“I have a group of friends to send postcards
each others whenever we go to a new country or place”, Said Saradiva Fabtri
during our trip to Amsterdam central from, The Netherlands (2013). I am pretty sure that the conversation was done at the train station.
And i can’t tell you how amazed i was to find that beautiful young lady having
that hobby.
It is very easy to tell our friends just by
updating our status, pictures or simply check in on social media. That is the
current trend across the world, age and race diversities. The connections are
made instantly through the virtual interactions. For me, it loses some personal
taste. I hardly describe you how i was amazed to hear that the post card
sending hobby is still existed and i would love to join in.
The post card accommodates a more personal and intimate communication. Something that you do not
really want to share with public and have special words written to the very
person you are aiming to send to. Furthermore, we have to make additional
efforts to make it happen. You need to go to the stores selling these
postcards. The pictures are pretty, indeed, and have many alternatives you can
choose. The space for us to write is quite limited and so you have to think
carefully what words you want to share before you write it, not to mention that
delete the words will be not as easy as when you are typing in your smart phone
or computer. Still several things need to be done. Do not forget your stamps
otherwise your postcards will go nowhere and try to find the post office.
There are just so many things to do compare to call, SMS or email. It simply shows the dedication
of the person who send and how special the person who receive at the same time.
Those are why sending postcard or any other snail mails are what i like the most.
And you can feel it when those little square papers arrive at your home. Your real home not the one that you make it
virtually. Awh, i hope you have updated and ensured that the address is correct
for the person you want to send (it is tricky especially
sending it to person who mobile a lot).
The works still continue though now it is rely
on the post office. You have to wait and wait sometimes it can take several
weeks or months especially intercontinental post. It builds more curiosity. Our
minds start to wandering to the place where this postcard being sent. And if
you have bad luck, after waiting for such long time sometimes it does not
arrive to the place you hope to. The time before internet (and also phone) was existed;
we were familiar with that kind of feeling. Maybe our parents and grandparents
felt it the most. They had the time where we really had to put
extra efforts to know somebody else and to tell about ourselves to others.
There was no Facebook to stalk or LinkedIn to see our professional profile or
any other internet based means. We did not make any research on the people we
are about to contact. We just meet and make a conversation or send mails
personally. All those personal efforts also the feelings when we read our
family or friends’ hand written are really superb.
Before you buy your postcards, let me bring you
back to the past where this postcard being born. The first, probably, postcard
was posted in London to the writer Theodore Hook (1840). Ever since, these
cards spread to all over the world. These cards were produced manually and
personally until 1861 produced commercially by John P Charlton (Philadelphia)
and sold the rights to Hymen Lipman. Postcards were made because people were looking for an easier way to send
quick notes.
The Post
Office was the only establishment allowed to print postcards, and it held its
monopoly until May 19, 1898, when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act,
which allowed private publishers and printers to produce postcards. Initially,
the United States government prohibited private companies from calling their
cards "postcards", so they were known as "souvenir cards". These
cards had to be labelled "Private Mailing Cards". This prohibition
was rescinded on December 24, 1901, when private companies could use the word
"postcard". Postcards were not allowed to have a divided back and
correspondents could only write on the front of the postcard. This was known as
the "undivided back" era of postcards. On March 1, 1907 the Post
Office allowed private citizens to write on the address side of a postcard.
The last and
current postcard era, which began about 1939, is the "chrome" era. However these
types of cards did not begin to dominate until about 1950. The images on these
cards are generally based on colour photographs,
and are readily identified by the glossy appearance given by the paper's
coating. These still photographs made the invisible visible, the unnoticed
noticed, the complex simple and the simple complex. In Japan, official
postcards were introduced in December 1873, shortly after stamps were introduced
to Japan. Return postcards were introduced in 1885, sealed postcards in 1900,
and private postcards were allowed from 1900.
Ok, enough with the
history and back to the current time. Sending post card is not only an old and
classic way of communication. There is community who like to preserve it and do
sending it to all around the world. Yes, in the era of technology and internet
like this time, you still will find people that like to send this type of snail
mail. Take a look on Postcrossing.com. You will see a large number of people
sign up as member from all around the world and how many postcards being sent
from and to where in the world. Many of the members like to join this to collect
post cards from many countries. If you feel you want to collect and know the
other part of the world through postcard of course you could join. But if you
need a more personal touch, as i do, then make a good friends with people from
many different parts of the world or People from the same country as you who
travel a lot. And in case you do also travel
a lot you can send them a post card as well. :)
Happy snail mail!
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