POSTCARD N.105 - NETHERLANDS

Postcard sent on the 9th June, received on the 15th June 2023

Postcard image: Stamps and Postcrossing 
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It has been a while since I posted a Postcrossing postcard here on my blog. This is mostly due to the fact that I haven't sent that many lately and also to some of the few I have sent having not reached the destination or, most likely, having not been registered by the recipients, something which is rather unpleasant for its consequences...

Luckily, some days ago I received a notification from a postcrosser that one of my postcards had been registered, and that meant I was on the circuit again, so all it took was to wait some days for Mr. Postman to drop a postcard into my letterbox.

So thanks a lot Becky, it felt good to get a postcard again!

Postcrossing needs no introduction amongst people who like to swap postcards and stamp fans. It is a simple yet safe and user friendly postcard swapping platform, and more that that, it is also a meeting place for postcard swappers and collectors, through the forum and blog associated with it.

Created in 2005 by fellow countryman Paulo Magalhães, the platform has today 804,000 + registered users and according to Wikipedia "by January 2023, 70 million registered postcards had been exchanged", what is a clear indicator of the volume of traffic generated ( and of its economic impact).

The impact of the platform is so effective that several postal services have already issued Postcrossing themed stamps. The Portuguese CTT, though,  have not yet contemplated  Postcrossing on their issue programme, what is strange, considering it all started here.... 

The stamp is part of a self-adhesive 5 stamp tariff 1 international (up to 20 g) booklet issued on 03JAN2014 themed on Dutch Icons. Other icons featured, besides the tulip, are windmills, bicycles, Dutch houses and milk cows. The milk cow stamp can be seen here.