[Dx-qsl] K3ZO Replies

Thu May 7 11:43:10 EDT 2009

Hi,
        Just a  suggestion, instead of tossing undeliverable cards in trash, 
why not stamp them "return to sender" as undeliverable, like the EU buro 
does???
(((73)))  de Bernie/WO2N.>

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jack Shirley" <jcshirle at gmail.com>
To: "Alfred Laun" <hs0zar at gmail.com>
Cc: <dx-qsl at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] K3ZO Replies

>I would like to ditto Fred remarks as I volunteer at the W8 bureau. As one
> approximately 6 sorters, I try to put the cards in the right direction. 
> The
> others who sort cards are members of WC8VOA and the bureau is located in
> the decommissioned VOA Bethany Station.
> Most of the others who do sorting and are not interested in DX so they 
> just
> put the cards in the slots for the letter managers A - Z.  The cards are
> rarely alphabetized and many times the writing is small or poorly written.
> We do not check for the correct managers. Currently there is no Internet
> access as the building is under renovation. It takes about 2 hours per 
> week
> per sorter to process all the cards. It is an unforgiving task, especially
> when the area manager has to take cards to the post office to be mailed.
> Imagine 25 or so boxes of 5 to 10 pounds each, waiting in line at the post
> office to have them mailed every 2 - 4 months!
>
> We were getting a lot of cards for N8S. I put them in the YU outgoing slot
> as I knew they were via YT1AD, the others tossed them in the trash. We 
> also
> receive a lot of cards for KL8 which should go to the KL7 bureau. These 
> are
> forwarded to the ARRL outgoing bureau. Also AN8 which goes to EA.
> The W3 area is very lucky to have Fred as the manager as he  is going
> several steps beyond what is done at the other call area bureaus.
>
> Also we continue to receive envelopes that are padded, over sized, and
> without sufficient postage. I strongly suggest you read the guidelines at
> your areas web site. The W8 bureau can be found at
> http://www.greatlakes.arrl.org/gldburo.html . It is very simple if you 
> take
> time and read what is suggested.
>
> The boxes that we receive from the foreign bureaus are generally in poor
> shape by the time they reach us. If there are any foreign outgoing 
> managers
> who might read this, I suggest that you run a couple layers of tape
> around the three directions of the box. Almost all the larger boxes we
> receive have split on one edge and its a miracle that the cards are still 
> in
> the box.
>
> 73   Jack N8DX
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 1:46 PM, Alfred Laun <hs0zar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> First of all, thanks to all of you who expressed your support for what
>> I am trying to do.
>>
>> For those who have complained, kindly have the patience to let me
>> explain why I have been using this list the way I have in the past few
>> days:
>>
>> For those of you who have had no experience working in a QSL Bureau,
>> it may be news to you that when you open a box from say, Germany,
>> containing about 3000 QSLs, after you have finished sorting them you
>> are left with a stack of about 200 or 300 cards that your experience
>> tells you cannot be delivered the way they are made out.
>>
>> One of the big problems is that there is mis-information out there on
>> the Web, and people who want to send cards to some of the DXpeditions
>> or very active stations in rare or relatively rare entities use this
>> information to route their cards, having no idea that the information
>> is incorrect.  Since one assumes that a list of this type is read by
>> informed people who know where the major sources of information are, I
>> put the messages here so that someone among you may be able to correct
>> the bad information at the source, or can tell me the source of the
>> bad information  so that I can correct it.  Indeed, several of you
>> have already done this for some of the items I have listed, and I am
>> taking steps to get that info corrected.
>>
>> The hope in so doing is that the number of mis-directed cards will
>> diminish in the future.  If nothing is done to correct the
>> information, the mis-directed cards will continue to arrive at about
>> the same rate.
>>
>> Some of you will say: "If you can't deliver the card just throw it
>> away."  I have a deep appreciation for this wonderful tradition of
>> QSLing in this great hobby of ours, or I wouldn't be putting in the
>> five or six volunteer hours I spend every weekday doing this work.
>> I'm not complaining -- it truly IS a labor of love.  But before
>> throwing a card away, I try to put myself in the place of the sender,
>> remembering the days when as a 14 year old kid some 57 years ago the
>> arrival of a single QSL could brighten my day for hours.
>> I realize that people don't mis-route cards on purpose, but because
>> they are victims of incorrect information.  I had thought that putting
>> the correct information on a list like this might help more than one
>> person at a time, whereas if I just e-mail the person in question --
>> assuming I can find his/her e-mail address -- that info would only
>> assist that one individual.
>>
>> At the same time in hindsight I realize that putting so much info up
>> here all at once has bothered some of you.  I had set aside a couple
>> of days from my sorting activities to work on this, and you will note
>> that over a given period of time I post to this list practically not
>> at all.  However, in the future I will try to spread out the postings
>> to try to make you happy.
>>
>> Now let's all get back to sorting or DXing or whatever we do.
>>
>> 73 and DX,
>>
>> Fred Laun, K3ZO
>> Manager
>> NCDXA/ARRL Third Call Area Incoming QSL Bureau
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> DX-QSL mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx-qsl
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:DX-QSL at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> DX-QSL mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx-qsl
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:DX-QSL at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message
> Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (5.0.1.1 - 10.100.128).
> http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/ 

No virus found in this outgoing message
Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (5.0.1.1 - 10.100.128).
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/