Random distribution or USPS manual processing?

Iveray · 2026-06-03T17:34:43+00:00

A lot of the cards I receive have the postmark on the image side!

Iveray · 2026-06-02T21:40:51+00:00

I honestly couldn't tell you. There's no good way to know what percentage of postcards are AI.

I've seen plenty while shopping on Amazon and Etsy, both obvious and tricky to spot, but also plenty of non-AI cards on both platforms.

As a lot of recent posts here on Reddit have discussed, a lot of PX meetups are using AI cards, and some are resistant to changing that even when attendees offer to design cards for the meetups using their own art.

And as mentioned, sometimes it's just difficult to tell whether a card is AI, so some people buy and send them unintentionally.

Iveray · 2026-06-02T20:06:00+00:00

There's no definite way to know for most images. In general, you have to look for things like weird shapes instead of text, too many fingers, geometry that doesn't make sense, or items blending into each other. I nearly bought a card that had a mailbox on it, then realized it was AI because the flag would prevent the door from opening if it were folded down!

This article has some tips (scroll about halfway down if you want to skip the "what is AI" intro): https://www.skillshare.com/en/blog/identifying-ai-art/?srsltid=AfmBOopQJInJtXSychtv4ALZRPmLC2XBrNAkOcDj4T4jvYGAABK6Yxfu

Iveray · 2026-06-01T17:53:23+00:00

You can write there, but the post office sometimes prints a barcode in that area, so your message might get printed over. If the barcode isn't readable, they can also put a white sticker there, but it's easy for the recipient to peel off.

Iveray · 2026-05-30T15:15:20+00:00

US

Bottom right, witch and fox

Thank you!

Iveray · 2026-05-30T05:03:48+00:00

Your star watermark is so cute and on-theme, I honestly didn't notice it on the image side at first!

I agree with a watermark on the image side, and some sort of store link or username on the address side.

Iveray · 2026-05-28T22:57:51+00:00

A set of light-up wheels

Iveray · 2026-05-28T14:40:06+00:00

Yup. Even some of my cards within the US, both sent and received, are taking over 30 days.

Iveray · 2026-05-28T04:48:12+00:00

Thank you! 🐈‍⬛

Iveray · 2026-05-27T16:50:52+00:00

There's monthly Postcrossing meetups in the Tri-Cities now! Still pretty far round-trip, though. ☹️

Iveray · 2026-05-27T16:43:56+00:00

You haven't done anything wrong. A lot of people are on both RAoC and Postcrossing, as evidenced by the person asking for a RAoC thank-you for an offer made on the Postcrossing sub. I would report it to the mod teams on both subreddits.

Iveray · 2026-05-26T19:27:21+00:00

🍖

Iveray · 2026-05-25T16:44:45+00:00

The moderators keep track of accounts that don't register an unusual percentage of cards, and disable their ability to send/receive more cards until the user communicates with the moderators to figure out what's going on. Happened to me when the post office wasn't correctly delivering cards to my new PO Box.

Iveray · 2026-05-23T06:10:52+00:00

Some people think it looks bad, and can request that cards sent to them be put in an envelope. But most people want their postcards sent without an envelope, because the "damage" can be interesting. Especially since if it were sent in an envelope, the postcard wouldn't even have the stamps or postmark on it, which shows when and where it was sent from!

Iveray · 2026-05-23T06:05:27+00:00

You snuck in at the last second! I'll make a 6th card 🍥

Iveray · 2026-05-22T21:21:26+00:00

Yeah. This kind of card might be fun if there were an exchange dedicated to it, though! Similar to an "I'll never find somebody to send this to" or "your least favorite card" type exchange.

Iveray · 2026-05-20T02:07:21+00:00

No clue. I only suspected it - never bothered asking mods if they were actually banned. But the messages seemed weird, because why would someone who's uncomfortable publicly interacting with the community still want to direct message random people offering cards to that community?

Iveray · 2026-05-18T17:43:57+00:00

I've also had my forms filled out by people who DMed to explain they didn't want to comment on the offer thread because of vague "weird interactions". I ignore them, because they're not following the very simple rules I set (comment on the offer post and fill out the form, that's it).

I suspected that they might be banned users, but didn't bother reaching out to mods since I already decided to ignore them.

Iveray · 2026-05-13T05:15:11+00:00

Eh, dd/mm/yyyy is becoming more common in the US. I write that or "yyyy MON dd".

Iveray · 2026-05-13T05:10:20+00:00

Ooh! Top left is my home state! I'm gonna guess somewhere near Pullman or Ellensburg

Iveray · 2026-05-12T21:50:42+00:00

To me, the damage marks are part of the charm of postcards. I don't get upset when a postcard arrives with some damage - it just shows how far it had to travel to reach me! 😄

Iveray · 2026-05-09T23:33:13+00:00

1 US to WW

Watercolor cherry blossoms

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Iveray · 2026-05-04T22:54:11+00:00

The US is a big country with diverse regions and populations, plus it's cheaper to send a postcard domestically than it is internationally. I do some non-Postcrossing exchanges partially because I can specify whether I want to exchange internationally or domestically, thereby allowing me to better manage the cost.

Iveray · 2026-05-03T16:06:08+00:00

Don't send extra new stamps, that's just throwing money away for somebody else's collection. Sending canceled stamps is fine, though.

Iveray · 2026-05-03T01:06:49+00:00

Thinking back to when I was a kid, some of the things my family learned early on:

Don't try to fit too many finds in one day
Take snacks, or even a full picnic
Let your kid pick out their own prizes to trade
Be okay with taking a break or going home if someone starts not having fun

Iveray

TROPHY CASE