How do you send postcards?
 

Hello!
I'm going to Paris next week just for a few days. I'd love to send a couple of postcarts to my friends when i'm there. What I'm afraid of is that it'll take me long to find a post office. Do you think there's some other way to mail a postcard from Paris? Some online service? Do you often send postcards and is it always easy to do?
Thanks in advance.

You used to be able to buy stamps from many of the places that sell postcards, or from corner kiosks and tabacs. I'm not sure if that's still true, but there are several post offices in each arrondissement of Paris where you can pay your postage in a slot machine (sadly, not with attractive stamps but a simple franking sticker). Or you can always ask when you buy a card where the nearest post office is, or check the local neighbourhood maps at any metro station. You will also see large maps of the local arrondissement at a number of main junctions, which will show local services like post offices.

Don't worry: you'll be able to send cards if you want.

Or you can post your own photos on a site like Flickr and email your friends to look at them.

Why do you think you need a post office to buy a simple stamp from?

It's France you're going to - not some 1930s socialist state. Just ask for stamps from the tabac where you buy the cards. Or any other tabac.

<i>Do you often send postcards and is it always easy to do?</i>

Here's how we <i>do</i> postcards - we buy them, we sit at a cafe and write them, and then we never get around to mailing them and bring them home with us. Sometimes we give them to the intended recipient and sometimes we keep them as souvenirs.

I never send postcards, but I have reason to go to French post offices pretty often and never had a problem finding one. Not sure why you're afraid it will take you a long time to find one - just ask someone or google Post Offices Paris.

well, the US isn't socialist, and it isn't that easy to buy stamps here except from a post office. YOu can buy complete books of stamps at my grocery store, but only for a regular letter within the US, not postal card stamps.

If you can find a tabac that has the ones you need, do that, as it takes a long time often to buy them in post offices, they always seem to have very long lines.

There is no way to mail a postcard without a stamp that I know of. BTW the postage for a postcard is fairly expensive, at least compared to US.

If you prefer to go thru La Poste's website in French, you can buy and print the stamps before you go:

https://www.montimbrenligne.laposte.fr/

But I doubt that it is worth the hassle. Try to get them where you buy the postcards.

I suppose you can look on ebay and see if anyone is selling unused French stamps with the correct postage for International postcards. You can purchase them and bring them with you to Paris for your postcards.

You'll find stamps all over - in tabac's, gift shops, museums - you won't have a problem at all.

And sometimes - you can just leave your postcards w/ the front desk/concierge at your hotel, give them the &euro; for the postage and they will mail them for you.

You can send FREE e-postcards, on which you can customize the photo, on www.pagesjaunes.fr

Why are they making fun of you? You just want to send a post card without alot of trouble.

Take the good advice, disregard the others.

Just ask someone for the closest post office. We've gone to the post office on I'lle St. Louis with great ease, and also mailed cards at he Eiffel Tower.

Maybe some people think it's too much trouble to send cards, but there are many who enjoy receiving them.

Have a great trip!

&quot;well, the US isn't socialist, and it isn't that easy to buy stamps here except from a post office&quot;

... is what grammarians call an oxymoron.

What postal administration, except one still locked in the unionised neo-socialist inanities of the FDR era, would make it difficult for customers to buy stamps?

You don't need a post office. You can buy the stamps when you buy the postcard, or from tabac shop.

However, I remember that there is a post office in the shopping mall at Louvre.

After you write the postcard and put the stamp, no need to look for a postal box. You can give your postcards to the reception of your hotel, and they will send them.

It’s not the postal administration that makes it hard to buy stamps elsewhere. Most stores don’t carry post card stamps because there is so little demand for them. As mentioned before, stores don’t like to fool with individual stamps, so you have a to buy a booklet. It is supply and demand, and convenience of the vendor that dictates what’s available, not the postal service.

I blush to say this, but I pack a booklet of US postcard stamps and pre-printed labels, write the postcards while we're there, stick on a stamp, and put them all in my handbag till we get back to the US, then mail them from the airport. Cheaper and usually quicker.

<i>BTW the postage for a postcard is fairly expensive, at least compared to US.</i>

No more. Airmail postcards from the U.S. to Europe cost $.94.

I sent mine from CDG. There is a post office in Terminal 2A, I believe. You have to be at the airport hours early so there is time to do this.

The gift shops in the larger hotels also sell stamps.

I buy stamps at a tabac, the post office, and sometimes from the hotel's front desk. You pay the same as for a first class letter so sometimes I put them in an envelope for the same price.

<i><font color=blue>&quot;Do you think there's some other way to mail a postcard from Paris? Some online service?&quot;</font></i>

Yes. I believe they call it a digital camera. You get a couple of strangers to take your picture in front of things, download the jpegs to the computer in your hotel lobby or an internet cafe, and send the jpeg as an attachment. Much easier to do than mailing a post card and much more personalized. Try it and have fun!

pagesjaune.fr, as mentioned earlier, has a free online service that &quot;sends&quot; e-postcards.

Just a bit of advice. Don't go to the front desk of a hotel with your postcards, give them money to mail your cards (as they sometimes offer to do), and go about your way. Some clerks will simply pocket your money and tear up your cards and put the bits into the waste basket.

thanks to you all, that was so helpful!
though you might not believe i often have problems doing things that may seem trifles for others. besides i get lost extremely easy. ))
i always buy stamps at the post offices that's why i wasn't even sure if there are some other places that sell them.
the links you've advised won't open (( i know one web-site that allows to mail photos as cards -
hazelmail.com though i'd prefer to send ordinary cards. still, this variant is better than e-mailing photographs.

Well, if would help if I gave you the correct url, it's www.pagesjaunes.fr

In the middle of the home page, you'll see &quot;Plus de Services&quot; and right now the promo is &quot;Pour la St. Valentin&quot; click on &quot;envoyer&quot; and you'll see how you can send cards by courier, in France, and by email.

I just take my post cards to the front desk/concierge at my hotel and tell them I want stamps. They will either stamp them or give me the stamps (for the cost of the stamps, of course), and then they mail them. I have done this in every country I have visited without problem.

sf7307

ha...ha...

That's exactly how I do postcards !!

I thought it was just me !!!

:-)

&quot;Airmail postcards from the U.S. to Europe cost $.94.&quot; - and starting May 11 will be $.98.

http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm

Well, I didn't find it easy to find stamps in Paris at all. NONE of the places I bought cards sold stamps. The Marriott Rive Gauche didn't sell stamps. The store where we bought Metro tickets didn't sell stamps. We did find a regular post office on the Champs, but there was a wait of about 15 minutes. I waited and got stamps and mailed the cards there.
You can mail postcards from the Eifel Tower, but you must pay to go up to the post office there. I don't remember the hours open, but not after 6 PM. Googling is a great idea, but I had no idea I'd need to do that when I started looking for stamps.

elodie - you're having the same trouble i often have - this is an old thread.

the OP has been, come back, and maybe even managed to send some postcards.

Anne, more likely advertising :)

jamikins - I didn't even spot that! How stupid am i?

Definitely advertising (she got shut down on TA). And what a terrible idea, anyway!

Wow another antique thread risen from the dead.

If anyone actually cares, yes I always send postcards. I buy the stamps either where they sell the postcards or just go to a post office. They're not hard to find.

Where are the moderators today? Between this and the person from Ipswitch...

Maybe they're celebrating the Ethiopian New Year!