And who says that the cards didn't get out of the US just fine and on time?

Hmmm, well the one that got sent to North Carolina certainly didn't! LOL

With the experiences we've had with our local post office, I'm easily inclined to agree with Casey and not question her assumption. Someone state side has probably received a postcard that was supposed to be on it's way to Canada and got detoured.

Too bad postcards don't have tracking numbers. :-)

I received a Valentine card on March 11, it was mailed 2/10 from CA. Very strange. Mail to the western part of NC takes 2 days. Mail to eastern shore area 10 days.

Dropping a postcard into the mail, in any country, can be compared to an elementary school kid walking onto the school yard with a "Kick Me" sign on his back. In that, there's no uncertainty about what will happen, postcards rarely arrive on time and sometimes never arrive at all. From any one place to any other, it doesn't seem to matter. Is this the first time you've had this experience?

Postcards are small, get stuck to other mail, and have an inherently "this mail piece doesn't matter" aura. They're the Rodney Dangerfield of the mail world.

Wow! I sent a small package to Vancouver by first class mail (not Priority) and it got there in a few days.

Everyone has horror stories about the mail because even if a teeny tiny fraction go wrong, that's still a lot of mail in absolute numbers. By and large, however, the US Mail does a very good job, and they're the only service that's required to deliver to any address.

My French Canadian born boss won't let me use the USPS for anything going to Canada. If that tells you anything.

Sent a Valentine to grandson and it took a week to go 65 miles here in the USA! That is our postal system for ya!

Snidley, whenever I travel I always send postcards back to myself and my 3 sisters. This is the first time one has gone missing and I've been doing it for over 10 years now.

I know I complain about the postal service here in Canada (it's very expensive compared to other countries) but I guess for a couple of dollars they will deliver it anywhere in the world which is really not bad.

I also participate in Post Crossing, where you send postcards to people all over the world. The site (www.postcrossing.com) keeps track of all the cards you send, so I know how many have and have not reached their destination. I have sent 1836 postcards and 40 have not been registered. Of course they could have reached the destination and the person I sent it to just decided not to register the postcard, but some have gone missing. That's about 2%.

My mother used to work for the USPS in Parcel Post sorting facility (packages). Everything was sorted into canvas bags according to destination. Often, when she'd open an empty bag to hang to fill, she would find mail (letters and postcards) stuck in the folds in the bottom of the bags. I suspect lots of mail gets misdirected and "lost" or delayed because of that.

You've had better luck than we have, casey. We stopped sending them partially because we had about a 1/3 AWOL rate. Including from all over Europe, though our experience from living over there and with friends' correspondence is that mail from there to here seems to be better than in the opposite direction.

Let's not forget that postcard to sister #2 was mis-addressed yet managed to arrive in reasonable time. That was lucky; It could have been lost forever. What assurance do we have that one of the other cards also had an erroneous address? We don't, but presume those were ok. Postcard #3: Who knows? It may be mangled.

The US Post Office publishes a standard width-to-length ratio chart for mail pieces. Presumable, these dimensions can be accommodated by their automated handling equipment. The USPS states that mail outside these dimensions will be delayed and may require additional postage because these pieces require manual handling. They don't say anything about a potential for mangling of an odd size piece passing into the handling equipment. It my opinion that the potential exists.

Major snow storms can play havoc with truck shipped mail. After one bad Christmas week snow, I traveled downstate Illinois and near Champaign, IL, I saw a USPO semi-truck laying on its side in the ditch, the trailer was ripped open enough to see that it was filled with packages, some bound with colorful ribbons or tape. This was one week after the storm. I wonder how many of those packages got to their final destination.

Postcard #2 was not mis-addressed as I read Casey's post. I sent my real estate taxes in on January 25th, and they were not received until February 10th. It's the same freaking town!!! The envelope was mangled. Luckily, I wasn't charged interest since it was postmarked with well enough time to get to the treasurer's.

Jemdandy, postcard to sister #2 was not misaddressed....why would I do that?

That's bad but Spanish post office in Madrid is the worst. I sent a package last year for Christmas to one of my old exchange students. They called asking for money to send it on to her, she said it was a gift and so they sent it back to me a couple months later. Second time, it went through???!!! This year it happened again. They sent it back, with refused on it. She didn't refuse, they tried to extort money from her. She told them it was a gift, the customs labels said it was a gift. They wanted a receipt for what she paid for or money. I got it back a couple weeks ago. I'll never mail anything to Spain again. Maybe a card. No packages. I'm going this Summer to see her and will pack her gifts in my suitcase.

That's 1,836 postcards ... sent to a number of mainly different countries ... at about a buck fifty a pop ...

... such hobbies tend to get *expensive*!

ole joyfuelled

Well ole joyful, we all have hobbies. Some people like to buy RV's and drive around the country. Some people like to eat out at fancy restaurants. Some people smoke and drink. Some people like to golf or ski or ride motorcycle. All hobbies can get "expensive". And expensive is relative, according to ones means.

oh phlllog, usually I agree with you but not with this. Times have a changed and they are no longer expected to deliver to any address. I was told this by our post master 2 years ago. Our semi rural area has a really terrible time with the postal service.