u/sleepy_postman - Thanks for sending the postcrossing meetup postcard! I glad that first meetup in your city was successful. Hope you have many more successful meetups in future. Museum picture is amazing! I liked the postage stamps, flower washi tape, and the inked stamps : )
It took a long time to arrive but it was worth the wait!
u/LjubJ (x3) - Thanks for doing the postcard exchange with me! I was expecting one postcard and found three postcards inside the envelope!! I liked all the postcards, washi tapes, stickers, and those cute little sweater cutouts. Postcard designs are too good and that retro painting postcard is amazing! I found the stories behind each postcard quite interesting : )
I haven't picked up the threads after creating your mails. It was the right decision to complete yours first or else it would've taken me forever. I couldn't make the perfect postcard due to the burnout, but tried my very best. I hope my mail reaches to your place soon. If I'm still good at this craft in future, I'll surely make one for you.
Broader idea: everyone contributes "working" and "tested" email addresses/phone numbers of major post offices and philately bureaus in this post. It would later become a pinned post of this subreddit which anyone can refer when in need.
Most post office don't reply or contact details that's available online isn't a working one. some of us have contacted them at some point and know who actually replied. We can contribute those contact details in the comments.
I'll start first by sharing the emails in the comments that did get me replies.
Please contribute to the megathread by commenting below 👇🏻
u/PureAloeVeera - Thank you for sending postcard! it has a picture of man carrying few fishes on his head. It seems like a scene from a local fish market.
I loved the postcard, washi tape and the stamp. Thanks!
This is the major update to the India Post Parcel services.
India Post has completely shifted Parcel Retail from fixed weight-based pricing to weight + zone/destination based pricing. Rates also have increased for both Parcel and Speed Post Parcel services. This might impact the small businesses who mainly depends on India Post for shipping their products. In short, It got a lot more expensive.
Along with the retail, they also updated the contractual rates for both of these services and they are much cheaper than their retail equivalents. New 'Parcel Last Mile' service is also introduced for corporate/contractual/bulk customers of India Post for cheaper local delivery.
I couldn't add the India Post's official document link here as its not allowed.
I'm back again with another post in the "Send a Postcard with me" series. Today we are sending a postcard to my friend in the USA.
I had only one printed postcard that we sent to the Netherlands yesterday. There are no other postcards left. I have to send a postcard anyhow.
Let's go through the most common options:
There's a fourth option that most people won't tell you.
so, how to make a handmade postcard?
I've already shown this in the post but I'll outline the process again in simple words.
Bare minimum things required to make a handmade postcard is - a pen and a 300+ GSM thick paper. These papers are easily available from a local art or stationary stores. Don't use thin paper or even a chart paper. Paper should be thicker that it feels like a card - it should be sturdy that it doesn't get bent easily like a normal paper.
Measure and cut the paper with standard sizes such as 14cm x 9cm (standard postcard size by india post) or an internationally acceptable size 6in x 4in. Once postcard is cut with correct size. You can make art on one side - doodles, painting, making collage or anything you can think of. If you don't want to make art, just write a poem, quote, etc or just use that side for extra space to write longer message.
Now one side is done with art or any creative stuff. Other side is important. You have to divide it into two parts by making one vertical line. Left area is for the message and the right area is for sticking the postage stamps and writing the recipient address. Once writing the message and address is complete, you need to stick the correct amount of postage stamps.
I want to make it clear that postcard rates are not different for printed and handmade postcard. There is only one rate table for any postcards. Just memorize it - 0.5rs for India, 10rs for Bangladesh/Bhutan/Nepal and 15rs for the rest of the world.
We are sending the postcard to a friend in USA. It will cost 15rs to send the postcard. We apply the stamps that totals to 15rs and then our postcard is ready to post.
We go to the nearest post office and if you make it within their working hours you can also give it at the counter. I couldn't make it in time and went there at night. I dropped the postcard in the red letterbox outside the post office.
This is the way anyone can make and send their own postcard a.k.a Handmade Postcard.
Thank you u/Bananas3706 for the Van Gogh art card (x1) from the May RAOC NYC Meetup!
This is my first RAOC meetup card and I loved everything- card, machine postage stamp, cute stickers, glitter washi tape, stamps and everyone's contributions on the card!!
I had given the prompt "tell me about the meetup". every participant has wrote something about the meetup and I almost felt like I've time travelled to that moment. I experienced the event through the words.
Special thanks to:
u/icono-clastic
u/classic-power-333
u/CapnCobbler
u/PureAloeVeera
u/Christinaaaa29
u/Sunflowr_prnce
This card didn't take this much time to arrive. Apologies for the late thank-you post. I think the meetup was on 16th May. Cancellation and machine postage stamp has the date 19th May. It arrived here on 1st July. It total of took 43 days to reach India. Thanks again for offering the meetup card!
Today we are sending a postcard to Netherlands.
If you don't know how to send postcards, worry not, I'll teach you the whole process. It's easy to send postcard anywhere in the world.
Let's talk a little about the postcard. We are sending from India to Netherlands- a country in the Western Europe. Total distance would be 6,500 kilometers and it will cost us 15 rupees to send this postcard (excluding the postcard cost).
We'll follow 3 easy steps to send this postcard:
Easy, right?
Lets go through each step in a bit more detail.
Start with writing the message and address on the postcard. You can send the postcard to any address in India or other countries. This step doesn't require any thinking. Sending to an indian friend? write her address. Or sending to a friend living in US? write his address.
Once the postcard is filled with message and address, its time to check the rates and stick the postage stamps. You can check out the postcard rates from the pinned post of this subreddit, but I'd suggest to memorize the rates. Sending to an address in India? its 0.5rs (50 paise). If you are sending to neighboring countries- Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal? it costs 10rs. Rest of the world costs 15rs. Just memorize this. Postcard payment is done with postage stamps. These postage stamps are only available at your nearest post offices and their official ePostOffice website. Based on the address, you figure out the rates and then sticks the stamps based on that value.
Postcard is ready for its journey. Post office is the place where we go to send the postcard. If you're an introvert like me, you can drop the postcard in the red letterbox outside the post office. Make sure to confirm about its clearance times before dropping it. Don't want to drop your postcard in the red letterbox? Alternative option is to give it at the post office counter.
It would take a while for your postcard to reach the destination. On average it will take 15-20 days to reach or max a month. It can take more than a month in some cases, but don't worry it will reach.
We'll wait for our postcard to reach Netherlands.
Today we are sending a postcard to Netherlands.
If you don't know how to send postcards, worry not, I'll teach you the whole process. It's easy to send postcard anywhere in the world.
Let's talk a little about the postcard. We are sending from India to Netherlands- a country in the Western Europe. Total distance would be 6,500 kilometers and it will cost us 15 rupees to send this postcard (excluding the postcard cost).
We'll follow 3 easy steps to send this postcard:
Easy, right?
Lets go through each step in a bit more detail.
Start with writing the message and address on the postcard. You can send the postcard to any address in India or other countries. This step doesn't require any thinking. Sending to an indian friend? write her address. Or sending to a friend living in US? write his address.
Once the postcard is filled with message and address, its time to check the rates and stick the postage stamps. You can check out the postcard rates in the pinned post of this subreddit, but I'd suggest to memorize the rates. Sending to an address in India? its 0.5rs (50 paise). If you are sending to neighboring countries- Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal? it costs 10rs. Rest of the world costs 15rs. Just memorize this. Postcard payment is done with postage stamps. These postage stamps are only available at your nearest post offices and their official ePostOffice website. Based on the address, you figure out the rates and then sticks the stamps based on that value.
Postcard is ready for its journey. Post office is the place where we go to send the postcard. If you're an introvert like me, you can drop the postcard in the red letterbox outside the post office. Make sure to confirm about its clearance times before dropping it. Don't want to drop your postcard in the red letterbox? Alternative option is to give it at the post office counter.
It would take a while for your postcard to reach the destination. On average it will take 15-20 days to reach or max a month. It can take more than a month in some cases, but don't worry it will reach.
We will wait for our postcard to reach to Netherlands. The end.
I have only sent books through India Post's services like "India Post Parcel" and "Gyan Post". Speed post is expensive, so I use it in certain situations when delivery needs to be quicker.
I was figuring out a way to provide Cash On Delivery (COD) and used to believe its only provided by India Post to businesses who have registered with them. Turned out i was wrong.
COD can be easily availed (on both parcels and speed post) as a Value Added Service at the time of booking. It costs 1rs and its included in parcel/speedpost amount. We have to write "COD Retail: {{amount in rupees to collect from receiver}}" on top of the parcel/speed post envelope. This amount is first collected by postman first before handing over the parcel. Recipient can pay with cash or upi. If the amount is not paid or refused, the parcel is returned back to you with no extra cost. No money = no delivery. If the recipient pays the amount mentioned by you, that amount is later sent back to you through money order. Money order is an india post service to send money to anywhere in India. The same day when your COD amount is paid, recipient's nearest delivery post office generates money order in your name to your address. You get money order tracking id on your phone number and you can track it. Physical cash is delivered by postman in the next 1-3 days depending on how fast your post office can arrange the cash and delivers it. Your postman will come with the exact cash amount and give it to you and take signature to complete the money order delivery. One thing to note- there is 5% charge on the original amount COD amount (money order charge). If you want to collect 100rs from the recipient, postman will collect 105rs from them. You'll get 100rs and 5rs is money order charge for money order service. Note COD service charge is 1rs at the time of booking.
Unfortunately, this isn't COD isn't available on the cheaper Gyan Post service. It can only be availed on parcel and speed post. I find parcel to be much cheaper and appropriate option for the COD option.
I shared everything here that I Iearnt about India Post COD Value Added Servics on speed post and parcels. It might help others in some specific situations. I was scared at first so I haven't actually sent any books. I have made a dummy envelope and tried to send it to myself as speed post with COD. Everything worked as I mentioned above. Money order is booked and now I'm waiting for the money to get delivered. I had added 50rs for COD. I had to pay 53rs and i did that via UPI and then received my dummy envelope. I will receive 50rs cash from postman soon. Remember I was the sender and receiver of this dummy speed post envelope. These are the things i do to test services before sending real things anywhere in India. Maybe I will try to send actual books with COD soon.
Has anyone else used this COD add-on on their book parcel or speed posts? Do you use any other service for this? I'm also looking if there are better options.
This RTI was filed to confirm the current postage rate for domestic postcards, as there was confusion that the current rate is ₹6.
The RTI response confirms that the postage for all domestic postcards is ₹0.50 (50 paise) under the PO Regulations, 2024. The response was provided by Pradeep Kumar Tyagi, Director (Postal Operations), Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, New Delhi.
References:
Link mentioned in the RTI response (points to the official India Post page containing the applicable rates): https://www.indiapost.gov.in/api/documents/file/10039ed0wrnu0gv1504npg08wsm34t8p0s5c63igcr3ju4h01vfd3ig3n38ndh
Original circular merging the different postcard categories into a single "Postcard" category: https://fnpo.org/files/DO%20Letter.pdf
Recent circular mentioning the domestic postcard rate: https://fnpo.org/files/Updated%20%20Mail%20catagory%20details_260327_172647.pdf
Credits: u/Ill_Agent_3169
These yellow postcards are ideal for those who send ordinary letters within india and other countries whether you send occasional letters, or frequent penpal exchanges.
Keep it in your folder, purse, bag or wherever you can pull it out instantly when sending a letter. This saves your time in asking for rates at the post office counter, opening up india post website, or even postcard & letter rates pinned post of this subreddit. No internet connection or your phone battery is low? don't worry this postcard will be handy in these situations.
I'm offering 5 postcards at first and if there's more demand i can print few more.
Comment below the country/city where you sent last letter to claim a postcard.
Update: 3 remaining, 2 claimed
I'm offering one yellow postcard with mehendi design on the back. Its done by my sister. She's new to this and practicing on people but this time I asked her to do it on yellow postcard.
Comment below to claim this postcard.
Sending an international letter is fairly simple. This is "ordinary international letter", please don't mix this with other expensive tracked options at the post office such as "registered international letter" or "international speed post". This whole subreddit is about sending ordinary post articles such as postcards, letters, Inland letter cards, aerogrammes, etc.
Today we are sending an international letter to Serbia which is a country in Europe. I have already put the postcards inside the envelope and written both sender-recipient addresses. We are at the post office doing the further process of sending this envelope.
The whole process is divided into 6 steps:
Check the weight of the envelope: This is the most important step as the charge to send the letter is calculated once we know the correct weight of the letter. Here, we use "letter" and "envelope" words interchangeably. This post office has highly precise digital weighing scale. Kitchen scale or a cheaper scale also works. I don't have it at home so I depend on the post office for that. As we can see, the total envelope weight is 30 grams.
Check the international letter rates: Letter rates are different for sending in India and outside India. You can refer both rates from the pinned post of this subreddit or postage calculator on the India Post website. We are using the international letter rates table from the pinned post. Our letter weight was 30 grams. Letter weight is divided into 20 gram weight slabs and 30 grams falls into 40 grams weight slab. Once we know the slab, we'll pick the column based on the continent. Serbia is located in the Europe, so we will pick "EU/AF" column and look for the same row to 40 grams row. Our postage rate to send to Serbia is 60 rupees.
Buy 60 rupees worth of stamps: If you don't have the postage stamps, you can buy them from the post office. Our letter postage (charge) can be paid with regular stamps, commemorative stamps, or combination of both. We are combining both regular stamp and commemorative stamp (philately stamp). We have to carefully pick up the stamp that totals our 60 rupees postage rate. Its like spending money at a local grocery shop. Cash and coins come in various denominations - if shopkeeper says 60rs, we can give six banknotes of 10rs, one 50rs banknote + 10 rupee coin, three 20rs banknotes, etc. This is commonly known as money math. We are going to do the same with Stamps and its called Stamp Math. I've picked up few stamps from the stamp collection.
Make sure Stamp Math is correct: I have picked up four stamps, two are regular stamps (definitive) and two are commemorative stamps (philately). Value of the first stamp (mahatma gandhi) is 41 rupees, second stamp (indian fashion) in 15 rupees, and rest two stamps are 2 rupees each (totals to 4 rupees). These stamps totals to 60 rupees. Our stamp math is correct.
41 + 15 + 2 + 2 = 60 ✅
Stick the stamps on the envelope: We'll now stick all these stamps on the envelope with a glue. You can use your favorite glue such as fevistick, fevicol, or any other glue. Apply the ample amount of glue, we don't want the stamps to fall of in the journey. Stamps are applied on the front side of the envelope, starting from the top right to top left. Please make sure that address is not covered by the stamps, without it the letter won't reach.
Drop the letter at the counter or into the red letterbox: This is the final step to send our letter to Serbia. Once the stamps are sticked on the envelope, the letter is ready to send. You can either drop it in the red letterbox or give it at the post office counter. I gave the letter at the counter.
We have now successfully sent an international letter to Serbia! Thanks for sticking around with me till the end!
This process is same for international letter to any country. Just refer to the rates table from the subreddit's "postcard and letter rates" pinned post. For sending letters in India, refer to the india letter rates table in the same post, rest of the process is same.
If you have any further questions, you can ask in the comments or DM me.
u/Calm_Channel_4431 - Thank you for the cute postcard day card with a cat! It was a mystery card for me as I didn't find the name. Later I decoded the mystery with date stamp, 1rs definitive stamp, "To" before address, among other things. I figured out it was you from the clues.
u/SignalWriting8859 - Thank you for the beautiful postcard from The Wind Rises! I asked for this movie because I'm planning to watch it soon, but one of my favorite ghibli movie is also "Kiki's Delivery Service"!
This card was sent on 8th may (cancellation date) and it got to my postbox on 3rd June.
I mostly get my art supplies from Jags art store and Skyblue and just found out about this art store near anuvrat dwar.
I want to learn embroidery and crocheting and its kinda hard to get the supplies offline. Two of the store i normally go doesn't have anything related to it.
This store is far from my place and I wanted to know from others who have went there. do they have major art supplies and how was your experience?
I had to send someone a birthday postcard as part of a request post. I wanted to try something different and paper embroidery was on my wishlist from a long time. This was a perfect opportunity to give it a try. I had zero ideas about this. My grandma showed me a little demo on a cloth and I figured out the rest on paper.
I made the simplest birthday postcard (still in progress). This is made from 300gsm cardstock paper and size is 6 x 4 inches. I'm going to stick a white cutout of the same size on the back for writing address and message. I'm still thinking what things should I add to make front side interesting.
This took a lot of time to make as it was my first time. Also, I didn't expect this to take a lot of thread. A long thread has been consumed in just these two words.
u/Over_Team_8834 (x5)
Thanks for sending these many postcards!!
I loved the playlist you shared. I do agree that you have a niche music taste. Its was very powerful and literally gave me goosebumps! I listened to your playlist day before yesterday at night and my mind was blown!! It started with "Mokshamu Galada" and ended with "Aasai Mugam", almost felt like a direct attack to my soul haha. I kinda felt heavy after listening to the last song "Aasai Mugam" even though I didn't understand anything. Thank you for giving this amazing music experience!! (27 apr - 7 may)
moving to the poetry postcard, you composed a beautiful poem on the ladybug. You described the scene and the ladybug in the most poetic way. I guess I will now see the ladybug in a new light. That ladybug sticker is the cutest!! along with those bear stickers and washi tapes. I'm not good at composing poem but there should be a poem on your postcards. Just like a ladybug, one can identify your minimalist and cute cards from the distance. Your postcards have a unique style and feel that's different from any other postcards. (27 apr - 7 may)
I guess you wrote and sent these three handmade postcards before or during your pune trip. All three with 50p stamps reached in 10 days. You did a great job at drawing your self portraits! I hope you had a great trip. On 1st May 1960, Bombay state was divided into two states based on the linguistic lines - Maharastra and Gujarat. So on the same day, both Maharastra Day and Gujarat Day (also called Gujarat Stapana Diwas / Gujarat Gaurav Din) are celebrated. Thanks for the wishes! I'm glad you liked the kesar mangoes and lucky you that you got to visit the GPO. It looked nice. (1 or 2 may - 12 may)
Moving to your yellow postcards. They have a unique personality. I didn't know you use fountain pen to write. I don't use them but want to try them in future along with erasable gel pen and space pen (we can write with that pen upside down and underwater lol). Based on your struggles with fountain pen, I think using a normal ball pen or gel pen are more convenient. (unknown - 11 may)
I liked the flowers and leaves art on the back of the next yellow card. I guess its made from your new acrylic markers. those light star background pattern looks really good on your postcards. do you make them with light sketch pens? I'm guessing you bought the poska acrylic markers as they are more widely available. they are very expensive. I have tried them once and we have to put the pressure on the nib until the color comes out and then use them normally. Its a unique mechanism. (unknown - 11 may)
Grateful for all the postcards.Thank you!
u/Competitive_Ant1
Thank you for the upcycled postcard! Its my first postcard from your country. Space washi tape looks so good!! and one more thing - I can't miss out that cute pingu sticker 🐧 I'm really grateful for this postcard. Thank you!
your postcard reached on 2nd may. I can't clearly read the date from cancellation but it looks like 21st april. 21st april to 2nd may. It took 11 days.
I noticed one more thing that stamp value is 0.30 SGD. is that a surface rate for sending postcards internationally? Its quite cheaper than the singapore's airmail rates that I saw earlier as part of my little research on postcard rates in asia.
u/dogs_eat_cats
Thank you for the Ursula Postcard! This is again special for me as its my first postcard from your country. I like everything about the postcard - stamp, cute stickers, dog postmark, washi tapes, and getting to know about the writer - Ursula K. Le Guin! Thank you so much for women history month postcard! your postcard reached on 4th may (I can't decode the sent date from the cancellation, so not sure how many days it took).
u/melhen16
Thank you for the beautiful and minimalist flower card! I'm really impressed by your stamp math and the stamps are so cool!! pink flower washi and panda/elephant stickers are cute. The main part - riddle jokes were funny. I had a good time laughing haha. Thanks a lot for this card!! your card reached on 18th May (20th Apr - 18th May).
I had this long long back at sargam shopping centre. There are many ice gola places these days but I haven't seen anyone offering this.
aaj ekdam se craving ho rahi hai. Please suggest any places that serves ice slush.