Picture Post Cards

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I got to thinking the other day about Picture Post Cards and how long it has been since I have seen them.

Many here have probably never even seen one. Basically they were a car with a picture on one side (sometimes a joke, sometimes something scenic, ... ) and a place on the other for the address and a stamp on the right of the back of the card and a place on left of the back of the card to write a short message. Naturally, they didn't go into an envelope.

They used to be quite common. I received a few when I was younger. Many restaurants and motels when I was a kid would have a revolving display of picture post cards for sale.

I don't remember the last time I saw some for sale in any kind of a commercial establishment.

I'm thinking of starting to use those cards on occasion if I can find some that I like at a reasonable price. You can find them on the Internet, but they want a fortune for some of them. Who would pay $22.99 for a picture post card to send?

So when's the last time, if ever, that anyone here last received one? The last I received was in the mid 1970s, I think.

The local heritage museum had them a few years back.
Dover Publications might still sell them.
They had nice art ones.

I got some about three years ago.

I still see them for sale when I'm out and about, especially in the post office.

I've also purchased some from tourist locations although I just kept them for myself.

I take pictures and print them on appropriately sized glossy photo paper...and then mail them as postcards.

Um...often the photos are not the normal tourist kind of thing.

I love picture postcards. It's a shame that today's children will never see one.

Why wouldn't they see one?

That sounds like a great idea.

The next time I find a rattlesnake on the road, I'll try to take a picture or two before I chase it off the road so it won't get run over.

By the way, some people like to mail a picture postcard to themselves while on vacation with the picture being a landmark where they went.

To top it off, one Saturday night in the late 1970s, some friends of mine were at a bar in a city about 100 miles from home.

When the bar closed, they didn't feel like going home so they got in the car and drove to a much bigger city about 300 miles a way. By the time they got there, it was after dawn and found a 24 hour restaurant and ate breakfast. The restaurant had a picture postcard display and so they each selected a postcard, paid for it, addressed it to themselves, and mailed it in a mailbox outside the restaurant.

Then they drove home -- about 400 miles total and got some sleep. Two or three days later, their postcards arrived.

Don't remember the last time I received a postcard which wasn't and advertisement ...

But ...

I'm going to be receiving one ...

A classic picture postcard will be arriving from our forum's Juliette.

It's gotta successfully make its way across the Atlantic from England to Missouri.



Just to see what would happen plugged in postcard as a Google search term.

They are still made and still marketed.
Mostly for advertising.
some sample finds:

https://www.vistaprint.com/marketing-ma ... /postcards

https://www.nextdayflyers.com/postcard- ... tcards.php

https://www.office.fedex.com/default/postcards.html



The Smithsonian has a page about postcard history,
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featu ... rd-history


"
October 1st is
World Postcard Day
Finding a postcard in our mailbox is pure joy! From the carefully handwritten messages, to the colorful images and stamps, postcards are little surprises that delight, inspire and connect us.
On the anniversary of the postcard, join a worldwide celebration of the happiness that postcards bring!
"
https://worldpostcardday.com/

That is cool!

I received three in the mail about three years ago.
My daughter just sent me some from Kent, UK.
I have some here from the Brontë Parsonage.
I'm not sure why people think they're not in circulation now?

I don't think anyone said that they are no longer in circulation. They do seem to be far less common than they once were.

There are, of course, exceptions.