Do you ever put anything in the actual snail mail? (You know the place: the USPS, the Post Office, that place where you go when someone sends you a package and you get that little sticky paper on your door that you need to go and pick it up. And the hours are very limited and the lines are very long–is it really worth going?)
I do.
Mostly I mail postcards. Mostly when I travel somewhere. Mostly to my grandsons. And to my classroom so my students can see what a postcard is and how fun it is to get one in the mail.
I like to search out postcards when I get someplace. Find a postcard that is interesting in some way. (Or sometimes it is the only one available.). Some places have free postcards. Some places have cool postcards. Palm Springs has these cool mid-century modern-styled postcards. They’re a little more expensive, but fun to send to another adult.
I discovered that I need to write my postcards within about 24 hours of buying them…and then get them in the mail right away. I’ve learned where there are post offices in some pretty out of the way places–and the smaller the town, the more likely the post office is to be on the main road–highly visible. And I actually carry postcard stamps in my backpack so there is no barrier to mailing them.
Whenever my students go somewhere or we have a break from school, I remind them to find a postcard and mail it to the class. I’ve learned that there are parents who are not familiar with postcards and how they work. And that they are parents who are quite creative and help their child create their own postcard rather than purchasing one.
It’s such fun to have a postcard arrive in the mail. In the classroom, the student who wrote the postcard reads it to the class. They we hang it up on the whiteboard. By this point in the year, we have quite a collection growing! We even have some grandparents who have sent postcards to their grandchild and our class. We have them from as close as Encinitas (our own town) and as far away as Thailand, Australia, and England.
My son sends me postcards. He doesn’t live all that far away, but he is an artist and either makes his own postcards with original art or transforms something existing. It’s such fun to get a postcard in the mail.
What’s your relationship with postcards? With snail mail?
Thinking Through My Lens 
A postcard quest! You have inspired me.
I love this. It might be cool to give students a couple of stamps and few labels with the school address on them to make it easier for them to mail.
Kim, I love postcards! I mail them to my 3 year old grandson regularly. I try to send one a week. I’m also in a group called Postcard Poetry Group, where we write four poems on postcards a month and send them to different people in the group. Poetry Friday sends Chinese New Year’s postcards to each other in January, as well as summer snail mail poem exchanges. Let me know if you’d like to participate in any of these; I can send you info. Also, I’d love to send a postcard to your class. Can you send me your address?
Regarding snail mail, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. We don’t have the best service around here. Today I got a Valentine from my new grandson, it was dated February 12, but arrived on March 6. Go figure! At least it came.