Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with postcards

What is the best way of mailing postcards to a neighborhood?

a womble is an active kind of sloth — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:53:05 -0800

I want to mail a few hundred postcards to a neighborhood to inform them about a particular issue. How should I do this? I have a list of names and addresses of people in a neighborhood in the USA who are interested in receiving a postcard from my service. How should I go about mailing them? I anticipate sending 10 or so per day, and want to have a fully automated way of doing this

I currently have a system of auto-generating the postcard pdf for each addressee. However, I don't know how I can organize paying for postage and if this should be attached to each unique postcard before or after printing. I thought I might be able to use the USPS API or using a service like Vistaprint (though, ideally one which has an API).

I would appreciate any advice on how best to do this; I'm unfamiliar with this general area and the terminology.

Post not-so-Secret

threeants — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:27:29 -0800

I'd like to start a blog featuring my small collection of found (used/sent) postcards. What measures should I take for due ethical diligence? I have some cool old postcards that I bought at thrift stores. I'm hoping to scan them and post them on a blog. They're all sent from someone to someone else (i.e. not me or anyone I personally know). I'd like to preserve/show as much of the contents as is ethical.

===

concerns:

--It stands to reason that generally, if someone's selling a used postcard to a thrift store, the sender (if not the recipient as well) is likely to be unaware of the sale.

--Visible names and addresses.

mitigations:

--The postcards are old. The most recent ones are from the 1960s. The vast majority of people involved are probably dead.

--The text is banal. People don't tend to send postcards confessing their deepest hopes and fears. They tend to write terse sentences about hotels and weather.

--There may not be much of an expectation w/r/t postcards in the first place? Anyone can read them while they're in transit (as opposed to an enveloped letter).

--There might be value in leaving names intact so people doing historical/genealogical searches on their family members could come across these...maybe? I know I'd be thrilled if I randomly came across a postcard sent by my great-grandfather or what have you.

--This is basically what historians do...right? Maybe? No?

===

So what should I do? Black out part of the name? Part of the address? Can I leave both intact? Is this project too ethically fraught to even embark on? Naturally, whatever I do I'll have a notice saying that if you are somehow party to one of the postcards, I'll take the entry down at your request.

Thanks for the advice!

Postcards for the Pokey

Juliet Banana — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:20:06 -0800

My little brother is currently in jail, and will likely be staying there or in a similar facility for quite a while. He is only allowed to receive postcards, and softcover books mailed from Amazon or B&N. If either of these items violate the byzantine regulations (details contained within), they will not reach him. What are some creative things that are basically just pieces of paper (no paint, stickers, double layers, etc) I can send as postcards? What are some books that won’t be taken away for sex, drug, gang, etc content you’d recommend for a 23 year old male who never really read for pleasure, recently earned his GED, and likes Hunter S. Thompson? POSTCARDS:
- I have a pile of touristy postcards, but since I’m sending 1-2 a day I’m quickly running out. What stores sell postcards in Chicago, Illinois? Any interesting online vendors?
- The jail recommends buying a package of cardstock and cutting it down to the permitted sizes. What are some other materials I could use to keep it interesting? Cereal boxes?
- I can send items to my mom, who lives in the state and can visit him; she can drop items in the on-site mail drop. These items will be accepted without a stamp provided that the address is still written on it. My brother tells me that it is common for people to drop photographs with addresses written on the back as “postcards.” What are some other ideas like this? What should I take photos of?
- What are some ways I can make sending postcards every single day easier on myself? For example, I bought a little plastic pocket-folder perfectly sized to hold postcards & a booklet of stamps, so I can keep some extras in my messenger bag at all times for quick written-on-the-bus notes. I found out that the post office sometimes sells little booklets of postage-paid postcards. I love the little “sketchbooks” of postcard-sized watercolor/etc paper you can buy at art supply stores.
- What are some interesting things I can send instead of just “Hi how are you this is what I did today love you”? Hand-drawn comics? Little watercolor paintings? Quotes from famous figures? Connect the dots? Riddles? Jokes?

BOOKS
- The only book he’s specifically requested so far is “The Rum Diaries” by HST, which was sent back to my mom for sexual content.
- He specifically said "no self help books."
- The only book I remember him loving in high school was “The Color Purple.” He recently read through all the Harry Potter novels in jail.
- I have no shame about sending him young adult novels; his reading level probably isn’t all that much higher, and heck, I still read them sometimes. No shame.
- He was never a voracious reader, so he likely missed a lot of classics. What would be interesting/funny/fast-paced and not too dry, boring, dense or difficult?
- Has anyone ever worked in a prison who has an idea how they determine censorship? We’re guessing that Rum Diaries was either rejected on the title or maybe someone had seen the movie; if I sent, say, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (an example of the kind of book I think he’d enjoy but probably can’t send), how would they determine that it is inappropriate?
- I think he would enjoy comic books and graphic novels.
- If there are puzzle/activity books, like Sudoku, that are way cooler and less lame than Sudoku, that would be rad to know about as well.

When I was a teenager in a residential treatment center, my little brother bought me Kid Koala’s first comic book, Nufonia Must Fall, that I’d been looking forward to for months with his own money and sent it to me. It was one of the few bright moments in one of the most difficult times of my life. I love him very much, and I owe him.

Since I would be dying of curiosity if I read this question, the charges are drug-related. He’s made many mistakes but hasn’t hurt anyone but himself. Thank you for your help.

Rules For Sending Postcards:

1.As of October 4, 2010, postcards will be the only acceptable form of incoming mail for inmates in custody at all Ventura County Sheriff 's Office jail facilities. Postcards must be no smaller than 4 x 6 inches and no larger than 6 x 11 inches (US Post Office standards).
2.Incoming postcards must be delivered via US Postal Service, a commercially licensed carrier (i.e., FedEx, UPS, etc.) or collected from a jail public lobby drop box to be accepted. Incoming postcards must be properly addressed with the inmate’s name and booking number, and mailed to: PO Box 6929, Ventura, CA 93006. All incoming correspondence, including postcards, must have a legible, return address to be processed within the jail facilities. Booking numbers may be obtained by clicking here, or calling 805 654 3335.
3.Any of the following will cause incoming mail to be returned to the sender or placed directly into an inmate’s property:
•Postcards that have been altered from their original form, including added layering, backing, or wrappings.
•Postcards marked with paint, crayon, glitter, labels, cloth, string, watermarks, stains or stickers (excluding US postage stamps).
•Postcards with any perceived bio-hazard (i.e. lipstick, gloss, scents, etc.)
•Postcards depicting nudity, obscenities, suggestive images, or other offensive materials.
•Postcards depicting weapons, gang references, criminal activity, codes, or markings.
•Postcards depicting or containing writings, images or references that may incite violence, riot, racism, or threaten the security of any Ventura County jail facility.
•Not mentioned in the official rules: they cut the stamps off the corners of the postcards before giving them to the inmate.

Rules for Sending Books

Inmates may only receive softbound books sent directly from the publisher, Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble.com. There is a limit of three (3) books that may be sent at one time. Bibles are included in this restriction. If an inmate would like a religious book (Bible, Koran, etc.), a request may be submitted to the Chaplain and one will be provided to the inmate. No hard, leather, spiral bound or plastic covered books will be accepted. Books sent from a publisher must have a proof of purchase. Books sent to an inmate must include a letter or receipt on the organization’s letterhead stating the book was donated. If any portion of the book order is unacceptable, the entire order will be returned to sender.

How can I display postcards?

bookmammal — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:30:27 -0800

How can I display postcards in a unique way? I've been collecting postcards with the themes of books, reading, libraries, etc. I'd love to display these in a unique way so I can see them and enjoy them, but I'm not very "crafty". I'm open to anything except the old "put 'em in an album" routine. Any ideas?

Printing and trimming odd-sized images? Turning images into print on demand postcards?

jsturgill — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:59:32 -0800

Two image printing questions: 1) Will Costco trim images (and if not, is there a similarly priced & equally high quality competitor who will), and 2) What are my options for turning images into print-on-demand postcards? Clarification on the trimming question:

Assume I have an 8x7 image file. The closes image size Costco prints is 8x10. I calculate the amount of white border to add to the image file to make it 8x10, and then send it to Costco to be printed.

Will they trim the excess 3 inches off for me if I ask? Who will if they won't?

Where are all the touristy postcards online?

xammerboy — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:01:07 -0800

Where can I find pictures (preferably postcards I can buy) of post WWII bombed out Berlin and Dresden? (More inside) I am working on a photography book of some pictures I took while in Berlin and Dresden. I want to illustrate how much the city has changed since WWII and since the wall has fallen. Ideally, I would like to hold postcards in my hands in my pictures. I can't find anywhere to buy these online. I am in the United States.

What are the economics of art reproductions?

cjh — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:25:18 -0800

Museum stores and art print retailers (e.g. art.com) sell reproductions of art in many forms. These include archival-quality prints, postcards, coffee mugs, t-shirts and so on. But sometimes I see a painting in a museum and I can't find any reproductions of it. What determines which pieces of art are available for reproduction and at what price? The following related questions might help to outline my ignorance on this subject:

[1] Some paintings and photographs are widely available in reproduction, while others seem not to be available anywhere. Why?

[2] For paintings no longer under copyright: are reproductions of these paintings still controlled by law? Or does the owner just have the right to (pragmatically) prevent people from copying the public domain image?

[3] Do museums who purchase a painting also acquire the copyright to the painting?

[4] When a museum store sells a print of a 19th century impressionist painting, is there an artist making royalties, or does the revenue all go to the museum? Does the museum have any exclusive right to reproductions of an out-of-copyright 19th century impressionist painting that it owns?

[5] Does there exist an open repository of high-resolution images of public domain artworks? If not, why not?

Vistaprint for over-sized postcards? Yay or nay?

isoman2kx — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:35:09 -0800

What are my printing and shipping options for 8.5 x 5.5 postcards? So I was pretty excited to go to Vista Print and come up with a grand total of $250-$260 for creating, printing, and mailing my computer repair postcards to 250 local businesses with all of the work being done for me.

I was talking to a friend that does graphic design and says VistaPrint has terrible print quality. Yet, they're one of the few sites I see that does the all-in-one package of printing and mailing them for you (along with to a mailing list of businesses of your choosing).

I have a graphic designer working on the postcards now, but am discouraged to hear that my next step (which was going to be at VistaPrint) was not going to be as simple as I'd thought.

If VistaPrint does indeed suck, what other options do I have out there? Ideally, I'd love a reasonably priced printing company that will print and ship my postcards out for me, but that doesn't have awful print quality and preferably above average turn-around time. If it comes to getting a mailing list and supplying a given printing company with that, that's fine too.

Help me Me-fites. The joys of starting a small business :\

Playing games through the (snail) mail.

iamisaid — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:46:39 -0800

I'm interested in novel recreational uses of snail mail, both historically and currently. Aside from pen-palling and exchanging goods, what kind of games or similar activities take place via old fashioned letters and postcards? When I was a kid, I used to be involved in a sort of RPG fantasy pro-wrestling league that took place via the mail. Participants would create their own wrestling characters with various attributes and backstories and mail the info to the person who ran the game. This person would compile everyone's information and simulate wrestling matches, coming up with narratives for the matches, and send out results and updates every so often through the mail. Then the participants would periodically write back to him, providing more info, starting feuds with other wrestlers, etc. It sounds kind of weird now, but it was sort of fun. I think I found out about it through an ad in a wrestling magazine.

This got me thinking - what other sorts of games and similar activities have been conducted via good old snail mail, and does anything like this still occur today? I'm guessing some people still play chess via the mail, but what else?

Old Route 66 Postcards

buriedpaul — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:30:32 -0800

I'm looking to buy around 150 postcards from the 50s - 70s that feature attractions from Route 66, or that highlighting Route 66 generally or the states along the way. Are there any stores in either New York City or Washington DC that sell that sort of thing? I've looked around on eBay a little, but I haven't found anything but single postcards here and there -- but I'm hoping to buy them in a lot. Is there somewhere better online I should be looking into?

What's the copyright law on postcards from the early 1900's?

joshuamcginnis — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:33:27 -0800

Can I publish really old postcards in a book free and clear? What are the rules around doing this (i.e. are there copyright concerns? do they every expire?)

DIY printing job for postcards

ism — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:49:21 -0800

I want to print a series of postcards, and my aim is to have them at least look kinda hand-made. (I don't really want to go through the whole process of learning screenprinting.) There are several dozen images, and I want to print a dozen or two of each. Is there a cool way to do this myself? Barring that, is there a certain type of paper/ink/process I can seek out from a printer to give them a sort of DIY look? The images are low-resolution and I think if they had a reduced color or alternative/cheap ink they would look rad.

Additionally, is there a shop you'd recommend in Chicago?

(These are funny/artsy images to be used on postcards to send to friends, for gifts, and possibly for sale in craft stores.)

Advice about promotional postcards?

roxie110 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:51:04 -0800

Any advice on designing/ordering promotional postcards? I have a book coming out in a month and want to have promo postcards printed up.

I'd welcome any advice from any angle, especially of the "I wish I'd known before placing my order" variety. Some examples might be how to get crisp type, specific info to include on the back, digital vs. offset, or a great print company.

I haven't decided yet whether to design the postcards for mailing (with room for address/stamp) or just handing out at readings, conferences, etc. If someone has thoughts about those approaches, I'd love to hear them, too. Many thanks!

Who needs architectural postcards and books?

piratebowling — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:54:36 -0800

My father has tremendous collections relating to architecture and music. He's also getting old enough that he's beginning to be willing to thin out the collection. What are some some resources that I can steer him towards? The collections are books, postcards, and models. For the purpose of this question, I'm gonna focus on the postcards and books.

Most of the stuff is well organized. He has filing cabinets that are organized by city with postcards of skylines, ball parks, sports arenas and famous buildings for each city. To give an idea of how extensive this collection is, Coney Island is classified separately from New York City. It includes all major and most moderate sized cities in the US and Canada. The book collection is similarly extensive and covers urban planning and large areas of Europe as well. This both of these collections have materials ranging from around the 1960's to present.

Are there architectural or city-planning focused libraries are out there that would be interested in digitally archiving the postcards? Are there specific libraries that would be more interested in the books? He lives in the Bay Area in California, I live in Philadelphia. I'd be willing to help him transport these items anywhere across the country if needed. He and I would just rather see these given as a resource than sold or thrown away.

I’m trying to decide how best to spend my limited advertising budget.

Jackie_Treehorn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:57:11 -0800

I’m trying to decide how best to spend my limited advertising budget. First some background information. I run a discussion forum for homeowners of a certain local home builder. There are approximately 10,000 potential users of my forums as that is about the number of homes this builder has in the metro area. On the site, homeowners can discuss general things like how to care for your garden, or more local things with forums dedicated to their specific neighborhood.

I’ve been testing the site with mainly just one neighborhood involved to this point and things are running great. I have about 200 users (homeowners) with many active discussions. To help pay for the site and generate a little extra income for myself, I sell advertising in the form of banner ads to local business. I have about 5 Community Sponsors (advertisers) already signed up and running their ads.

Ok, now for my question. I want to grow my site. I want to market to the rest of the 10,000 homeowners as well as target more businesses. I am planning on doing this via direct mail – postcards. I know the addresses of most all of the 10,000 target homes. I have about $2000 to spend on my initial marketing campaign, but I’m unsure whom to spend my marketing dollars on first. Do I market to my 10,000 homeowners first to generate more activity on the forums? This would certainly make it more attractive to potential advertisers. A very active site would look better. OR do I market to potential advertisers first in order to generate more income to then market to my home owners?

I could see it both ways, which is why I’m asking the interwebs for your suggestions. I’m leaning towards marketing to the homeowners first. This would certainly mean a fairly substantial delay on my return on investment of advertising dollars. I’d delay marketing to selected business until membership and activity ramped up.

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

Printing Postcard Pads

banished — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:19:17 -0800

I'm looking for the best place to find 4x6 postcards glued into a pad of like 50 or 100. Kind of like a memo pad only with thicker cardstock. None of the standard printing places online like Vistaprint have any idea what I'm talking about. But I'm hoping someone out there does. The cheaper the better, of course.

How Do I Catch Your Eye With This?

aliceinreality — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:42:46 -0800

I just started at a web development/SEO firm here. We're looking to present a seminar on social media and marketing, but we're really unsure exactly what's going to grab people about it. If you got a postcard about a seminar like this at your business, what would make you read it rather than throw it away?

My contacts need a fire-proof home.

RobertFrost — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:39:41 -0800

Anybody know of a worthwhile, online address book? I am looking for an online address book to be the internet version of my little black book. I know there are many out there, but I haven't been able to find one that suites all of my desires. This is what I want:

1. The ability to apply multiple tags to entries and to view/export entries according to tags (i.e. family, business, friends)
2. The ability to input international address (keepm for example has a "country" field, but only allows for a 5 digit zip code, meaning Japanese addresses - with an 8 digit zip - are a no go)
3. The ability to export into an Excel spreadsheet, or even better directly to Word labels (Christmas card time).
4. If possible, the ability to choose which contacts to export, and which fields to export
5. This may be me dreaming - but some way to keep a tally of how often you have emailed a particular person. I live overseas and travel a lot, so I send a lot of postcards to keep in touch with friends and family. It would be nice to be able to view my address according to how many mailings I've sent them so I can be sure I'm mailing everyone evenly.
6. An interface where data entry is easy (I have an entire book worth of addresses to input).

I thought about just making a spreadsheet on google docs, but there is no way to export them to labels and I do a pretty massive mailing at xmas/new years time that I would prefer to print up labels for (currently I hand write them, it takes ALOT of time).

Thanks for any guidance you might have!

How to print my wedding postcard?

gilgamix — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:11:15 -0800

We're printing our wedding invitation as a couple of postcards. It's classier then it sounds, but where's the classiest (cheapest) place to print them. So we're having a (not) small (enough) ceremony and luncheon (to which there is one postcard invitation, and then a larger reception/studio party later in the night to which there's another postcard invitation. For the ceremony guests, we'll put them both in an envelope and send it out normally. For the party only guests we'll stick the postcard in the mail directly. OK: so where can i get digital (or comparably priced) printing, on nice matte stock that feels like it's meant for a wedding and not ladies night at the club? You know? So it works in the envelope and out...?

what are these thingdoos called that hung my posters as a kid?

jessamyn — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:58:47 -0800

Can I buy something to display my postcards on a wall that is simple and cheap? Looking for a low end version of this sort of thing that I can get in the US. When I was a kid, I hung my Leif Garrett posters on my walls with these rigid pieces of plastic. One slid over the top of the poster and had a little piece of string in it and one went on the bottom and just added weight. They were super cheap. I want them now.

I get a lot of postcards in the mail and I'm running out of space to put them and I'd like to look at them while I work. I'd love to have an upside-down version of the poster hanging thing that was attached to the wall that I could just slide postcards into, in a long line. Preferably transparent plastic. I envision it looking like this only with like 50 postcards over a few rows. So maybe sixteen or twenty linear feet.

Things I am not looking for: postcard/photo clips (too grippy, too inflexible, too spendy), postcard/photo sleeves (too tough to remove/move cards), frames or hangers (too spendy in bulk), "poster rails" (as I have seen them, too expensive, this is the closest I've found), tacky wall stickum stuff (too gloppy, I'm looking for linear). I read this thread but that's not quite right either.

If I can't buy these things, I'm open to other suggestions that don't involve wall-stickum or thumbtacks. Thanks!

Can you identify any of these old cars?

killerinsideme — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:44:02 -0800

I came across a stash of old postcards in the basement. I'm trying to identify the cars pictured in the postcards, but I haven't gotten very far. The pictures are here; unfortunately the resolution's not great.

Cheap, fast postcard printing in LA.

Thin Lizzy — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:59:51 -0800

I need to print 100, 2-sided, black and white postcards, preferably in L.A. The problem with these postcards is that I need them fast and cheap. For various reasons I don't want to print them at home. Vista Print can do them for about $30, but 3 day shipping is another $30. The places that are local to L.A. that I've googled cost about $60 without shipping, thus saving me no money at all. I realize that places like Vista Print drive down their prices by making you click through a million add-ons, but certainly I can do this quickly, cheaply, and locally. They don't have to be beautiful- the just have to get mailed.

How to print double side postcards, multiple pages per sheet, while mail merging?

peripatew — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:02:23 -0800

When mail merging with a postcard template in Publisher 2007, and printing multiple postcards per page (4), how do I get four different records on one page, rather than a page full of the same record? I created a post card using one of the blank postcard templates. I use the mail merge option and insert an address block. When I go to print I have the option for multiple copies per page. But, this just makes multiple copies of one record per sheet. I'd like to print off a large number of postcards, doing four per 8.5"x11" sheet.

When printing I have two different options, print multiple copies and multiple pages. Printing multiple pages would work, except that I'm working with a two sided postcard. Doing 4 pages per sheet puts two front side and two back sides on the front of one sheet.

I could have two separate publisher files, one printing the front side w/ the mail merge, and one with the back side. But I'd rather not if there is a way around this.

Any help is appreciated.

Artsy like Moo, but more American?

Leon-arto — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:12:51 -0800

I'm looking for a source of "artsy" modern postcards, preferably via web. Graffiti-styled, abstract, you name it. It just has to be visually interesting and around $1 per card. I've tried Moo.com and they have lots of interesting stuff, but their international shipping rates (they're in London, I'm in the US) are brutal. And Esty is neat, but their interface makes it really hard to find the gems buried among the not-so-gems. Any ideas for things that look like Moo but are a little more US-based (or at least US-friendly)?

I'd also like to respect original artists as much as possible and patronize sites that actually license their artwork from the artists. Much obliged.

Wish you were here, love from 1924

randomination — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:31:46 -0800

Where can I buy books of historic postcards of Toronto and/or Canada? I need to get about 50 assorted blank postcards showing historical scenes or views of Canada, preferably of Toronto. They'll need to be detachable from the book and function as postcards -- so not pictures of postcards.

I've got three-quarters of one whole day in downtown Toronto tomorrow and I'm wondering if anybody knows of anywhere in town I can pick these up.

This is the kind of thing I'm looking for (but that's London). I've not had much luck on Amazon, I'm afraid.

Any thoughts? Do the Toronto city archives have a bookstore?

TIA