On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:27:37 GMT, Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)
wrote:



OJ0B QSLS. OPDX was asked to find out about the OJ0B QSL status, so
we contacted Martti, OH2BH, and here is what he said: "Yes, here we
come....OJ0B was activated twice this past summer, August and again
in September, with some 27,000 QSOs. Both operations were combined
together after the September outing and the number of cards needed
was determined. All our cards are printed in Poland, and they will be
shipped to us at the end of this coming week. We should be able to
get all direct cards out by November 15th. We have noticed that many
envelopes from U.S. stations have been submitted with one U.S. dollar
bill. This matter in now under consideration. If we mail them directly
we would subsidize each envelope from our own pocket although we know
that sending those cards via bureau network would not make anyone happy.
In the meantime, we had just last week released 170 pounds (83 kg) of
DX QSL cards, mainly to U.S., Canada and Japan (ed. Bureaus) for variety
of our operations over the past two years with the hopes that this
investment would still be worth while. We see lot of cards returned
with the note 'this person is not accepting QSL cards' and/or is
'not member of national society' thus the rational for confirming
each QSO through the bureau is in doubt.... Best Regards, Martti, OH2BH"

+++++++++++

In this situation, it would seem to make sense, at least with respect
to USA/Canada cards, to send all of the made out cards in their
envelopes in a bulk package to a USA manager, who could then put 41
cent stamps on them and send them as domestic mail. I once did this
for an unnamed DX station in a country that did not accept IRCs. He
sent me a big bulk envelope and a bunch of IRCs, and I re mailed them
for him. I actually came out ahead a little.

The lesson of this is that with the US Dollar dropping like a stone in
value, a dollar just does not go as far as it used to. I usually
enclose $2 and lately, sometimes $3. Yes, maybe I send too much, but
there are a lot of expenses of sending out a QSL card beyond the
postage.