Try this hack to send postcards for free!

Have you heard of the legend that if you write “STS” instead of putting a stamp on a postcard, you can send it to anywhere in the world for free?

“STS” is supposed to be an abbreviation for “Student to Student”, some people argue that it actually stands for “Soldier to Soldier”. Legend has that after WWI/ WWII, to make it easier for poor students around the world to communicate, this postage code was born.

There isn’t much official information about this. The closest thing to something official I could find, is this post on the Study in Prague website.

Here’s a Facebook page where some people have shared their experiences.

From the comments, it seems like it’s most likely going to work if you send from the European Union.

Of course, I had to try it myself. Guess what? It always worked! All my friends received the postcards within 2 months.

Here are the details:

In 2020, sent 4 postcards from Sweden -> Australia and Germany.

In 2021, so far sent 8 postcards from Germany -> Australia, Pakistan, Switzerland, France, Japan and the USA.

My friends have sent from Australia -> Germany.

Of course, using this trick to send postcards doesn’t guarantee them to be sent!

If this postage agreement really exists. We must be able to ask post offices for an official statement about it, right?

Then, I stumbled upon this audio report by SBS Deutsch.

The audio report is in German, so I had a friend translate it for me.

The interviewer asked the German and Australian Post to see whether the “STS” legend is true.

Their response?

There’s no such thing as sending postcards for free by writing “STS”. They think that the reason why it works is that:

One, it’s not worth the effort for the post office/ mailman to chase after such small unpaid postage. So they just send it anyway.

Two, usual mail with insufficient postage will be returned to the sender’s address. In the case of a postcard, it’s not possible.

There you have it. Perhaps the “Student to Student” secret postal service doesn’t exist.

Or does it? 😉

Hope you enjoyed this article! If you decide to give “STS” a try, please let us know in the comments if it worked!