[Dx-qsl] Global QSL

[Buzz Jehle]

The Texas DX Society has pooled their outgoing cards for years.  I  
know because I have done it for 13 years!  Any country that has enough  
cards to fill an International Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope goes  
direct, the remainder to the ARRL.  Probably half go direct saving  
time and money. The Post Offices ending of surface mail and dropping  
the smaller sized flat rate envelopes have increased the costs  
dramatically in the past two years.  Asking members to use thinner and  
nonfoldover cards for bureau mailings helps, and delaying sending  
until that flat rate envelope is absolutely full also helps!

Buzz N5UR


On Jan 29, 2009, at 2:23 PM, Alfred Laun wrote:

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Ron Lago <ac7dx at comcast.net> wrote:
> There will come a time when buro is out of the question. One country  
> in particular sends buro cards to America free and I get 3-4 cards  
> for the same call I have mailed to that operator direct...Make any  
> sense??? Not to me it doesnt.
> Japan has hurt the idea of buro cards badly.

Some IARU member societies provide outgoing bureau service to their
members for free, and they even have local branches or clubs set up so
that members can take their outgoing cards to club meetings and give
them to the designated regional QSL manager instead of mailing them
off.  But by and large these societies charge considerably higher
annual dues than does the ARRL.  There is always a trade-off somewhere
along the line.

I am aware of some USA members of DARC, RSGB and ARI who find it less
expensive to ship their outgoing cards to those societies than to use
the ARRL outgoing bureau, but it requires a certain volume to make
that cost effective, and as far as I know, those folks became members
of those overseas societies for other reasons and not because of their
desires to use their bureaus.

ARRL does permit affiliate clubs to pool outgoing cards for their
members.  Here is the relevant
quote: "Affiliated clubs may also "pool" their members' individual QSL
cards to effect an even greater savings.  Each club member using this
service must also be a League member.  Cards should be sorted "en
masse" by prefix, and proof of Membership enclosed for each ARRL
member."

I personally know of only one club that does this, or at least did it
at one time, and I don't think that many clubs know about it.

73, Fred Laun, K3ZO
Manager
NCDXA/ARRL Third Call Area Incoming QSL Bureau
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got...till  
it's gone.

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