read clocks with arrows” situation but I can assure you most of people of my age and younger have no idea that there’s a standard way to deliver physical gifts for peanuts.
A postcard is a little piece of thick paper. One side is usually illustrated and another side is divided into two parts: a message and an addressee’s details. In many countries I visited, sending a postcard costs less than a glass of tap water in a cafe. Limited space also encourages you to write short and simple.
Receiving a postcard is so fun! Much better than an online message. This asymmetric exchange (easy to send, joyful to receive) motivates me to hunt for new illustrations and send more postcards. Every time I have guests coming, I encourage them to send a postcard back too.
If you got interested, that’s a simple FAQ to show how simple this is.
FAQ for those born in the 21st century
Where to buy a postcard?
Find them in book stores or gift shops. If your town is a bit touristic, go to the street every tourist visits. You will find plenty of postcards there.
How to send?
For the first sending, go to your local post office. These are still brick-and-mortar. Explain to the worker that you want to send a postcard and ask about a fee to its destination. They will help you to purchase necessary stamps. I’ll spare the details how to stick the stamp, that’s another symbolic action you should never skip.
How to spell an address?
I usually write an address in its local language and then write a country with highlighted English letters. So if I had a friend working at the restaurant in Athens, I’d write:
Μαύρο Άσπρο άλογο, Απόλλωνος, Αθήνα, 10557
GREECE
What to write?
Not helping here! As a hint, you can write where you are now and how you got there. It doesn’t even matter. Once I sent a postcard with one Russian word on it and it’s still memorable.
How much is it?
It depends on your country’s rates. To send a postcard from Russia to most countries costs ₽125, ¥5 from China, €2.00 from Spain, £3.60 from UK, and $1.75 from USA.