[Dx-qsl] Rcvd: T32WW, Buro

Sat Jul 24 12:31:54 EDT 2004

When I first started DX'ing in the late '70's, most fellow DX'ers taught me
that about 70% of the cards went via bureau, about 25% went direct (usually
for a NA amateur operating portable) and less than 5% went to managers; and
those managers were usually for DXpeditions and amateurs located in areas
with poor or no mail delivery.
Offhand, and I'm sure someone will come up with their own numbers, I suspect
it's now more like 30-40% via managers, 30-40% direct, and the rest via
bureau. Further, much of that going via bureau is "bulk" (as in contest
QSO's) and such.
However... and this is not intended as a crack, just an observation... this
envelope was stuffed to the gills (and marked "last," so I need to get some
more in). My last shipment was three envelopes, two also stuffed. All of
the stuffed ones were slapped with extra postage. And the shipment before
THAT was the same (two overstuffed envelopes with extra postage). So in my
case, I have to wonder if I'm getting the cards as the sorter has time to
work on them.
Finally, I should mention that I only highlighted the "top" cards from the
bureau, and most of them were 2 - 4 years old. So a trickle for 2 - 3 years
of cards sent out is a little low, but not neccesarily a bad thing. If you
figure up to a year to get there, a few months for the DX station to
process, and then another year or so to get back...
73, ron wn3vaw
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Dougherty" <w2irt at nac.net>
To: "Ron Notarius" <wn3vaw at verizon.net>; <dx-qsl at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] Rcvd: T32WW, Buro
> At 15:11 23-07-04, Ron Notarius wrote:
> >Via Buro: (first buro envelope in months!)
>> Personally, I think the art of buro QSLing is almost dead. I've sent more
> than 800 buro cards out in the last 3 years and I've gotten but a mere
> trickle in - maybe 10 at a time, 2 or 3 times a year. That's well less
than
> 10%, although it may still be too early to have a firm opinion. I figure
> two years ought to be a fair time for about 75% of them to turn around.
>> >(first envelopes in weeks, and W9OL is kvetching about a drought! <g>):
>> Hey, you already got yer 5-band <grin>!
>>>>> 73 de Peter (W2IRT)
> w2irt at nac.net
>> Please visit http://www.nyctrackbook.com for details of my book
> Tracks of the NYC Subway
>>>>>>>>>>>>