Smartphones and social media have made it easy to digitally share personal and unique moments from your holidays. A facebook post can, however, not be compared to the feeling when you find a post card of a dear friend in your mailbox who took the time to write some lines just for you. A clever new service called polucku.pl from Poland combines the advantages of both digital and analogue: You can send them a photo of your favorite hidden beach or of yourself on top of the Horseshoe Bend (as our publisher) and they will print it and send it as a post card to your loved ones. The founder of polucku.pl, Tomasz Mach, took the time to tell us about his concept and inspiration, why he believes in analogue and the first post card he ever received.
Can you tell us more about the concept of polucku.pl?
polucku.pl was created for people who want to share their holiday impressions in a simple and personal way. The idea for polucku.pl was born in Krakow one year ago and we are online and producing the first holiday postcards since one month.
In a nutshell, our service works like this: you need to take a picture, send it to us by email or MMS, add your desired text (max. 100 words) and the delivery address. We will then print it and send it as your unique and personalized postcard. The postcards have a standard A6 size (148 x 105 mm) and the photo on the front is surrounded by a white frame. The delivery time for the postcards is 4-5 working days. For now the service is only available for customers who have a Polish phone number. On our webpage www.polucku.pl you can find further information including step by step instructions. 
Our publisher, Anna, on top of the Horseshoe Bend
I was already thinking that we are the last ones who are still sending postcards from their holidays. How does it come that you believe in postcards in digital world?
In these digital times people are, in my opinion, more and more longing for analog music, cameras, films as well as postcards. Maybe it’s a fashion, maybe not – we will see!
Do you remember the first postcard which you received?
During my Russian language lessons in primary school we had the chance to practice the language by corresponding with friends from the USSR. A postcard which I remember very well was from Baku. On the card you could see the seacoast and a lot of palm trees. For me this was very exotic at that time :)
What are your next steps? Do you plan to offer polucku’s service also to customers with foreign phone numbers?
Yes, we are currently working on making our service available for customers with non-Polish phone numbers as well. Our next step will also be to add different paper quality as well as font options. For customers who are on holidays and are not photography fans we will have a ready database with professional photos which can be selected on our webpage. Moreover we are planning to offer premium paper choices to people who would like to send Thank You Cards to their grand parents after a wedding or Baby Announcements to their family and friends.
Which were the criteria for choosing the paper to print the postcards and promotional materials?
For standard postcards we chose white coated paper in 350 gsm with additional mat foil to match the standard postcard look. For our promotional materials we went for Munken Lynx and I personally screen print our posters at Kolory Drukarnia where I am working. In my opinion Munken paper guarantees remarkable colors as well as a unique touch. Our posters “with a soul” will hang in Krakow as well as in other touristic places around Poland.
What inspires you for your work?
Art and print art are my inspiration. Screen printing is my favorite technique. I very much admire the screen prints by Andy Warhol.
What do you like about screen printing in particular?
Screen printing is unrepeatable as well heterogeneous. This is also why it inspired Andy Warhol. There is no color separation, the results are unpredictable and surprising and the colors fresh. It’s completely different than art printed in digital or offset.
“The medium is the message.” For me this phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan is very true in the case of screen printing. It means that the form of a medium (screen printing) embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.
What are you favorite holiday destinations and from where would you like to send your next postcard?
Definitely Southern Spain and Andalusia.
Thank you very much for the interview, Mr. Mach – we hope to receive many personalised polucku.pl post cards very soon!