[Dx-qsl] Reimbursing the Manager (long)

Sun Dec 29 14:35:01 2002

Bear with me as I lay this out; it's been bothering me for awhile now, and
I'd like to hear some consensus on how to handle it.
I'm preparing a bunch of QSL cards to go overseas to various managers.
Quite a few of these overseas managers are ones that I've dealt with for a
variety of stations on & off for years.
Most managers have, in recent years, requested either 2ドル or two IRC's to
cover return postage. Fine; no problem there, considering the cost of air
mail postage overseas.
But what I've also noticed is that a certain percentage of the, shall we
say, "regular" managers who insist on 2ドル/2 IRC's have some method of
returning my SAE via the US mail. In short, I'm seeing my 2ドル go, not to an
air mail stamp from overseas, but a $.37 domestic First Class stamp.
Since at present, even with the new job, I have to watch my shekels, this
concerns me.
Yes, I know that very often 2ドル or two IRC's is actually more than enough to
cover return air postage (but one wasn't) and that the excess funds from
those occurrences go to help pay misc. costs, like printing the cards and
the bureau packages and maybe paying some of a DXpedition's expenses. Fine,
that's long been understood. And I understand that sometimes, there is a
special occasion (such as a relative traveling to the US on vacation, or
being here for a convention or hamfest like Visalia or Dayton and taking
advantage of the situation) that permits the manager to take advantage,
directly or indirectly, of the US mails -- and that in these circumstances,
some of my funds went to help other transit costs. Fine; no problem there.
What I'm wondering about, though is those managers who routinely, every
month, manage to pull this off? Some use an APO from a US military base
overseas, and others have some other "regular" method to do so -- what or
how, I don't know.
Understand, as I ask this, I'm not objecting to the manager recovering
direct postage costs, or indirectly some of the other costs (like card
printing and maintaining a PO box and such). Nor am I objecting to making a
donation, at least not when it's my choice.
But when I KNOW that the overseas manager is going to somehow return my QSL
via the US mail system, am I justified in sending an SASE stamped with a US
first class stamp? And/or sending the SASE plus, at my discretion,
additional funds as a donation?
Remember, every situation is a little different. DXpeditions and other "one
shot" managers are not what I'm asking about here; very often, they're
trying to stretch the funding for return QSL postage as much as possible,
and find all sorts of ways to do so (many of which have been discussed here
in the past). Nor am I concerned with domestic managers... let's even say
North American managers; I know that many of the Canadian managers live
close enough to the border to drive over (amazing how many cards via VE
managers get mailed from Buffalo NY!), but I also know that some of my 1ドル
helps cover their gas and trouble; no problem there. I don't mind making a
donation when I can, but sometimes I can't. And I don't mind helping out
some of the best managers stateside by buying excess IRC's when I can, or
sending them extra stamps I sometimes have sitting around (usually when
postage goes up and I have more $.01 or $.03 "make up" stamps than I need).
I sometimes wonder about the "regulars," though. Again, I know that the
excess $ is being put to good use (I certainly do NOT think that most
managers are making a living at this! Though there's one or two I wonder
about...), but am I sending some of them much more than either I have to,
and/or they expect?
This is not meant to be petty or trivial. But I need to know, because
sometimes (like recently, when work was light at the beginning of the month,
which meant a meager paycheck yesterday) it makes all the difference between
sending out 3 or 4 direct requests versus 8 or 10.
73, ron wn3vaw
"New Jersey - the most American of all states. It has everything from
wilderness to the Mafia. All the great things and all the worst, for
example, Route 22."
Jean Shepherd K2ORS (SK), Newark Sunday News, 11 January 1970