Anybody ever join a random mail swap?

[Thimble]

You know, one of those big international ones where you send a postcard and get one from somewhere random?

I've been really tempted. I've really gotten into sending postcards lately, and kinda wanna try it.  But without a po box I'm a little leery of putting my address out there, you know? Maybe I'm paranoid.

[Griffin]

Have you tried Postcrossing?

[Thimble]

That's actually the very one i was looking at, lol. Seems fun, and i kinda want to try a daily letter challenge. Hmmm...

On that note anybody want to swap a postcard? Last time was fun!

[Griffin]

That's actually the very one i was looking at, lol. Seems fun, and i kinda want to try a daily letter challenge. Hmmm...

Ah, ok! Well Postcrossing is pretty secure as it's a registered organisation and they need to comply with the GDPR legislation.

I've been involved in all sorts of snail mail activities for the past twenty years or so - penpalling, postcrossing, friendship books (FBs) and other booklets & bags, ATCs... I don't do FBs anymore but they originated as a simple way of acquiring new pen pals back when there was no internet. Basically they're little booklets where you add your contact details and pass it on to another person looking for pen pals. These do have some issues - I've heard that some people actually send FBs or even sell the addresses to convicts... (Persons doing that are generally listed as bad swappers, though, and people try to avoid sending FBs to them, but there's always a risk.) I mainly stick to more decorative/artistic types of booklets (known simply as 'decos'), the number of active swappers is much smaller and it's easy to get to know people. Furthermore, I never write my address on the booklets but use my email instead so that people who need my address can contact me privately. The reason I do this personally is not so much about safety, though, but because I know my address is not permanent so I don't want people to assume they can always reach me here (full booklets are returned to their owners and it's annoying when people send them to your old addresses without checking first). In any case, deco swapping is super fun and I'm always happy to tell more if anyone's interested - I may have tried to recruit some people here on the Arena before.

I love postcards too but haven't been swapping them actively for years, I guess I have a little too many mail related hobbies so it was hard to keep up especially with the ever-increasing mailing costs. I'm always happy to do some casual 1:1 swaps, though!

[Thimble]

Well, I'm up for a one-off if you are, lol. I've been making artsy postcards for fun lately, so a handmade postcard swap would be really cool. Of course store bought is equally awesome. (I collect postcards, can you tell?)

And thanks, the email thing is a great idea! Especially since I do move a lot.  Thanks for the information, too, I think I'll give postcrossing a try.

[Griffin]

I'll PM you, Thimble!