[PaQSO] IRC?

Sun, 12 Jan 2003 18:12:27 -0500

As I said to John earlier, if anyone on the list has any IRC's they don't
want, let me know.

Going rate for IRC's on the ham "grey" market is between $.90 & $1.00 right
now for the older small ones, about $1.10 to $1.25 for the newer large ones.

As Goody mentioned, the cost to buy a new IRC from the USPS is $1.75, but
it's only worth an $.80 airmail stamp -- or $.60 if the letter is going to
Canada or Mexico.  So even with the stamp for an SASE, it's worth it for
DX'ers like me to buy them for the approximate real cost of a return stamp,
and then use the IRC's for our own purposes.  You get the stamp (or $) and
no hassles with Post Offices (many USPS employees are unfamiliar with IRC's
as they are not in common use); we get an IRC or two to use and save a $ or
two (hmmm, sounds like a collect calling ad!) in the process; you save some
poor USPS schlub from trying to find an obscure regulation, or just denying
you in the first place because they don't want to bother.

I've run into too many postal clerks who seem to make things up as they go
along (one once told me that if I insisted on using a 6x9 envelope to mail a
QSL card overseas, since it was larger than a #10 envelope, it had to clear
customs!) because they're used to routine domestic mail and packages.  But
that is a discussion for another time and another reflector.

73, ron wn3vaw

"Doc?  You built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
"The way I look at it, if you're going to build a time machine out of a car,
you might as well do it with style!"
--  Marty McFly & Dr. Emmet Brown, "Back to the Future"

----- Original Message -----
From: "Goody" <[email protected]>
To: "PA QSO Party" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] IRC?

The last time I went to the Lehigh Valley postal office / distribution
center in Bethlehem, I cleaned them out of IRCs.  The clerk I was working
with had to go to the other clerks and get their stashes out of their
drawers.  They said they rarely sell them and I think it was my clerk's
first time :-)

This really surprised me as this is a rather large, busy post office.

Goody
K3NG

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Passaneau" <[email protected]>
To: "John Myers" <[email protected]>; "PA QSO Party" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 18:09
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] IRC?

> Hi John:
>
> They need to do some studying. IRC's are very much alive and kicking. I've
> sent out maybe  300 to 400 of them in the last year. So it's back to the
> books for them.
>
>
> John Passaneau W3JXP
> State College, Pa
> [email protected]
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Myers" <[email protected]>
> To: "PA QSO Party" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 12:59 PM
> Subject: [PaQSO] IRC?
>
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Hope everyone is making it through the winter OK. I'm just realizing how
> > badly I need a heated garage.
> > I finally finished repairing my printer, so I could send out QSL's.
Which
> > brings me to my point.
> > A DL sent me a QSL with a IRC included. When I tried to use it at the
post
> > office, neither of the clerks knew what to do with it. They had never
seen
> > one before.
> > Are they obsolete, or did these fellows (friends of mine) need to do
some
> > studying?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > John Myers, KD8MQ
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > PaQSO mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/paqso
>
> _______________________________________________
> PaQSO mailing list
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>

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