what the...? a beginner's guide to swapping.

As at 11th August 2005, I have stacks of lyrix and label envies that I need to send overseas as they've been in Australia long enough. Please email me if you would like me to send you sone at no cost to you, I send by weight overseas, and am willing to send 50 - 100 gram envelopes, just tell me what you'd like :). The offer below still stands, although I don't have much left.

At the moment (11 March 2005) I am not looking for any more pals or swappers as I have a severe lack of spare time to do swapping. I do however have excess fbs which I would like to send overseas (outside Australia). If you would like me to send you some, please email me :)

What the? I hear some of you asking. Yes, swapping. I find it difficult to explain to those of you who aren't in the know, but I'll give it a try and see how I go! From what I can gather, penpals started swapping small hand made booklets called 'friendship books', or most commonly fbs, as a way of finding other penpals (this was before the Internet!). Each fb is made for someone and by someone (this can be the same person!), and each person who receives the fb writes their address and sometimes other details such as their birthdate, what they are interested in and details about what kind of penpal they'd like, and where they'd like the penpal to be from. Sometimes people put ads in as well (which I find rather annoying!!). Once the fb is full, (in theory, although it doesn't always happen in practice!) the last person to add their address returns it to the person it was made for.

It's a very convenient way to reach lots of people - trust me! I have had lots of people with similar interests write to me from all over the world without much effort from me at all!

Well, it might sound strange to those of you who aren't into writing letters, but it sounds pretty good to us penpallers!

As fbs grew in popularity, mutations suddenly appeared in the form of decos, lyrix and slams.

Decos are booklets like fbs but the difference is that each entrant takes a whole page and decorates it and then adds their address. They can also be themed, meaning that you have to decorate your page based on the theme, for example fairies or animals. Decos can range from the very sloppy, hurried versions to the incredibly elaborate works of art - it just depends on how creative the person is, how much spare time they have, and how many supplies they have at hand. Again, once the last page has been decorated, the deco is sent home. Decos are my favourites :)

Lyrix involve taking a whole page and writing some (or all if they fit) of the lyrics to whatever song you'd like. Very popular amongst music buffs!

Slams are a kind of questionnaire type thing where each person puts their address on the 'sign in' page(s). A question is written on each page, and each entrant answers it. Slams are considered full if either their sign in page(s) is full, or one or more of the question pages are full. There are different types of slams, from the small short ones to the 'sign if' ones (sign your name on a page if the comment written is relevant to you), to the massive book slams which are made from exercise books and can take a long time to fill in. The book ones are my faves :). It's also pretty awesome to get one of them returned to you!

Deco Lyrix are (shock horror!) a combination of decos and lyrix. So, you decorate a page and then add lyrics to it! These usually take a long time to do and involve a hell of a lot of work. They're usually made from exercise books and each entrant is asked to decorate a minimum of 3 - 5 pages. I also love doing these but they seem to be out of favour in Oz at the moment, probably because everyone went so insane over them to start with and have now burnt themselves out. Hopefully they'll be resurrected because they're a lot of fun, very creative and look absolutely awesome!

If you'd like to see examples of any of the above, please take a look at my gallery of all of my fave decos, deco lyrix and slam covers

Sound interesting? Want swappers? Join some online groups (Yahoo is pretty good) to get yourself started - introduce yourself and let everyone else know that you're new to all this. We all know what it's like to be a newbie and will be more than happy to help you get started.

Work out how much spare time you will have to do your swapping, and also how much money you can afford on postage. This will affect how many swappers you have and how much you swap with them. There's nothing worse than having too much mail to reply to and not enough time to get it all done - trust me!

When you get something that has one more spot left in it, finish it off and send it home! I know that this can be expensive if you don't have a lot of money for postage and you have to send it overseas, but it's Karma - send stuff home and stuff will be sent home to you - trust me! Every time I send a batch of stuff home, I get double the amount sent home to me about 2 weeks later! When there's nothing to return home, then I get nothing returned home!

A courteous way of doing things is if you have something with one spot left, pass it onto someone who lives in the same, or a nearby country (eg - send an fb for someone in Austria to someone in Germany). This saves postage, and also makes your swappers happy! Also make sure that you don't send too many almost full things to someone in the same swap. There's nothing worse than getting an envelope full of stuff that needs to be sent to the US or Europe (for me, anyway!).

If you're a major collector (like me!) and you're looking for something, write it down next to your address, and also if you're looking for traders or if you're willing to buy. For example, I'd write that I collect stamps, postcards, Care Bears and My Little Ponies. On the flip side, if you have something that you want to sell, then mention that too!

Address labels are extremely useful when you've got a lot of stuff to sign, and also for when you get sick of seeing your own handwriting! They're also great for putting on the back of letters. There are lots of funky labels out there that you can buy from companies or other swappers who make and sell them, or you can make your own. So far I have made my own although now that I'm working I can afford to buy them from fellow swappers. Be creative - you can use pics of your fave celebrities or things that you like/collect or even your pets!

Be aware that different people like to swap in different amounts! If someone says that they're a bulk swapper only, it's best to start small and not swap with them until you get the hang of it. I'm not sure what happens overseas, but the best invention from Australia Post is the prepaid 3kg satchel. It costs $8.10 (for now!) and you can fill it up with stuff and post it anywhere in Australia! Normally postage could cost up to double that amount! But don't rush into this - I have been swapping for 5 years and have only been swapping 3kg satchels for about 2/1/2 years.

When you're starting out, look through the addresses in your swaps for anyone who is offering to give away their excess swaps. Some people make and trade a great deal of stuff and always have leftovers which they are willing to pass onto someone else. Also, you can offer to make things for the people you swap with (and yourself!) to help you get started.

Make use of ICR's! People will write ICR if they know the person the item has been made for, and are willing to return it when full. Very useful if you know someone who can return something so that you don't have to! It works this way - I get a deco that's made for Jane and it only has one spot left. I have a look through and notice that Sally has decorated a page and has written ICR. I know Sally, but I don't know Jane, so what I can do is finish my page, send the deco to Sally who will then return it to Jane. Pretty cool hey? This is also useful for when people move around a lot. If you send something home and the person has moved, then you can send it to someone who wrote ICR who will then send it to the person's new address. Sounds a bit confusing till you actually make use of it :)

Unfortunately there are some problems in the swapping world. I have been fortunate in that I haven't had any major problems in the 5 years that I have been involved, although I have heard stories.

Be aware that some people do pass on fbs to people in jail. If you do not wish to write to someone in jail, then make sure that you write "no prisoners" next to your address. If you do get an unwanted letter from a prisoner, simply return to sender!

Some cruel people have made money from selling fbs to poor people in Africa, telling them that the fb is full of addresses of people who are willing to give them money and goods, and even to marry them! Fortunately, the governments have been made aware of this problem and have worked to stamp it out. I have never been asked for money, and hopefully it will never happen (touch wood!).

Be aware that people will send you religious mail and advertisements. This is rather annoying (I have received a lot of these lately!) but the positive is that you'll get a nice free stamp on the envelope, which is great if you're a collector like me! Even if you're not a collector, you can keep the stamp to trade with someone who does collect them for something that you want! Clever hey?

Weird things really do happen in the postal system! Sometimes mail that I send out (I'm taking a logical guess) gets put through the system upside down and gets sent back to me (since I always put a return address on the back) as if it was meant to be for me! The envelope doesn't even get postmarked at all!

About 2 weeks ago, the first page of a mangled lyrix got sent to me on its own through the post. The postie looked at the page with my address and lyrics on it, and sent it to me! I've since made new pages for it and sent it on its way.

Sometimes abbreviations are used which make sense to insiders but can confuse anyone else! Here are some of the ones I've unearthed:
T/C - Take Care
S/S - Swap Soon
ICR - I Can Return
W/A - Wedding Anniversary
B/D - Birthday
NSW - New Swappers Wanted
NPW - New Pals Wanted
AOVLLP - Answer Only Very Long Letter Pals
SNNP - Sorry No New Pals
SNNS - Sorry No New Swappers
SNNP/S - Sorry No New Pals or Swappers
LLP's Wanted - Long Letter Pals Wanted

If you have any further questions or you would like any other info to be included on this page, please email me.