When I first started postcrossing, I was really excited to keep an eye on postcrossing groups on Facebook, both in Indonesia and abroad. It felt so good to read the exciting stories and also see the postcards they got from all over the world.
Occasionally, there would be members who would give away postcards that they sent. Usually, there would be a lot of people joining to get the postcards.
Once, someone in the Indonesian Postcrossing group held a postcard giveaway from Japan. The member seemed to be a Japanese person who was good at speaking Indonesian.
Because joining the giveaway didn't require any effort, just a comment saying 'want', I thought there was no harm in trying to join. I turned out I got it. I felt quite happy at that time.
This man from Japan sent a message on Facebook, asking for my postal address and email address. I just gave it to him..
A few days later, this man sent me an email, stating that his giveaway postcard was ready to be sent. The email also included a scanned image of the postcard that was sent to my address. That's the picture I show above.
Generally, postcards from abroad will arrive in Indonesia within one month. For fellow Asian countries, some even take less than one month. However, this postcard addressed to my address has not arrived until now. 😢
It is indeed very risky for a piece of paper to be lost, if the paper is 'traveling' around the world. Amidst the hustle and bustle and the large logistics that might fly with the paper, it is very likely that this postcard will be misplaced or lost.
In addition to being misplaced or lost, what also might happen is that postal officers underestimate postcards. In the era of instant electronic communication like today, it can be said that stamps and sending stamped letters are only a 'symbolic' business for postal companies in various countries. It is not surprising that postal officers ignore the postcards in their offices. I myself had a similar experience where I sent an official postcrossing postcard abroad (Russia) which also did not arrive at its destination address.
Well, that's a little bit of my experience in the world of postcrossing, a hobby that I'm not doing anymore because it feels quite expensive... Hehe.. 😁
For all my fellow readers who want to read my experience in the world of postcrossing, please click the postcrossing label below the title of this article.
