[Dx-qsl] Reimbursing the Manager (long)

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Boy... I figured I might spark some reactions here, but I really didn't
expect this many replies this quickly! <g>

Let me make a few quick replies to the 25 emails (direct & to the list) I've
gotten so far:

(1)  Am I nit picking?  Not intentionally.  But as I said, the shekels are
tight (I was unemployed for much of 2002, and I'm still picking up the
pieces) and I'm trying to maximize $ spent on QSL costs -- just like many
mangers do.  Hey, if I send ten managers a $2 bill  ($20) when an SASE with
a $.37 stamp would do ($3.70) -- and that can be from one afternoon's DX'ing
sometimes --  it adds up in a short period of time, and leaves me a heck of
a lot less in the postage budget to use on other stations.

(2)  This would be a relatively trivial concern if I was only talking about,
oh, a dozen or less QSL's per month to these particular managers as a group.
I've got more than that waiting to go out sitting here right now, and I
haven't even printed my cards for December yet, and that's NOT counting the
stack for the bureau.  Most of my direct cards now go via the bureau unless
it's a card I really, really, really need, like an 80 meter card for a new
entity.

(3)  Yes, I use WF5E from time to time, and I plan to use his service more
for many cards.  I have a lot of stations I've worked as new band entities
for 30, 17, and 12 meters, and I just don't have the shekels right now to
QSL all of them direct, so Les is going to be getting those cards soon.

(4)  I do not know under what circumstances the managers using military APO
to mail cards back, and I'm not asking.  That's a touch irrelevant to the
point, and if someone is, shall we say, bending the rules, I don't want to
know about it nor do I want to get them into any trouble.

(5)  Yes, I know the vast, vast majority of QSL managers do a good to great
job.  Nor do I object to their trying to maximize the use of their
shekels -- so why can't I try to do the same thing?  Let me be very clear, I
do not mean to imply in any way that these managers are neccesarily ripping
anyone off.  They may simply have a "fixed" cost in mind, ie 2 IRC's or $2
per returned card, and then try to maximize how they return the cards.

So maybe the question really is, if I'm sending them too much $$ because I
haven't asked, am I ripping myself off?

(6)  I wouldn't neccesarily be too hard on those stations & managers who
reply to you via the bureau when you've sent them shekels, not without
knowing the full story -- see the recent thread on the K1B cards, where a
significant portion of envelopes received were opened and pilfered, and
unknown number simply disappeared in route.  So I'd give them the benefit of
the doubt that they got your card & SAE "stripped" of shekels.

(7)  Yes, I know some managers bulk ship the envelopes from EU to the US,
along with enough shekels to pay for US postage, and yes, that does cost
something.  No problem.  So why can't I send this manager, say, 4 SASE's to
cover the four stations he manages I worked, along with a buck to kick in
towards the bulk shipping expense, and if I so choose, another buck towards
card printing?

I don't mind being fair about the costs, but I don't think it's unfair to
ask that all of us be asked to reimburse close to actual postage expenses.
If we want to make an additional donation over and above that to the DX, it
should be voluntary, not built into the "reimbursement" cost (and again, I'm
talking about excess charges here, not the change from the $2 we send).

(8)  Almost all of the private comments indicate that I'm not alone in
feeling this way.  Hey gang, don't be afraid to speak up!

73, ron wn3vaw

"New Jersey - the most American of all states.  It has everything from
wilderness to the Mafia.  All the great things and all the worst, for
example, Route 22."
Jean Shepherd K2ORS (SK), Newark Sunday News, 11 January 1970