How to use a postcard (a small, simple guide)
Every month, I sit down at my kitchen table with a stack of postcards, a pen, and a little dish of stamps, and I write out somewhere around 100 addresses by hand.
It's slow. It takes most of a morning. And every single time, at some point, I think about how strange it is that something this small and old-fashioned still works exactly the way it always has.
So if you've ever picked up a postcard from a trip, a museum gift shop, a friend who travels, or one that showed up in your own mailbox and thought, "wait, how does this actually work?" you're not alone. It's one of those things nobody really teaches you. You just sort of absorb it, or you don't.
Here's the small, simple version step by step:
- On the back, write your note and address of recipient
- Add a stamp (don't forget to check if you need an international stamp!)
- Admire the front
- Pop it in the mailbox!
The front is for looking, not writing
The front of a postcard is the picture side: a photo, a painting, whatever the postcard is "of." This side is just for looking. If you're looking for some beautiful ones, I hand paint one every month and mail them to my pen pals for them to send to their pen pals. It's community that just keeps going and going. Check out Wild Petals Postal Service here!
|
The back is split in two
Flip it over, and the back of most postcards is divided down the middle.
The left half is yours to write a message. Whatever you want to say, however much fits. A sentence is enough. A few lines is enough. There's no minimum.
The right half is for the address. Write it the same way you would on an envelope: name on the first line, then street address, then city, state, and zip.
The stamp goes in the top right corner
Same spot, every time, on the address side. A postcard needs its own stamp — and the good news is, postcard stamps are usually a little cheaper than a regular letter stamp. As of this year, a postcard stamp runs about 61 cents, though postage rates do shift now and then, so it's worth a quick check at the post office or usps.com if you're not sure.
And then.. that's it!
No envelope. No folding. Just a stamp, an address, and a few words, dropped into any mailbox or handed to your mail carrier. It goes exactly where you wrote it, exactly as is, for anyone along the way to glance at if they want to. There's something almost vulnerable about that — and also something kind of lovely. Nothing hidden. Just a small, real thing, traveling.
I think that's actually my favorite part of the whole thing. A postcard doesn't ask much of you. You don't need the right words, or enough time, or a fancy pen. You just need something to say - even something small - and a stamp.
If you've got a postcard sitting on your counter right now that you've been meaning to send, maybe this is the nudge. It doesn't have to be profound. "Thinking of you" is a complete sentence. So is "wish you were here."
And if you don't have one on hand, the wild petals postal service sends one to your own mailbox every month. Already painted, ready for a stamp and a few of your own words, in case you want to pass a little of that small, real thing along to someone else.
