Interview with the U.S. Postal Service about Postcrossing

Wow, it's been a shockingly long time since I last shared a post with you! I'll update you on some of the exciting news in my life in a forthcoming post (SPOILER: I've got a solo album of original songs coming out soon, from my other life as a musician!), but I wanted to check in and let you know of a very special conversation I just had.

I was just interviewed for an article about Postcrossing in the U.S. Postal Service employee newsletter! Be proud of me, U.S. Postcrossers: I put in a big plug for an official Postcrossing stamp here in the USA! I don't know if it will happen or not, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to make the pitch to an official representative of the US Postal service.

The gentleman with whom I spoke was also very interested in my personal history with the Postal Service, about my grandpa, a career postal worker, and how much he influenced my life and my love of snail mail.

The article is still a work in progress, but once it's online, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Because of the demands of work and career, I completely missed out on participating in InCoWriMo during the month of February, but things are a little less crazy for me now and I'm picking my snail-mail habits back up.

Hmmm, all this talk of Postcrossing makes me want to shuffle off and send a postcard...

Eclipse postmarks

For those of you in the USA or nearby regions - did you get to see the eclipse? It was amazing! I was up in Maine, far from the "path of totality," where we only got a 56% eclipse, but it was still fantastic. My favorite part was how it got cooler, the light got weird, and all the birds and crickets started singing their evening songs. Coooool!

And even cooler, from a postal perspective, you can still get a special eclipse postmark! Of course I learned about this from the fabulous Letter Writers Alliance. I haven't gotten one myself yet but I'm going to send off for one of these babies ASAP. Here are the details, via the LWA:

Total Eclipse Postmarks

Don't wait too long, though, it's only good for a few more weeks.

Garden news, or, How is July almost over?

The summer is flying by! I have definitely been writing lots of mail, but admittedly I have been spending more time in my garden. I can only garden in the summer, so I try to live it up and maximize my outdoor gardening time during every available moment.



The weather has been truly gorgeous, and I have had many available moments to have my hands in the dirt! Since I haven't posted in a while (again), I wanted to share with you photos of where and how I've been spending most of my time.



I am a sucker for color, and I'm all about the flowers! (Alex does the veggies, and I do the flowers. Though he does a few flowers here and there, and I do no veggies. But we have a nice little team thing going.)

I've also been posting to instagram a lot lately, so if you want to have a look at my photos there, have a look at my MissiveMaven instagram pix.



I've been writing a lot more mail but not photographing much of it, but here's a nice picture I arranged earlier in the summer.

How is your summer going? Are you having a good mail summer?

Fine Finnish stamps: Miau mail!

Gorgeous stamps from #Finland on a recent #postcrossing #postcard #Suomi #swan #reindeer #cat #received #showandmail #snailmail #gold #metallicgold #foreignpostage #postagestamp @postcrossinghq

A post shared by Missive Maven (ilona) (@missivemaven) on Jul 7, 2017 at 6:44am PDT

I received a Postcrossing postcard recently with these fine stamps - I had to take a video of the swan stamp to show off the metallic gold. It also included the adorable "miau mail" priority sticker, and a marvelous reindeer stamp, too.



Here's the front of the postcard, a lovely image of a Siberian cat. Thank you, Tiina, for this wonderful Postcrossing treat!

Response from Postcard United

A few days ago I wrote a blog post about Postcrossing United, with some observations about its similarity to Postcrossing and a request for information from anyone who had tried it.

While I haven't heard directly from any of the users of the site, I did get a response from Postcard United that I would like to share here for anyone who, like me, is curious about the site and wants more information.

On June 24, I signed up for the site out of curiosity, and on that day I used their contact form to ask the following question:

"Hi there,
I am an active Postcrosser and just saw this website mentioned in someone's profile there. I am very curious and did not see this in the FAQ - how is this different from Postcrossing? (Postcrossing.com) And what country is this project based in? Thank you! Ilona / Missive Maven"

On July 6, I wrote my original blog post about it.

Last night (July 9), I received the following response to my June 24 Postcard United contact form inquiry:

"Dear Ilona,

Thank you for contacting us, it seems that you have joined the bandwagon of people who seems to have hatred for us, the reason we are saying so it seems to a lot of people that there's nothing good about PostcardUnited.com you mentioned that the blog is not updated, and we have issues with English maybe you can help us, by pointing out those to us for us to fix.

also you should advise your reader from the UK not to generate fake accounts at your website.

when PostcardUnited.com was created it was created with love and to united people trough Postcard Exchange, and even the website that you love so much is guilty of interfering with PostcardUnited.Com

Thank You
Admin (3)"

The email came as a no-reply address so I am not able to respond to the email. I certainly didn't intend to sow any "hatred" and was merely curious about the website, so it saddens me that the creators took my search for additional information in a negative light. My two original questions - how is this different from Postcrossing, and in what country is the website based - remain unanswered.

I share this information as an update for any of my blog readers who, like me, are curious.

Postcard United - a Postcrossing imitator?

From the profile of another user on Postcrossing, I came across a new(ish - or just new to me perhaps) postcard exchange website called Postcard United. Is anyone else familiar with it? It seems to be an absolute Postcrossing imitator, with very little difference in the two sites. There's nothing wrong with that, and sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but it just makes me really curious. I signed up for it but haven't sent any postcards through Postcard United, since I am very devoted to (and very happy with) Postcrossing. But for anyone who has tried it, I'm very curious about the differences.

For example, I cannot find in what country it's based. The site is written in English but there are a number of phrases that make it appear that the creators are not regular English speakers (or perhaps not used to writing in English). Again, nothing wrong with that - we English speakers are very privileged and we need to get off our high horses regarding our native language and how lucky we are that it is so commonly spoken throughout the world - but it makes me realize I do appreciate the transparency with which the Postcrossing founders communicate their history and their whereabouts, and their use of the (optional) support funds.

They never mention Postcrossing on the Postcard United website, but in a handy differentiation, the latter uses 3-letter country codes as opposed to Postcrossing's 2-letter country codes, so users of both sites should be able to differentiate immediately from which website the received postcard originated.

Like Postcrossing, Postcard United is free, and uses a similar setup with profiles (though unlike Postcrossing, you cannot view a user profile or get much information on the site without signing up for it), and of course I have no idea how the coding and algorithms work behind the scenes. But if you've already tried it, I'd love to hear more, and if you're itching to send postcards (and maybe you're new to Postcrossing and have reached your send limit there), here's a new experiment for you.

Also, Postcard United does not seem to have a Twitter presence (on their site they have a Twitter icon, but it just takes you to Twitter.com), so I can't do any sleuthing there. I did find a profile for @PostcardUnited, but it hasn't ever tweeted. Hmm.... They do have a Facebook page but it isn't very active, and the blog on their own site isn't terribly updated either (ooooh... that's like the pot calling the kettle, right folks? I've not terribly active on this blog lately, either, but I'm not set up as a postcard-sending website).

So! If you have any thoughts or opinions to share, please do!

UPDATE on July 10: I received a response from Postcard United, see the new blog post for more info

In other news, I've been meaning to post a happy summer update... I've been in my garden a lot, and writing many postcards and a few letters, and I have some lovely photos to share - coming soon!

Here is my music for you

I have mentioned a number of times that grad school has kept me from my letter-writing habits... and at last, I am finished with grad school. I am looking forward to a return to letter-writing, especially over my summer vacation - more on that later! - but now I would like to take a moment to share with you an accomplishment of which I'm very proud. Did you know that I'm a professional musician and voice teacher?

On 23 April 2017, I gave a recital for the completion of my Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory of Music. I prepared for this recital for over two years, and it was a very big accomplishment for me, in large part because it marked my debut as a songwriter. I sang 14 songs, 5 of which were my own original songs, and accompanied myself on piano on 4 of them. (For the others, I either sang a cappella or had other fine musicians collaborate on piano.) You can see all the videos on my recital page on my professional website: http://www.ilonatipp.com/solo-concert-2017. Of, if you'd like to see the songs in the order in which I programmed and performed them, you can see the the YouTube playlist.

I'll share with you here one particularly letter-related song I wrote:


© Copyright Ilona Tipp 2017, All Rights Reserved

This song, "Best of the Real," had its genesis in me staring at a pile of letters to which I needed to respond, and gave birth to the opening song lyric, "all the letters left unwritten..."

I hope you enjoy my music. You can peruse more of it on my musician website at ilonatipp.com. I'm not yet sure Where I May Go next professionally, but I'll be sure to keep you posted. I would love to hear your feedback on my music if you'd like to share!

And on the letter-writing front, tomorrow we move up to Maine for the summer, and I always joyfully return to much happy mail-making over summer vacation.

All information, music, lyrics, sound recordings, content, and linked content connected to a third party storage website on this web page is owned by Ilona Tipp. Any attempt or claim of ownership by any other party other than Ilona Tipp is illegal by all copyright laws, and can be pursued with legal action. By downloading content from this web page, the party doing so completely understands the restrictions of privacy outlined above (if applicable) and that all content is the intellectual property of and owned by Ilona Tipp. © Copyright Ilona Tipp 2017, All Rights Reserved

UPDATE: Etsy changed deadline, my shop open until May 31

BREAKING NEWS: Etsy pushback has worked. Enough sellers have shown anger and planned to leave over the new Etsy forced payment system that Etsy has pushed back the deadline. My sincere apologies for the dire "my shop is closing today" warnings, because I only learned five minutes ago that they have moved the deadline from May 17 to May 31.

If you want the backstory on all this, please see my post about why Etsy's changes are forcing my shop to close. This has all been very sudden, and my very cynical mind is that Etsy is seeing the bump in sales over sellers who are doing "shop-closing" sales just like I am, and has decided that two more weeks of delaying the forced changes will get more money for them. And they're right. And perhaps they are weighing the words of so many people, who just like me have said they will quit spending their money at Etsy over these changes. I can't speak for others, but any small profits I make from my shop (and after the materials, shipping, time, etc, the profits are tiny indeed) go right back into other purchases at Etsy. If you don't want to read my post about why Etsy's changes are forcing my shop to close, let me just say that much of the issue hinges on use of PayPal, and word on the street is that Etsy may be planning to phase out PayPal altogether - for buyers as well as sellers. So from me, they'll lose their profits from my listings and sales, AND the profits from my purchases based on those sales. Sigh. I'll get off my soapbox now, but if anyone has questions or comments, please let me know. I'm happy, and even eager, to have a dialog on this.

So, this means my shop will stay open for two more weeks. I will continue to work hard to get the word out. To those of you who have already placed orders thinking they're the last, I cannot thank you enough for your support (and hey, if your items arrive and you love them and decide to order more, there's still time).

Today is the LAST DAY for my Etsy store!

UPDATE: I learned at 11:45am on May 16 that Etsy has pushed back the deadline so my shop stays open until May 31. Learn more here

---

Today is the very last day to buy anything from my etsy shop, Missive Maven on etsy. After today, it closes forever. It is a long and complicated story involving policy changes at etsy that relate to payment, which affect the buyer somewhat and the seller dramatically. You can read the whole story in my prior post if you're interested.

Letterbird postcard set

The quantities of stickers are somewhat limited and what is listed on the site is what is accurate. When they're gone, they're gone. There are more cards and postcards available, but that point is moot since the shop closes at the end of the day today, so buy now if you want anything! (I do not know exactly what time the shop will close. That is up to etsy.)




I'm very sad and upset about this, but there's nothing I can do except exit as gracefully and gratefully as I can. I may look to re-open another online store elsewhere next fall (suggestions and opinions are welcome!), but nothing will be sold online before then... and I may decide not to reopen. I thank you for your great support of my shop over the years, and to everyone who's bought more items in the last few days and shown a lot of love. It's been a lovely time.

Last chance to buy Missive Maven etsy goods!!

Etsy shop closing on May 17, possibly forever!

UPDATE: I learned at 11:45am on May 16 that Etsy has pushed back the deadline so my shop stays open until May 31. Learn more here

---

I have sad news. My etsy shop, Missive Maven on etsy, will be closing on May 17 - indefinitely. Possibly forever.

Last chance to buy Missive Maven etsy goods!!

The short info: if you want any items from my shop - like my very popular mail-themed postcards or stickers, BUY THEM NOW. You may not have another chance after May 17. (It's also unclear to me whether the final ending will be May 17 or May 18, so the sooner the better, if you want to be careful.)

The longer story: for a huge host of business reasons, etsy is now requiring all its sellers to use their own "checkout" and payment system instead of PayPal. You can still use PayPal (though they are phasing it out) but sellers must opt in to using the Etsy payment system, which requires linking a bank account and sharing all kinds of personal information like forms of ID with etsy - things I wouldn't share with most people. I do not run my business as my living, it's very much a hobby shop, so I guess I can afford to stand on principles here... but it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth that etsy will effectively close down shops that do not comply with their new payment system (which has a whole host of other glitches, including witholding money from sellers, that I won't even get into).

I am researching other online selling venues including Amazon marketplace, Zibbet, and more - I would love your feedback! Do you have any suggestions for a great online marketplace? (I would prefer a marketplace that has its own traffic, like etsy or Amazon, to a standalone checkout system, but I am open.) Do you have strong feelings about any of this? I want to know!

It is possible that etsy is getting enough pushback on this issue - many, many sellers say they're leaving and taking their wares elsewhere - that they will change their minds. So I'm not saying I'm closing "forever," but that is certainly a possibility. The timing is good for me as I'm about to move to Maine for the summer, and this takes away my decision of whether or not to move my etsy stock with me: I won't. I may or may not reopen elsewhere, but if I do, it likely won't be until the fall. And I may not reopen at all... this may be the end of all the things I sell in my shop, Missive Maven original goods as well as vintage items. (That's another thing: I need a sales platform that allows selling of both new and vintage goods.)

Unanswered correspondence: Do it Now! postcard

So again, the big takeaway: if you want something, buy it now before it may be gone forever!

Last chance to buy Missive Maven etsy goods!!

Video of cats and mail

Not a lot of substance in this post, folks, but I present to you a video of cats getting, playing with, or attacking the mail.

Happy New Year! I'm still here!

Hello dear blog readers,
I'm sorry to have been so absent from this blog. I've been busy with grad school, to the point of where it's overtaken all my time for hobbies like letters and postcards. (I haven't even sent a Postcrossing postcard in months!) I'd like to say I'll be better about it now, but realistically... until I get through my graduation in May, I'll probably lay low. But I'm still out here, writing mail when I can, and dreaming about the day when I can return to mail (and my garden!) in the future. Rest assured I am loving my grad program, and if you're curious about what I've been up to professionally, please check out my music website at ilonatipp.com.

Happy New Year, and Happy Mailing!

Lovely mention on Anchored Scraps

I recently got an etsy order from Helen, who blogs about at AnchoredScraps.com. Here's her angle:

"Through her website and blog, Helen is looking to connect with kindred storytellers who are likewise looking for insights on how to balance our 21st Century technological lifestyles with the joy of traditional communication methods."

Sounds pretty great to me! Helen was pleased enough with her recent order from me to write a lovely, photo-rich blog post about Missive Maven original mail-themed stationery. Thanks, Helen! Go check out Anchored Scraps: it's full of great mail- and writing-related goodness.

Postcards from Taiwan

I just got back from a trip to Taiwan! Of course the first thing I bought there was a big pile of postcards. These are cards in the Gotochi style, though they are from Taiwan and not Japan. They're thick and with unusual shapes all featuring local attractions or culture, done in a cartoon illustration style. I sent one to myself from Taipei on August 16, and it was waiting for me when I got my mail today! Hats off to you, Taiwan postal service. Also, holy cheap, Batman! Just about everything in Taiwan was reasonably priced or even inexpensive, coming from the USA, and the postage for this international postcard cost 11 NTD (New Taiwan Dollars). Guess how much that is in USD? As of this posting, 35 cents! Wow. I was able to send off a few postcards from Taipei, but it was mostly a work trip and I was busy most of the time, so I didn't get a whole lot of mail written or sent there. Also, mailboxes were a little hard to find in my area, so I carried a few postcards around for a number of days until I could finally mail them on Friday.

This Taiwan trip took up a lot of my mental energy this summer, preparing and planning for the trip (work trip - I did some guest teaching and gave a concert, so it was a lot more than just travel adventure!), and I guess I can offer that as an excuse for being so absent from this blog. We also spent the first couple months of the summer at our new house in Maine, which was idyllic but also busy. I did spend a lot of time actually *writing* mail instead of blogging about it, but we also did a lot of work on the house and I spent a ton of time in the gardens.



YES! I have gardens again! I'm super excited about that, though it's challenging to be away from them for weeks or months at a time. The summer days flew by, as I spent hours in the garden with my hands in the dirt.

So right now I'm in a bit of location limbo... a week in Maine, a few days in NH, a week in Taiwan, a few days in NH, nearly a week in Maine, a few days in NH, a weekend in Maine... you get the picture. (Because I'm so back-and-forth, my etsy store will remain closed for a couple more weeks.) And then summer is over and I'm back to school crazy-ness. I've had all kinds of postal adventures in addition to travel adventures, and I'll try to catch up and get them blogged as best I can, but in the meantime... I hope everyone is having a fantastic, mail-filled summer!

Good mail place

I'm settling into summer mode, and getting back into the mail groove! I don't have an actual writing desk here, but I brought a stash of stationery, stamps, and postcards, and I did a lot of Postcrossing cards at this table recently. I think this is going to be my prime mail location ... except I keep getting distracted by the view! This Midwestern gal has become entranced by mountain-watching.

Yesterday I walked the 2 miles (and back) to our new PO Box to get the mail. It was a lovely walk, and it's nice to slow life down so that I can take the time to do this. You notice so much more on foot than you do in a car, and you get a much more intimate feel for the neighborhood. Sometime soon I'll have to take some photos of this sweet little post office.

The cats are settling in nicely to our new place as well, and Oberon also enjoys the light:



And in other news, Missive Maven on Etsy has reopened, selling just postcards for the summer.

Happy Summer Mail Days!

Summer vacation: off to Maine

Here's the news I've been hinting at, and why I'm only selling postcards in my etsy shop for a while: we're heading up to Maine for the summer.

It's a quiet setting on a lake in Western Maine, near the White Mountains. (We can see them from the house, as shown in the photo!) I hope to have a lot of quiet, time, and space for practicing and mail-writing, bird-watching and swimming. It's been a crazy busy year, and I've neglected mail and many other aspects of life in order to give my best effort at grad school... but it's time for a break! We *do* have internet, so I should be able to blog and do Posctrossing and all my other favorite internet-based mail activities... but one of the things to which I'm looking most forward is writing letters while gazing at those mountains, and hearing the birds chirp.

Our mail will be forwarded, and we have a PO box in town. Speaking of that... we'll be in a very small town, not a populous area... and they know me at the PO already! It's a wonderful little post office and I predict some fun stories will come from my mail adventures there.

We're in the process of moving up there now (and taking the cats! Big changes for them!), so I may be laying low for a few days, but there are great things on the horizon.

What about you, blog readers? What do you do in the summertime, and do your mail habits change in the summer?

Summer update for etsy store: postcards only

Happy June! I know it's not officially summer until the solstice, but June pretty much means summer to me. I've hinted at some changes afoot for summer... I will save the big reveal for a post coming in the next week or so, but for now, note the heads up:

Over the summer, I will be selling only original postcards in my etsy shop.

If you want anything else - such as vintage V-mails, stickers, or vintage postage, buy it now or wait until late August...

I will be removing all options except the original postcards on this Saturday, June 4 - so make sure to buy them before then if you want them! Also on June 4, my etsy store will close briefly while we take care of some personal house business and I'll be unable to access my stock. It will reopen by the middle of next week.

More big news about summer fun coming soon...

Feline inspiration

Wise words from a recent Postcrossing postcard: Be the person your cat thinks you are.

Practice room vs. writing desk

I haven't written any letters in weeks. I haven't even sent any postcards. I've been in a practice room, often times the one pictured above. (No, I don't play the drum, but I wish I did!) It's been great work, lots of fruitful musical progress, but only music-related (and school-related) writing.

My semester is wrapping up, and I hope to put pen to paper - and new posts to blog! - later in May. I've got some exciting news to share about summer projects...

Of postcards, music, and blog neglect

Nothing new here: grad school is still taking up most of my time and energy. I love it. I spent 5 hours straight yesterday transcribing Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy solos (and was happy as a clam, despite - or perhaps because of - the extremely challenging nature of the work) for a class assignment. That would have been letter time, but... work first.

I have been sending a lot of postcards, though, both to friends and pen pals, and via Postcrossing. My 10 year anniversary with Postcrossing came and went last month (how is it April already??). I feel like a real old hand now.

I've got some other big things I'm juggling in my personal life right now, both joyful and very difficult, that are taking up a lot of time and emotional energy. I feel awful that I've neglected my beloved blog, but I thank the longtime readers for hanging in there and understanding. April is gonna be all kinds of crazy. Come mid-May, things will open up in my life again... and I hope for a summer of much letter-writing and blogging.