“It offers something more intentional, communication-wise. These days, because of the immediacy of messages and the urgency culture around it, it feels less intimate,” she says. “There’s something romantic and fun about keeping that tradition alive.” Vázquez, who is Gen Z, first started writing postcards as a child to her baby boomer grandparents. Today, she sends them to her friends.
She believes her generation may not send postcards as often as millennials or baby boomers do, but they still hold appeal, as documented on social media and seen through projects like Postcrossing, a global postcard exchange programme with more than 800,000 members in 210 countries; now in its 20th year. “An email quickly gets lost in the deluge of emails we get,” says Postcrossing founder Paulo Magalhães. “But a postcard? It stands out – and immediately wins the placement on the fridge door or on our desks.”
Despite the joys of receiving and sending postcards, today the ritual comes with challenges. McGibbon has noticed that the simple act of locating a mail-worthy postcard can be difficult. She believes that if souvenir shops prioritise selling aesthetically pleasing postcards and stamps, more travellers will become invested in the practice. “It would be a gold mine,” she says.
The lack of funding wracking the global post office system has also left travellers like Vázquez and Barrett leery of sending postcards from abroad. Barrett usually mails his postcards when he returns home to the US, or in some cases will hand-deliver them. “I’m a bit paranoid, I’d rather just make sure that it gets to the person,” he explains.
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Despite the challenges, McGibbon has sent thousands in her lifetime with no plans to stop. “It’s maybe not the smartest financial decision long-term, because the cost of stamps keeps going up, but it’s an investment in relationships.”
While writing and sending postcards may no longer be the way humans most communicate while travelling, Girardin believes that they still have a future, especially among people who appreciate what they stand for: “What people were doing in the past and what they’re doing now, yes, it’s different. But it’s also the same: we’re trying to describe a moment of discovery whilst travelling and share it with people”.
It would take nearly six weeks for my friend in North Carolina to receive my Thai postcard, by which point my message was a distant memory, surprising and delighting us both, like developing film from an old camera. Writing postcards reminds me to be more intentional with my time and my loved ones when I travel. And that will always beat an Instagram photo.
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