11-07-2025
Bonn - Summer vacation and travel = postcard time: The opinion research institute Forsa, on behalf of Deutsche Post, has found in a recent representative survey that 65 percent of the surveyed German citizens particularly enjoy receiving a traditional postcard as a vacation greeting. Three-quarters of respondents especially appreciate that someone thought of them and made an effort. Sixty-nine percent find postcards more personal than digital greetings. Nearly two-thirds value postcards most for the fact that they can be kept and, for example, pinned to the refrigerator. Following postcards in the Forsa ranking, with 61 percent, are WhatsApp and similar services. Thirty-seven percent enjoy phone calls, 18 percent appreciate greetings via social networks, and 16 percent prefer emails. Women are even more likely than men to be pleased by a postcard from vacation. In 2024, Deutsche Post transported a total of around 96 million postcards-both within Germany and to and from abroad. This volume is approximately on par with the previous year's levels.
Benjamin Rasch, Head of Product Management and Marketing at Deutsche Post, says: "Vacation and postcards go hand in hand. The current Forsa survey clearly shows this. It is further evidence that letters and postcards are still widely used despite advancing digitalization, especially when it comes to personal communication. We are very pleased that many citizens continue to send postcards from their vacations and are delighted when one arrives in their mailbox. There is a difference between receiving a fleeting greeting via messenger and a postcard that has traveled a long way and can be pinned up as a lasting memory."
The top countries in postcard import and export
Traditionally, most postcards are written during vacation time. In 2024, the majority of postcards from abroad came from Austria, followed by Italy, Spain, France, and Switzerland. Regarding shipments from Germany to other countries, most postcards were sent to the USA, followed by Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
From a pricing perspective, sending a postcard in Germany is still inexpensive compared to international standards. At the beginning of the year, Deutsche Post raised the postage for domestic shipments to 95 cents and for international shipments to EUR1.25. In doing so, they standardized the prices for standard letters and postcards, as is already the case in most European countries. A look abroad shows that postage in many comparable European countries is more expensive: For example, sending a postcard abroad from Italy costs EUR1.35, from Spain EUR1.85, and from France EUR2.10.
Postcrossing: The world's largest postcard community celebrates 20 years
Postcards connect people worldwide. This is evident from the successful free internet platform www.postcrossing.com, which allows users to receive and send postcards globally. It is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. There are now over 800,000 "Postcrossers" in 209 countries, with around 65,000 members in Germany alone. This makes Germany one of the top five countries with the most "Postcrossers," following Russia, Taiwan, the USA, and China. The platform was launched in 2005, and since then, over 82 million international postcards have been sent through it. Participation is very simple: To write a card, one registers on postcrossing.com and is randomly assigned the address of another registered member. The sent card includes an identification code, which is confirmed by the recipient upon arrival. This way, participants can also receive cards from other members.
On July 12 and 13, 2025, Postcrossing will celebrate its anniversary with the first international postcard fair at the Museum for Communication in Berlin. Postcrossers from around the world will attend and create a diverse program together. To mark the 20th anniversary of the platform, Deutsche Post will issue a special stamp.
As part of the Forsa survey, 1,003 individuals aged 18 and older were asked between June 26 and June 30, 2025, how they send vacation greetings, which types of vacation greetings they appreciate the most, and what they value most about postcards compared to digital vacation greetings.
Source: DHL Group