090909 Postcard Swap

If you went to the post office on September 9 before closing hours, then you certainly would know that you sent them by that same date.

If you know that you are unable to make it to the post office by September 9, then as the swap states, drop them off earlier.

The send by dates remains September 9.

can we write stuff on the post cards?

Of course you can write stuff on the postcards! That's the whole idea of sending a postcard: to send a short message to someone.

Personally, I prefer receiving postcards where the person has written more than just their name, swap name and "hello". I always make sure I include some sort of message on the postcards I send out.

what does "postcards sent naked" means?

As the swap descriptions says,

postcards sent naked (that is without an envelope for the gutter minds.)

Partners are randomly assigned by Swap-Bot admin after the signup date ends, and once I have approved all participants. I, the coordinator for this swap, select who may or may not participate.

SWAP DISCLAIMER

If you are questioning your participation because you see a questionable swapper or two, please send me a message informing me of the situation so I can get to the bottom of it.

However, due to the long sign up period, I will only ban people once we near the deadline date in order to allow some with mishaps time to improve their personal ratings, and Newbies to be rated.

Thank you for your understanding, Your swap coordinator

So if you have a well filled filed out profile, and still get rejectied why??

In response to rplante525, a participant could be banned for being a questionable swapper. This usually means I have been sent warnings by other participants, or the individual has too many 3's or any 1's recently. As the host, I may consider banning anyone whom I believe will not complete the swap, and sometimes a poorly completed profile is the first clue.

If you have any further questions about participating in this swap or suggesting any questionable swappers, please send me a message so that I can look into it.

Remember the swap deadline is not until September 1, so there is A LOT of for swappers to improve or get ratings. I will not seriously consider banning anyone until mid to late August.

Your coordinator : )

If at all possible I would love to receive art, map, print, drawing, girly, etc. type cards instead of building, animail or city view cards - in exchange for a heart! :) Thank you in advance,

My concern is that by September many of those who signed up early may have stopped swapping by then and others will have flaked off. How will you check the hundreds of profiles at the time partners are assigned?? What about the hundred or more who sign up on September 1?

To KarenK: Thank you for your concern. Rest assured, I will be ready to check so many profiles when the time comes.

However, I cannot know a person's complete swapping behavior from only a profile, especially newbies. I'm sure there will be a flaker or two, as I've had flakers on a lot simpler swaps. If anyone knows of any questionable swappers, I appreciate any feedback with this information.

I cannot guarantee 100% sends, but we can all hope that the participants in this swap will send responsibly.

I'm looking forward to this swap since the 080808 was so much fun! I'll be signing up near the ending date. And thanks for responding to my question and hosting this great swap.

I really hope that you look through everyone's profile. I did see a 1.00 rating! I am unsure if you banned that person already or not.....

To ButterflyPrincess, rest assured that I will be looking through profiles periodically to assess questionable swappers. However, please feel free to send me a message if you have any specific ideas regarding particular swappers that you think I should know about.

hi this sounds like lots of fun!! can't wait. how do we get our names for the swap? thanks angie

To ajdag:

Partners will be assigned after the last day to sign up for the swap on September 1. You will receive an email telling you that you can begin swapping after that.

REMINDER TO ALL PARTICIPANTS

Postcards should be sent naked, i.e. NO ENVELOPES, please.

Thanks for letting us give people lower ratings if the postcards get sent out late! Part of the fun is getting the postmark!!!! I got annoyed the one time someone gave me a lower rating because something arrived late; for this swap, people need to send on THAT DAY to get a full and FABULOUS five!

Again, thanks for authorizing us to give lesser marks for late-sends. I can do regular postcard swaps the rest of the year :0)

I have to put this on a watch for now as i hope to be on a short hoilday interstate with my kids around this time but i love postcards that peolpe have written on and its more personal and i would never re-send a postcard i have recived and also can i please request that postcards sent to me come from the sendeds counrty, state or town as i have been in a few postcards swaps and was disaponted when someone sent me a dull re-used postcard from somewhere the have or hope to visit. will do my best to join.

Note from the coordinator

You may be dropped from this swap if you do not have any recent activity (more than 1 month) on your profile. i.e. you signed up for the swap in March, and your profile indicates that was also the last time that you signed on to Swap-Bot.

I loved this swap last year, had some wonderful postcards, I'll sign up nearer the date, great swap.

i'm new...how do i choose who to send cards to?

Savhilt,

After the sign up date has passed, September 1st, the host will assign partners, you can then click and see who you send to.

Was looking at the calendar today and realized how close we're getting to The Time! (When I signed up it seemed like such a long ways off - and now, here we almost are!) I was in the 080808 swap and it was great fun ... Wanted to say thanks to our host onlyincambodia for the effort put into sifting through profiles and keeping up with the questions here - quite a task and you're doing a bang-up job! See y'all on 090909! :D

Thank you for the kind words gem!

Im so excited- this is my very first swap! so maybe someone could answer my question- how will i know who to send my postcards too?

To ryanne18725 when the swap deadline ends, partners will be assigned. you will receive an email saying that you can check your partners and who to send the postcards to. That will be at the top right of the swap page, AFTER partners are assigned.

This is definitely on my watch list until closer to the date. I just want to be sure that the point of the swap is to have a POSTMARK of 090909? So everyone plans to mail out their PCs that day? If they mailed them early, it would defeat the purpose just as it would if they were late, right? I just want to make sure I understand the swap. Thanks!

To MishyBelle: Yes, the point of the swap is to mail the postcards on the date. However, sometimes there are practical reasons why that can't happen. If someone cannot mail on the assigned date, then they MUST inform their partners ahead of time.

If you need to drop out of the swap, please do so at the swap home page by selecting "Drop from swap". Thank you.

Hi,I would like to sign-up but I am new here on swap bot.I created an account,what else should I do?

i am very excited to become part of this swap!! i am newbie but love trading postcards!!! cant wait!

I was checking at my local P.O to see if cards posted on the 090909 will def be stamped with that date, to be told there is no guarantee.So what does one do then.I will make sure mine is there before lunchtime,but i think it has to do with when it is sent from there to the main office for sorting and sending.I do worry a lot eh.

Jinty if you take them inside and ask for the postal clerk to hand cancel each one they will have a postmark of that day. Tell them it is for a special event because of the date. It doesn't mean they'll necessarily be posted that day if they need to go to a different place for sorting or whatever but they will have the postmark.

@onlyincambodia - How many countries are represented in this swap - any count taken, estimate? Just very curious!

@bluehighways Oh, too many to count! That would take so much time. However, there are many, many countries I can assure you.

Your coordinator

Hi, are there any guidelines on what WE write on the P/C, or it doesn't matter?

You are doing a BANG UP job by the way!

Do the 9 postcards all have to be different?

Some answers to questions:

@crazypurplelady generally it is nice to write a note about the postcard or about yourself. Just writing your name and "hello" is lazy.

REMEMBER to WRITE THE NAME OF THE SWAP on the postcard.

@JesicaMessica No, all 9 postcards do not have to be different. They are going to 9 different people, so ideally, no one will see each other's postcards.

Welcome newbies!

I wanted to join this swap, but my budget won't allow for the possibility of 9 international partners, so I created a USA ONLY version here The time is short, but there's still time to join!

After reading through the previous comments I have to say the most important part of this swap to me is having the postcards dated 090909, it doesn't make any sense to mail on a different date - that would just seem to be a regular postcard swap, which is fun too but why join this 090909 swap if you can't mail it on the special day? Maybe wait for another postcard swap where the date doesn't matter.

@beadladystamps Swap-bot automatically selects partners once the coordinator bans whomever she sees fit, so the coordinator has no control over where you will be sending to.

Pretty sure I got in!!! I'm so excited for this to be my first swap! Happy Birthday to Satinka and julesbg79 on 090909, how fun to have a swap on your special day!

I signed up for this swap back in DEC 08 and had no idea at the time that I wouldn't be able to mail on 09/09 exactly. My plan was to do just that but unfortunately I have to mail early:( I hope none of my partners are disappointed but I handmade art postcards so alot of time and effort went into them and I just didn't want to drop out. I think this is a great swap just in the sheer number of participants and I hope everyone gets all their cards. I will be PMing my partners to let them know I sent early but from some of the posts here I hope that I don't get lower ratings because of EARLY sends:( The swap guidelines do allow early sends. I apologize ahead of time if any of my partners are disappointed but hopefully my card will make up for it:) Please rate when you get the cards so senders know they made it safe and sound. Thanks

Hi, I wanted to do this swap for my Grandson's 7th Birthday on 09/09/09. If I am your swap partner, please address the card to AJ Benevengo. Thanks so much for helping to make this 'special' Birthday special!!!

hello :)

Im in the middle of making my postcards, and im fine with sending them naked but i had a thought earlier, im in sending them abroad (which 8 out of the 9 i am) then isnt a big 'air mail' label going to be stuck to them? I just dont want any of the postcard or message on the back ruined?

Mine are ready to go! Just waiting the big day comes!!!

-

Mine are ready too! I'm so excited!!!

Mine are ready to send. I will take them in on my lunch hour on 9/9/9 to have them hand stamped.

My post cards will go out on 9/9/09 but I marked them as sent a day earlier- just because I'll be without internet ... but they'll be on time :)

Almost written up and ready to go. Will be in the work post tomorrow :)

I am getting my postcards addressed right now and will be taking them to the post office tomorrow. This is a great swap!

My handmade cards are ready, stamped, addressed, and going out tomorrow. I added an extra little twist to comemmorate the subject of the swap, hope my recipients will like it! Fun fun, can't wait for 10/10/10 !!

/screammmmm/ LOL . I'm so very very EXCITING > /// /// < cuz it's my FIRST time here on SWAP-BOT T[]Tv . nutetez * THAILAND

my msg missed!! -------> so , please ADVISE if i was wrong on sum'thing T^T THX. for a good experience for me to open my world > [] <

THANK YOU !!

Mine are ready to go...I'll be taking them to the post tomorrow morning before work after I drop off the kids. This is a FUN swap!

Do you guys know how long it takes to get your PC?-

I never sent one to another country ^^ im very excited!

Hope my partners like it!

Oh yes! i sent out already!

@kazaguruma You just never know how long it may take a postcard to arrive. Sometimes they go fast, arriving in days, but then it can take weeks or even months.

I'm so excited! Can't wait to go to the PO tomorrow. I'm going to be sure to have mine hand cancelled so that I see them get the 09-09-09 postmark! :D

mine are sent because today is the 9-9-09 here in Australia!! hand stamped too!

I'm clicking sent, however my postcards went in the mail drop that is checked in the morning and won't be cancelled till 9/9/09!

I sent my cards today (9/9 in australia) but in my rush (my son has a broken ankle) I think I forgot to put my name on them. They all have coloured number 9's on them and quotes with the number 9 in them. Sorry for being forgetful!

My post cards are written an addressed. I'll be bringing them to the post office, straight to the desk, tomorrow morning before work. =)

Cards are written and ready to be mailed - I'm walking to the PO in a while.

They're waiting in the door right now for Mr Postman!

Already sent it @ 12.00pm , i'm so excited

Thx. for open my world > // <

I'm going to the P.O. about 4pm today. I have to work and then the doctor, then the P.O.!! Can't wait!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090908/sc_livescience/why090909issospecial

I'll see ya at to post office! ;)

i just got back from the post office and i can't wait to see what comes. i hope my 9 enjoy their cards

I just came back from the post office & my cards are hand cancelled & on their way around the world!!!

Me too, all done! 9 hand-cancelled postcards are off to their new homes ~ enjoy!

...postcards are dropped off at the post office...when I asked the clerk to please hand cancel them she was a bit upset and said she'd work on it or have "someone in the back" do it. I told her it was important that they had today's date and asked her to show me what one would look like. she did so, but it was as if I had asked her to give me free postage or something. :(

Sent out today with the postmark 09/09/09. I watched her stamp it... She was happy to do it. Guess that's the good thing about dealing with a small post office. HA HA

Post cards are at the post office!! =D Unfortunately... the grumpy guy at my small post office was working today. I swear... get a different job, guy! hahaha. I hesitantly asked him if he could maybe post it with today's date for me with a smile and a girlish blink blink, but I got a glare (that's kind of the permanent look on his face anyways haha) and he said he'll see what he could do. I did it earlier today, so I'm fairly certain it'll have today's date even if I had dropped them in the post office box on the street before pickup time. =) But they're at the post office! Hope my swappers enjoy!! =D They're on their way!!

;-; im a little bit sad cause i went to the post office and they dont have there the ink stamp with the date ;-; so theyve put commun stamps all around the PC's but ive asked to someone find a ink stamp ;-; so im hoping they`ll find on time ;-;

happy 09.09.09 for you guys <3

I sent mine out this afternoon and I watched the clerk hand stamp them all. I asked if I could see the postmark and he looked at me like I was crazy.

I said today is 09/09/09 and the post cards were special ones going out to extra special people and they needed to be dated on this significant date. He didn't even realize the date was unique.

You would think the PO would advertise things like this to generate more business so they could stop raising the postal rates.

The clerk even looked at me funny when I specifically asked for the correct amount of stamp to send my 3 International ones. He still had look each country up to make sure I was right. Guess I should work there. lol

I arrive to the post office at noon and i ask to the clerk if the postcards would be hand canceled today and he say ''maybe tomorrow''. But i tell him about the swap and he did it infront of me!! He was really nice!! Yay! :D

All postcards in the mail, yeaaaa

i asked one of the usual people i work with to hand cancel mine, she said ok, i said thank you, she said you're welcome and then sat them on the counter- am guessing that didnt happen and they went to the regional clearing house place- i wasn't happy

HAPPY 09-09-09 everyone!!!

Just to let the people I sent postcards to - I sent them today - 090909. I am in the state of Washington and it is 9:00 pm here - I just got on the computer and entered that I sent them and it shows on the participants list that I did it on the 10th - not true!!!

Mine were postmarked at 4:00 pm PST in California!!

i've sent the card on date 090909 with special cancellation of viareggio postoffice

I made it to the post office on 09/09/09 and the postal clerk was nice to hand stamp them for me...Yeaa!!

I forgot to click the link yesterday, but I really sent them yesterday on 090909! I'm sorry!

Me too! I took them to the post office and went off on errands. Just now realized I hadn't clicked on sent. They were sent on 9/09/09! (Besides that, even when it's still today here, it seems it's tomorrow on Swap-bot!) TIme traveling I guess!

I did the same thing! Mine went out at noon cst and I watched her stamp them so they should be good to go!!

sent mine yesterday after work.

As did I...just forgot to log it. ^_^;

me, too! They have the 9-9-09 postmark, but no computer was available for me to mark sent until today.

forgot to post that they were sent yesterday. postal clerk made sure cancelled stamp with date left a clear mark

I just wanted to say, that i sent it on 09/09/09. I just didn't have the internet to log in : )

same as others, sent mine on time 09-09-09.

by the way, how do the people rate you if they don't know who they are getting their cards from? i only signed with my first name.

I just wanted to mention I forgot to mark as being sent, but mine were sent on the 9th like they were suppose to be! :)

@julezbg79 ...usually in ANY swap you need to put your user ID on/with the item. I always sign my postcards with "Sandra/Kugusch". As it is, you porobably be best off to contact all the people you sent to to let them know, because otherwise the only way they can rate you is by matter of elimination, but if they get more than one that doesn't have an ID on it then there's another problem again. Good luck!

Grr, I hate being a customer in germany, almost all clerks of all sorts are rude as hell!
I took my cards in on the 8th to make sure everything was ok with my plan.
On the 9th I took 'em in to mail. I asked for an extra postmark in a certain spot, and she just jammed 'em on there....crooked and off centered. Is it THAT hard for a one time special request, to put a nice stamp on something?
Then she told me I have to take them with me again and drop them in a mailbox because she doesn't have time to handcancel all those stamps.
And when I had the audacity to ask to buy some 25 cent stamps ( a postcard sent within germany costs 45 cents) she barks at me "What do you want THAT for". Well it's none of your damned business what I want it for! If I'd been more on my toes I'd have told her I need it to wipe my BUTT. Ugh, I hate rude people!

So....cards are out, but the postmark is NOT the way I wanted it. Sorry, folks, I tried!

I am all anxious about this swap. Some of the cards I sent out were so cool, I just wish I could follow them to make sure they get to their homes!

Well, I'm an idiot. I mailed mine out on 090909 and last night I woke up at 2 a.m. realizing that the postman put the SAME stamps on all 9. I handed them to him, told him they needed postage and away he went. I didn't even realize it until, seriously, the middle of last night.

I hope they still get there and I hope they're not with postage due. I'm so sorry.

I didn't realize that I should leave a comment that I sent mine. They did go out on 9/9/09 and the postal clerk stamped them right at the counter. She was very nice about it.

WoW! I just got 7 out of the 9 cards in today's mail, how awesome is that? All are postmarked 090909, as well :) Thanks so much - Robin, Tessa, Julie, Kat, Jen, Vicki and Rachel! From beautiful art & handmade cards to interesting tourist cards (haha the alligator defense tips - perfect!) you all chose wonderfully for me and I appreciate the personalized notes :)

I got 5 today! Woo hoo!

I got three so far! 2 of the 3 with 09/09/09 postmarks the other is just a mark cancelling the stamps...bummer but its still a cool post card and beyond the person's control. If you got a post card from me can you please let me know that they did have the 09/09/09 post mark on them. I've been worried.

Forgot to leave a message here as well. My post office clerk was very nice when asked to her make sure they had that day's postmark on it.

It's been great to come home from work every day and see a new batch of postcards. One came on the 10th and three came yesterday.

gem - you're welcome! I was hoping you'd like it. :)

Well I am starting toget mine and if you just drop them in the slot, they use the machine. I wanted to give everyone who actually sent on 9-9-9 a heart, but many have dates that are unreadable. When the date is IMPORTANT, you really need to go inside the post office and have them handcancel with their stamper which leaves a dark, vibrant date on it. I troubled to make certain all mine with important dates (9-9, 9-11..) got handcanceled. I think about 4 of mine I can see the 9/9 on, though only one postcard is"clearly" marked.

Sorry to my partners I just realized I didn't push sent but they did get out on the 9th. The PO usually does a good job on the postmark but I noticed on the one I sent to myself that you can hardly read it. Again sorry.

Mine were sent out on the 9th but sadly, even though I was told they were ok, 3 were sent back for more postage :-( I'll resend, but they won't have the postmark, sorry! However, they ARE cool 'cause it's a photograph of "my" area in the fall :-)

@Moxsapphir
If you read my post above you'll see that even going INTO the PO doesn't necessarily help if you are speaking to an idiot LOL.
I just got my first two cards today, unfortunately the one is pretty much unreadable, too. One card I probably won't get (still not checked as sent), so that leaves 6 more....
Also, interesting "theory" on giving hearts LOL. I kind of go by the message...if someone took some time picking a card that matches my likes, or writes a nice long message, I give a heart.

I aimed for hearts by handmaking all my cards...very simple white base with inked edges. The front is all about the swap: NINE postage stamps total the amount of postage due (that's hard to do when they're not intl! LOL), I drew a circle with a zentangle-sort of embellishment to get a special, seperate postmark in it, and stamped the "09-09-09" in lg. red numbers in the bottom corner. Unfortunately I guess that's still not enough, out of two ratings I've gotten so far I only earned one heart (big pout)

@Marshmallow
I sent one to myself, too LOL. Only mine is kinda "boring". The intl. postage is 1 Euro and since I wanted to use NINE postage stamps on each card, I managed to be able to use 4 different designs/denominations out of the same series to come up with the correct total. For my own card it's only 45 cents postage and the smallest stamp they sell is 5 cent, so I have 9 identical stamps on my own card.

I mailed mine on the 9th inside the PO. I didn't have the PO hand cancel the cards as I was on vacation at the time and had my cards with me. So even though my address is in Charleston SC the place they were mailed from was Myrtle Beach SC

I've gotten all 9 postcards already! This is by far the smoothest gigantic swap I've ever participated in. Way to go, people! ^_^ <3

I've received 6 so far! Two have been identical, how unusual is that?!

I mailed one to myself, too. ;)

Last 2 cards came Monday, thank you Amanda and Jenny :) Seven of the 9 cards were PM'd 090909. Thanks for a fun swap, all! See ya on 101010!

I sent all mine out on 9-9-9 and have received all but 1. How do I find out who owes me the last postcard? Carol

Never mind, I figured it out when I rated my partners, lol.

Am I supposed to rate a 3 if a card is stamped after 9/9/9 ??

I got all my cards, thank you.

I just got over to my PO box today and received all nine postcards! It was really fun to read them all and look at the nice photos. I especially loved the international ones, but was also disappointed like others that the post office does not always cancel with the date. Mine may have ended up the same way even though I took them into the PO to mail on 9-9-9. I'm concerned because I don't have one rating for myself and I'm not sure why??

I'd almost receive it ALL [juz 1 left] !!! ..................... & I also RATE to all of them , THX !! .........................When i'd received it , it's makes me SO HAPPY & EXCITED..........................BTW , Thank to U @onlyincambodia to OPEN my WORLD!!!

I've received all of my postcards except one. This is the first swap I signed up for and very excited to be receiving postcards almost every day! Sorry I didn't find out about this site earlier.

I have received all nine of my postcards! I am really pleased and impressed. What a great swap! Thanks to everyone for participating!

I'm only missing two now, one's from a GUY (rare "subjects" here on SB LOL), the other probably will never come...10 days past the date, they haven't sent yet. Haven't even logged in in two weeks. That would make it my first flaker encounter. Ick! I knew it would happen eventually, but was hoping that it would still be a long time.

just checked....10 days past the date, 21 not marked sent.
That's 5%. Is that about the average, high or low??
What's your all's experience?

I received all 9 postcards. All were very nice and some were very cool. I sent out all of mine together but I've only gotten feedback on 6 of them. If you were supposed to receive a pc from me but haven't yet please let me know. If you did get one from me but haven't done the rating/feedback I would appreciate it if you would take care of that. Thanks.

I got all 9, my last ones came from out of the U.S. yesterday, but dated 9/9/9. Thanks everyone. I'm still missing a few of my "receives."

Got all of my 9 postcards and all but one seem to have been mailed on the 9th (some of the postmakers aren't clear). I've only received four ratings in return so I'll have to see if the recipients have actually flaked!

I have received all my cards. I am a little sad that one was sent in as envelope. Still have to be rated for a few.

I have received five postcards and have been rated for seven, so not too bad I guess. Hopefully the other four will come along soon. Thanks everyone

I've received 8 so far, but the 9th is international and others have received their postcards so I'm pretty sure it's not a flake. Am content to wait a bit more to see if it comes.

I've only received 5 ratings though, so I hope the rest of my partners got their cards and have just forgotten to rate!

I only received 7 postcards, the other 2 probably haven't even been sent :-(

I sent all mine.

OzarkGypsy flaked on me! :( such an easy swap, such a shame

I still need to be rated on 3 cards. All were sent out at the same time from the same post office and all but one went to the USA, so they should be there by now :/

PLEASE CONTACT ME (the coordinator) if you HAVE NOT RECEIVED any postcards for this swap.

I will organize an angel for you so that you can receive a replacement.

I only received 7 postcards as well! : (

I'd like to thank Aimee (darzy30) for angeling the swap for Jolene501. I tried to find her name in the LONG list of participants to send her a message of thanks, but was unable to find it. Aimee, thanks a bunch and the dog is adorable :)