[Dx-qsl] UPU List of Shame - IRCs

Mon Jul 3 19:12:48 EDT 2006

 From W9OL's list, the postal administrations of the following
places do not handle IRCs in compliance with the provisions
of the UPU:
Cyprus, Tajikistan, Belarus, Switzerland, Columbia, France,
Costa Rica, Serbia (as well as perhaps Montenegro): Apparently
will only accept the new IRC.
Federal Republic of Germany, Tajikistan, Columbia, Belgium,
Switzerland, South Africa: Apparently require 2 IRCs to some
or all locations.
Netherlands Antilles: Apparently requires 2 or even 3 IRCs to
some locations.
Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Cambodia: Apparently does not accept
any IRCs.
There is no basis for these postal administrations to do any of
this. They are all UPU members & redemption is mandatory &
clear: one IRC & one only, post-1975 will cover 20 grams to
anywhere, full stop (air or surface, depending on text). Only
Taiwan can say it does not honor IRCs, as it is not a UPU
member.
Finland & the Netherlands apparently belong on the list, too.
Anybody else? If N6HB's site saying "facultative" in USA is
considered to mean "mandatory" is actually true, then USA
belongs here, too. I want to take to HK Post as
comprehensive a list as possible for them to formally pursue.
Either that, or we have fit-for-purpose issue here & there
would be an expectation that where they are not fit-for-purpose
we would be informed of this on purchase.
I look forward to enjoying a chuckle with my local lad PM at
rural, paddy-field-peon-part-of-town PO about how so many
first world, democratic, (insert more of same here) places
play the sort of games that many think is what has been
going on here since 1997. I shudder to think what other
things do not work right elsewhere in the world & how folks
(especially amateurs, who I have always thought were a bit
more "with it" than general population) could simply accept it.
My country, right or wrong - lyrics from a Midnight Oil song -
even more applicable today, nearly 25 years on. ;^(
73, VR2BrettGraham