My dissatisfaction with Postals

Recently, I dropped from four Postal Trackers, which I had signed up for months ago. In the messages I sent to all participants, I merely said I found my interest waning ad felt like I would become a black hole in the future. On this blog I'd like to detail why.

One of the things I LOVE about letterboxing is the stamps. It's amazing to me that true works of art could be hidden just feet off the trail that hundreds of people pass daily. I feel like I'm in on a secret. One of the things that attracted me to postals is that I felt since people would run less of a risk of their carving being lost, they would carve better stamps.While I have found the carvings are generally better (and in some cases amazing) they have lost a little value to me. I admit, I'm becoming sort of a stamp snob. Part of the joys of boxing in PA is that there are SO MANY great carvers around, you get great stamps a LOT. Just seeing their carves have made mine better.

But that's the thing. These amazing artists take JOY out of placing their art in the woods, no matter what fate brings. They don't reserve their shitty carvings for the woods. They put their BEST carvings out there to be found. Just shipping them around to 8-12 people then putting them on the shelf seems weird to me. I appreciate them a lot more when there's trees around.

Secondly, I get overwhelmingly stressed if I do not send the thing out in exactly three days. I am by nature, not a punctual person. I have little free time, and family and work interfere. I have let some of my postals go for a week or more. Every new one that arrived made me more stressed. Instead of being excited about receiving a new postal, I was having the opposite reaction. This was robbing me of the happiness I should feel about receiving someone's art. I may have signed up for too many rings being relatively new to postals, but I definitely got burned out quick. Seeing reports on AQ of boxers receiving TWELVE packages at once filled me with dread.

Finally, the postals were actually taking up time that I wanted to use for actual letterboxing pursuits, like solving mysteries, planning outings, poring over maps, preparing boxes. It would be a sad day indeed when it started taking over actually getting on the trails.

This is not meant to disparage postal letterboxing or anyone that enjoys it. I may even sign up for a postal in the future if the theme particularly suits my fancy (like my Punk Rock Ring). But it will be only one at a time.If you have never done postals and feel the urge, by all means sign up. Celtic Quinn hosts a newbie Ring and many ringleaders are very helpful to new entrants. But be wary. Take your time to learn about it, sign up for just one ring until you see if you like it. There are some GREAT postal creators out there, and you'll see and stamp into some great stuff. Just remember the experiences I have had and if you start to feel the way I do, it will probably get worse.

I didn't want postals to rob me of the joy of postal letterboxes. Does that make sense?

And for the forseeable future, all of my carves except for sig stamps and PT's are destined for the woods.