POSTCARDS ARE STILL APPRECIATED

Before I left on my trip to Europe to visit my daughter, I read an article in “The Oregonian” by Shawn Donley. The title was “Upstage email, send a postcard”. He said, “A postcard, especially one that didn’t have to be shared was a big deal and made us each feel special”.

The article struck a chord with me. My daughter has always been good at sending me a postcard when she is on her journeys. This article reminded me how much a postcard from her brought a smile to my face when I opened my mailbox. I would read her note, and then look at the picture for I knew she had a reason for sending that particular card to me.

On a recent trip to Portugal, I decided to send some special people a postcard. First, there was the purchase of the “right” card to reflect an accurate picture of my journey. Then there was the matter of finding the correct postage. Often the store where you buy the postcard has postage in the drawer. You have to ask if they have postage available for it is never advertised.

Okay now you have the card with the stamp. Now where do you mail it? Not as easy as one might think. Each country has a different color for its mailboxes and they are not in what we would consider logical locations. In Portugal, I was told go by the butcher shop on the corner, turn right and the mailbox is there on the side of the building.

I was home for week and I got an email thanking me for the postcard. When I stopped in to deliver a special gift to a friend, she said with a smile “Thank you for the postcard”. No question the sending of postcards is becoming rare since you can email people from any place in the world. Yet, this little experiment proved to me Shawn was right….postcards do make one feel special.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION TIP:

When you are writing on your blog, write it in Word first. Then cut and paste it into your blog format. You will be very glad you did if you have ever experienced writing something for twenty minutes then losing it at the last minute.