[Dx-qsl] New IRCs?

Thu Aug 24 20:19:35 EDT 2006

At my rather rural PO, the PM yesterday heard me chatting
with one of the staff, so came out to tell me he received
stock of the new IRCs, but they will only be sold starting
next month.
Meanwhile, down at HQ they heard back from UPU - same
chap Claude saying same thing: the old IRCs (post-1975)
remain valid _indefinitely_. He repeated his not understanding
why any old IRCs would be in circulation still & this time
added one more thing: concern for postal authorities loosing
money on these IRCs. Why Claude or the UPU in general
seemingly is not concerned about postal authorities
abiding by UPU Cn, LM, etc, etc is even seen as odd to
HK Post.
So, unless Claude comes back to them & answers the
specific question as to why IRCs are rejected for lack of
chops or why IRCs that are valid are not treated as such,
HK Post will move on to asking USPS directly why
correspondents tell me that they cannot redeem IRCs that
UPU says can be redeemed.
The acceptance of mistreatment of IRCs by postal
authorities undermines the usefulness of IRCs. As
SM5DQC reports, the only thing a postal authority can
do is refuse to sell IRCs (too dear at 0.74 SDR a pop,
sounds odd for well-to-do place like SM ;^). All - except
in perhaps places like BV - must redeem them & with the
exception of VK (reported by VK3FM), one is good enough
for air mail postage to anywhere in the world for 20 g
(apparently 50 g in Oz - good on them!). To suggest
otherwise means either acceptable to get ripped
off (which most would probably not accept), or perhaps sign
of something dodgy going on...
73, VR2BrettGraham