Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,
even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says: "Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good
until 2009.


--
Terry Palmersheim, KC7LDP
Helena, MT

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 01:49:02 -0000, "Terry Palmersheim"
wrote:

I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,
even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says: "Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good
until 2009.

Try the attached link to email a complaint to the USPS. (It's so long
that it may get f**ed up by the server if I don't use an attachment.)

It seems to work. Once, when I tried it to complain that the
self-service area of my local PO was closed at 8:15 A.M. when it was
supposed to open at 7 A.M. I got a phone call from the head of that PO
in a day or two.

If you need more than a very small ammount of return postage from any
one country you might consider one of those ham services that sells
mint non-philatelic stamps. They're quite a bit cheaper than IRC's and
the recipient doesn't have to chase down the only post office branch
in the province which redeems IRC's, thus speeding your QSL.

For ham stamp services see

http://www.angelfire.com/md/k3ky/page35.html

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:52:59 -0500, Tester wrote:

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 01:49:02 -0000, "Terry Palmersheim"
wrote:

I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,
even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says: "Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good
until 2009.

Try the attached link to email a complaint to the USPS. (It's so long
that it may get f**ed up by the server if I don't use an attachment.)

It seems to work. Once, when I tried it to complain that the
self-service area of my local PO was closed at 8:15 A.M. when it was
supposed to open at 7 A.M. I got a phone call from the head of that PO
in a day or two.

If you need more than a very small ammount of return postage from any
one country you might consider one of those ham services that sells
mint non-philatelic stamps. They're quite a bit cheaper than IRC's and
the recipient doesn't have to chase down the only post office branch
in the province which redeems IRC's, thus speeding your QSL.

For ham stamp services see

http://www.angelfire.com/md/k3ky/page35.html

Use green stamps.

Terry:
That's very interesting. I was trying to buy IRCs just before the new ones were issued last fall, but I haven't tried to buy any since then. Sorry to hear about the difficulty!

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

On Jan 11, 8:35 pm, David wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:52:59 -0500, Tester wrote:
On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 01:49:02 -0000, "Terry Palmersheim"
wrote:

I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,
even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says: "Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good
until 2009.

Try the attached link to email a complaint to the USPS. (It's so long
that it may get f**ed up by the server if I don't use an attachment.)

It seems to work. Once, when I tried it to complain that the
self-service area of my local PO was closed at 8:15 A.M. when it was
supposed to open at 7 A.M. I got a phone call from the head of that PO
in a day or two.

If you need more than a very small ammount of return postage from any
one country you might consider one of those ham services that sells
mint non-philatelic stamps. They're quite a bit cheaper than IRC's and
the recipient doesn't have to chase down the only post office branch
in the province which redeems IRC's, thus speeding your QSL.

For ham stamp services see

http://www.angelfire.com/md/k3ky/page35.html

- Use green stamps.

David - Yeah a US Dollar is now worth the price of
a common US First Class Postage Stamp (39¢).

Thus the once proud US "Green-Back-Dollar" has been
reduced to nothing more then a joke the 'Green Stamp'.

FAQs Currency Symbols
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexper...utsymbols/cent

Cash Talks Where Your Credit Card Dare Not Walk ~ RHF
.
.
.. .

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

"weatherall" wrote in message
...

Terry Palmersheim Wrote:
I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,

even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says:
"Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the
Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good

until 2009.


--
Terry Palmersheim, KC7LDP
Helena, MT

Terry:
That's very interesting. I was trying to buy IRCs just before the new
ones were issued last fall, but I haven't tried to buy any since then.
Sorry to hear about the difficulty!

The IRCs are often useless to the recipient. I recall in 1963 when I
answered over 100 reception reports of HJED in Cali, Colombia, that the
engineers had hundreds of IRCs, unused. They said that it was hard or
impossible to exchange them, so they just stuffed them in an envelope.

In Ecuador, where stamps were sold at private Kiosks outside th epost
office, it was essentially impossible to do an exchange for postage.

It's probably better to send nothing than an IRC except to established
international broadcasters who know how to deal with them.

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


David Eduardo wrote:

The IRCs are often useless to the recipient. I recall in 1963 when I
answered over 100 reception reports of HJED in Cali, Colombia, that the
engineers had hundreds of IRCs, unused. They said that it was hard or
impossible to exchange them, so they just stuffed them in an envelope.

1963? You certainly were busy that year! Between going to school in Ohio
(being
only 17), spending nearly the whole year in Mexico, and working at a USA
radio
station when Kennedy was shot... you still had the time to bop down to
Colombia
and fill out a few QSL's.

After my internship in Mexico, I spent several months bussing through
Central America, as well as Colombia and Venezuela. A few pictures are on my
website... including the changing of a flat tire on the engineering vehicle
along the Cali to Buga highway!

Among the things I did included visiting stations and requesting veries for
NRC members with outstanding reports.

When I was in Cali, at La Voz del Río Cauca, I was shown a stack of
unanswered DX reports. As South America's only directional medium wave
station at the time, HJED got hundreds of US reports in overnights when
WFFA/WBAP on 820 was / were off the air. I volunteered to answer the reports
and spent a day typing them; the engineer signed and mailed them all! Many
DXers still have these veries in their collections, in fact.

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

David Eduardo wrote:

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


David Eduardo wrote:

The IRCs are often useless to the recipient. I recall in 1963 when I
answered over 100 reception reports of HJED in Cali, Colombia, that the
engineers had hundreds of IRCs, unused. They said that it was hard or
impossible to exchange them, so they just stuffed them in an envelope.

1963? You certainly were busy that year! Between going to school in Ohio
(being
only 17), spending nearly the whole year in Mexico, and working at a USA
radio
station when Kennedy was shot... you still had the time to bop down to
Colombia
and fill out a few QSL's.

After my internship in Mexico, I spent several months bussing through
Central America, as well as Colombia and Venezuela. A few pictures are on my
website... including the changing of a flat tire on the engineering vehicle
along the Cali to Buga highway!

Among the things I did included visiting stations and requesting veries for
NRC members with outstanding reports.

When I was in Cali, at La Voz del Río Cauca, I was shown a stack of
unanswered DX reports. As South America's only directional medium wave
station at the time, HJED got hundreds of US reports in overnights when
WFFA/WBAP on 820 was / were off the air. I volunteered to answer the reports
and spent a day typing them; the engineer signed and mailed them all! Many
DXers still have these veries in their collections, in fact.

I certainly hope none of the postmarks would indicate that you were in two
places at once!

I'm LMFAO Edweener.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Why Can't I Buy Any IRC's At The P.O.?
 

Terry Palmersheim wrote:

I've tried to buy IRC's (International Reply Coupons) at the local P.O.,
even though they have them, they won't sell them! Their screen says: "Not
For Sale" when they are scanned.
This has happened at the main Helena, MT P.O. and Tuesday at the Missoula,
MT P.O.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? BTW, these are the new ones good
until 2009.

I had the same thing happen here a year or so ago. Seems it was (or is) a glitch
in their computer system. Gal went in the back real quick, got a manual, and
figured out which keystrokes would allow the IRC's to be sold through their
system.

Bingo, they scanned properly.

dxAce
Michigan
USA