The ARRL Letter dated November 8th has an item
about the USPS proposing to discontinue the sale
of IRC's here in the United States. If you are
sending for a QSL card to many countries, the alternative
compensation, American dollar bills, are likely to be stolen by
a postal worker. Your card never makes it and you don't
get one back. IRC's can only be exchanged for stamps so the
likelihood of them being stolen is lessened.
IRC's are available at usps.com so there is no need to have
them stocked or ordered at a local post office. It costs
literally nothing to have them in the online store. If the
sale of IRC's is discontinued here in the US, you will have to
buy them from another country. IRC's must be exchanged for
postage by Universal Postal Union member countries but there
is no requirement that they be sold in member countries.
There is a link in the ARRL Letter that goes to a site where you
can file comments regarding the proposal. The URL is
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=USPS-2012-0101-0001
I did that and made the case for retaining them in the usps.com
store only. Please consider doing the same so we don't have to
buy them overseas.
73,
John K8YSE
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