Save the Postcard

Posted by Janelle Nanos on September 29, 2010
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Photo: Jack Vettriano's postcardWith mobile phones enabling us to constantly stay in touch, many are worried that the humble postcard will go the way of the dodo. A recent survey by TripAdvisor found that only 11% of travelers still took the time to jot off a simple card to their friends back home. So to counter that depressing trend High Life, the in-flight magazine from British Airways, has launched a Save the Postcard campaign. Working in conjunction with British artist Tracey Emin, they’re celebrating these “mini works of art” by auctioning off 43 postcards designed by artists and celebs like Diane Von Furstenberg, Jack Vettriano, and Gordon Ramsey. All proceeds from the sales go toward Flying Start, BA’s charity partnership with Comic Relief.

The Guardian weighed in on the effort in yesterday’s paper:

“Picture postcards did something important. They were ‘forget-me-nots

that connected home and away when togetherness was a bigger deal than it is now. They carried more love, more affection, more care, than any other kind of correspondence. No one ever sent a bill by picture postcard. They were happy things.”

Happy things indeed. I still love finding time to write out postcards, even if they do tend to be far less instantaneous than posting a picture on Facebook. And getting one in the mail is still pure joy.

Do you still write postcards?

[Save the Postcard]
[The Guardian]

Image: A postcard designed by artist Jack Vettriano, now available at auction through November 1, 2010.

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Comments

  1. PostcardsFromSomer
    September 29, 2010, 3:47 pm

    I love postcards vintage or current. I try to collect and still send a few when I travel, there really is nothing like a getting a postcard in the mail. They inspired my blog, postcardsfromsomer.blogspot.com and now I can combine my love of postcards and traveling on the web.
    What a neat campaign, thanks for sharing!
    Somer

  2. Angie
    September 29, 2010, 3:48 pm

    Yes! I still sent postcards home every time I travel someplace new.

  3. Neliza Drew
    September 29, 2010, 3:55 pm

    I still send postcards often. In fact, a pen pal and I choose to stay in touch via post card.

  4. Trina Enriquez
    September 29, 2010, 4:27 pm

    I do still love to write postcards from my travels, and receive them from friends when they go abroad–mostly because I like the tactility of it all. I like the idea of the card being carefully chosen, of poring over recollections from the trip to jot down the most memorable and describe/re-create the experience in print, of the card being stamped and mailed from some foreign locale and then making its way around the world on trucks and planes. It’s a piece of place.

  5. Dyanne
    September 29, 2010, 5:21 pm

    Yes indeed. There’s something very special (and rare these digital days) about receiving a postcard in the mail from some distant land. And I know my friends and family really appreciate it when I send them.
    On my recent trip to Egypt (even though I posted pics and blogged nearly daily) I took the trouble to buy a dozen postcards shortly after I arrived in Cairo, and happily spent a bit of time writing (yep, cursive even!) a short note to special family/friends and dropped them in the mail.
    Granted, I was already home long before they arrived, but all were thrilled to get a postcard w/ and Egyptian stamp.

  6. PeggyCoonley/SerendipityTraveler
    September 29, 2010, 5:29 pm

    Postcards are another of life’s little ways to say thinking of you and sending love!
    Always fun to find a postcard from a friend in the
    mailbox. Wherever i travel i always spend time
    finding some artful, unusual postcards to send.
    A postcard is a small piece of art connecting
    people around the world.

  7. Jonathan
    September 30, 2010, 8:32 am

    I still write and send postcards. Whenever I travel, I always send postcards to the same 4 people: my Mom, my Dad, Mary who is my former neighbour and who is 90 years old now, and my travelling friend, Jon.
    Mary has never lived in a house with electricity. Before her cell phone, her most modern things that she had in her life were a car battery-powered tv and a kitchen sink with no running water or drain pipes. So, she hasn’t travelled much even within Canada. I started sending her cards just because I’m sure no one else in her circle of friends or acquaintances would travel far enough to send her a postcard. I’ve been doing it for about 8 years now.
    Jon and I send each other postcards whenever we travel. I collect all the postcards that he and my other friends sent me and post them up in my classroom so that my students can see that there are many places that they can visit around the world.

  8. Jo C
    September 30, 2010, 12:26 pm

    I send a post card home to myself every time I go somewhere. I do it to have a record of my travel in addition to my own photos and notes. To me there something romantic about reciving post cards from a far away land.

  9. ScriCal
    September 30, 2010, 12:43 pm

    Yes, we still send postcards especially when we travel outside Italy. Often we send one to ourselves and when we are back home looking in the mail box we wonder: “Oops, who is writing to us?”
    Robi&Gabi

  10. Laura Ward
    October 12, 2010, 5:29 am

    I still write postcards. There is nothing better than receiving a little colourful 6×4 through the post. I recently joined postcrossing.com where you can send postcards to strangers all over the world.
    I am also co-organising a postcard art show in October in south London at the Red Gate Gallery. 50 artists (established and first time exhibitors) are taking part which goes to show how popular the format is. Everybody has been so warm to it.
    Come and see it!
    http://www.sendmeapostcarddarling.com

  11. Under an Artichoke
    April 4, 2012, 7:04 pm

    [...] words I still love writing to friends on letterpress cards and other cool stationery as well as sending postcards from my travels. This story, however, goes to show just how important a single piece of mail can [...]