[Dx-qsl] QSAL'ing SASE's

Sun Nov 5 14:10:02 EST 2006

At 12:48 PM 11/05/2006, Vladimir V. Sidorov wrote:
>Very frankly, I for one don't see any reason to play with foreign 
>stamps at all. Reasons are simple.
>>- it might simply look offensive, like, hello guy, i don't trust you 
>and suggest, you can use my money for something else but stamps, 
>therefore get the stamps instead of money and send me your card back.

One of the biggest reasons to use mint stamps, however, is to 
countries that are known to have a problem with corrupt postal 
employees. Especiall in South American and Eastern Europe, a stamped 
envelope won't attract any attention at all whereas a dollar bill 
might be picked out. My returns from Eastern Europe were not very 
good with US cash but once I started using stamps, I got many more 
back than I did before. IRCs, as you mentioned, are somewhat expensive.
The other reason I prefer to use foreign stamps is convenience for 
the manager. There is no need to exchange my G$ at the bank 
(sometimes with a high exchange fee); just put the card in the 
envelope and drop it in the post.
>- the foreign stamps' package normally costs more than 2 GS or an 
>IRC, so why buy it at all?

It depends on where you buy them. I have relatives in London who 
travel regularly throughout Europe and they send me sheets of stamps 
for DL, F, I, G and EA regularly, so for me it makes a lot of sense 
to do it that way. Whenever I'm in London I always get at least ten 
50p stamps and Royal Mail airmail stickers, and when I get to London, 
I often go over to Paris for a day trip, and La Poste is always in my 
itinerary as well.
Cheers,
Peter,
W2IRT 