Live a Colorful Life
Plus, A Black Cat, a Dead Post Office, Noteworthy Reads, Ebay Stats.
Postcard of the Week (POW)
Live a Colorful Life by Jarie Lyn Robbins
Switching things up this week by beginning with an audio clip.
Postcrossing
I hope you all had a Haunting Halloween! I received a Halloween Postcard via Postcrossing and it is so cute.
It was sent from Russia. The sender writes:
Oct. 20th, 2024
Hello JarieLyn!
I also love snail mail, movies or TV shows and listening to music. Beside that I’m into gardening, Video games, history, animals, card games, and more. Today I’m off work, that’s why I decided to write some postcards.
Greetings and Happy Postcrossing, Toni
Once again, I didn’t send any Postcrossings.
I did, however, send my youngest brother a thank you card and letter through the mail, as well as a package to my sister.
A Dead Post Office
What is a dead Post Office? Simply put, it’s a post office that has been discontinued.
Also known as a DPO.
There are many post offices that existed in the early 1900’s that for some reason or other do not exist today.
I really could not find much on this subject at all when I was researching.
The only reason I know about this is because The Postcard Guy mentioned it in his “What Sold” video on YouTube. It’s mentioned at about 7:12.
Apparently, there are people who collect postcards that are postmarked with a post office that no longer exists.
It’s a good idea to do research on the postmark, especially if you are a reseller. It just might bring you a few more dollars than the same postcard posted elsewhere.
I don’t usually research the postmarked towns, but I do sometimes provide that town in my listing.
In the above photo, I decided to look up the town specifically to get the population. In the world of postcards, small towns are often better sellers than larger towns and cities.
I typed Wendling, Oregon in the google search bar. The second sentence in Wikipedia was this. “Wendling's post office operated from 1899 to 1952.”
What I garnered from my research is that this was a logging town that had been plagued by fires and rebuilt a few times.
Eventually, there were no more trees to log. The very last load of timbers went out in 1946.
That was the beginning of the end of Wendling.
Noteworthy Reads
In each issue of this newsletter, I like to highlight stories or websites that I find interesting and share them with you.
These stories are mostly about postcards, letter writing, pen pals, snail mail, art, creativity, and/or writing in general.
If there is a different topic that I think will be interesting to my readers, I will post that here as well.
It’s so heartwarming when people come together to offer help such as in this case. Cajun Airlift pilot organizes letter-writing and supply drive for TN children affected by hurricane Helene
There are a few people here on Substack who have newsletters worth reading on a regular basis.
Postcard Whisperer is one I enjoy very much. Hers is a monthly newsletter and she provides information on postcard shows, highlights other websites, etc.
I also really enjoy Letters of Note by Shaun Usher. His newsletter is about interesting letters. He’s also a published author and has written several books, Letters of Note which can be found on Amazon.
There’s another newsletter on Substack called Anne’s Newsletter. Her theme is Postcards and Cocktails.
Ebay Weekly Stats Oct. 27, 2024 thru Nov. 2, 2024
Postcards Sold: 8 Gross $58.18
Other sales: 2 Gemstones $11.50
Total Weekly Ebay Gross Sales $69.68
Ebay Monthly Stats for October
Gross Sales $273.27
Taxes Paid $14.02
Selling Costs: $99.20
Net $160.05
$160 a month is better than being in the hole like I was when I had my Metaphysical shop. This makes me very happy.
I notice that on the days I don’t list, I don’t make sales. So, consistency is key here, even if I only post 10-20 per day.
I’m going to keep on listing and building my online empire.
Total Listings on eBay as of today: 1598
Wishing you all a beautiful day, and many tiny moments of joy throughout.
XOXO
~JarieLyn~
I did not consider DPO! Interesting to think about a postmark that may no longer be used.