[Dx-qsl] Envelope problem

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Or, head to either WalMart or Staples and buy some #12 envelopes and use the
"standard" #10 envelopes for returns.

73

-----Original Message-----
From: dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Peter W2IRT
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 7:53 AM
To: Ragnar Otterstad; dx-qsl at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] Envelope problem


At 02:54 AM 06/03/2006, Ragnar Otterstad wrote:

>It is amazing, that a big country like USA has so tiny envelopes !  hi
>I am spending a lot of time on taping envelopes not big enough to hold my
>direct QSL-cards to USA.
>
>Gents, please use standard size air-mail enevlopes. It makes life easier
and
>gets your much wanted qsls back in good shape.

Not as easy as all that over here. Paper, stationery and envelope
sizes here in NA are not standard metric sizes (I'd much prefer A3
over 8.5 x 11 but I digress). In the vast majority of shops selling
envelopes and paper, etc, you can readily find two sizes of envelopes
that are relevant to QSLing. One is what's called the number 10 size
(perfectly fits an 8.5" wide piece of paper), and the "return" size
of 6 3/4. These are dirt cheap, readily available and coincidentally
fit just about any card printed by the big European and American QSL
printers today, (which are nominally 140mm x 90mm in size).

In addition to that, there is no such thing as "standard air mail
envelopes" in the United States anymore since all mail internally and
about 99% of letters externally are automatically sent by air
(surface cost the same if you want it), and the postage price is the
same up to a little over 28 grammes (1 ounce). As a result, go into a
shop like Staples over here (think of a supermarket-sized building
selling nothing but office supplies) and finding air mail envelopes
essentially isn't possible -- even in popular sizes -- since the US
Post office doesn't require the blue-and-red AIR MAIL/PAR AVION
lightweight envelopes for international mailings.

Now, if you really look hard and go to the little neighbourhood shops
in cities you can sometimes find airmail stationery, but it's getting
increasingly rare -- and for most hams, doesn't make sense to do so.
Bill Plum sells nesting EU-sized Air Mail envelopes. I've used them
with somewhat poor results if you want to know the truth.

For me personally, I have custom-printed Monarch size envelopes
(trade size of 7 3/4, I think), which will indeed handle the older
sized EU cards without the need for tape or folding of envelope
flaps, but then again, I'm a somewhat persnickety QSLer. That
envelope plus one or two QSLs will typically come out at 10 grammes
or less, and they're made of somewhat thick paper, too, so they're
resistant to tearing by postal machinery, I've found.



Cheers,

Peter,
W2IRT



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