Postal love

I've always loved receiving mail. As a child I had a subscription to Wee Wisdom magazine from one of my Grandparents which arrived regularly and various pen pals (one in Australia who rode a motorcycle: I thought she was very glamorous. One in Tonga whose letters always had the most interesting stamps on them and one very special one I've written about before).

More recently there have been more grown up magazines I have subscriptions to, swap parcels and various online purchases. In amongst this, there's the occasional bill I still receive in hard copy. Opening the door to my Post Office box is something I always look forward to.

This past week I've been completely overwhelmed by the contents of my mail. On Thursday there was a "just because" package of goodies from Call of the Small. On Monday there was a care parcel from my cousin in New Zealand covering birthday and Christmas (even though I told her neither were necessary). I was feeling quite overwhelmed and spoilt.

And then there was this morning's mail. Which included a book I won in an Extra Curricular magazine giveaway and a completely unexpected gift from M1K1. Plus an Amazon marketplace order I'd made.

(Oh yeah, there may have been a couple of Book Depository and Amazon Marketplace orders arrive recently too... *ahem*)

Speaking of postal love, I've been contemplating the idea of hosting a modern miniature swap for a while now. And have had various conversations with different people about the best way to approach it.

At first I was just going to do a Swap-Bot "sign up and send items worth $X to the partner you've been assigned" but then a friend suggested more of a curated swap where each participant is part of a pod (of maybe 4 others), pay an amount to cover postage and packing then provide five items which are sent to a central point (eg: here) to be repackaged and sent out to everyone in that pod. One of the great things about swapping this way is if there's a flaker, the others still receive something.

By using the pod concept we can also keep the number of items each person makes manageable. Obviously, when a new pod is announced, people can sign up to a second (or third!) swap pod.

Before I do anything, though, I'd like to know if there's interest in the concept and which version you'd prefer...