If the U.S. Postal Service has its way, International Reply
Coupons (IRCs) will no longer be available for sale after January 27. According
to the
ARRL Letter, the postal service published a notice of its plans
in the
Federal Register on October 28, citing insufficient demand to
continue providing the service. Comments were being accepted through November
23. Even if IRCs are no longer offered for sale by the postal service,
Universal Postal Union (UPU) regulations require that post offices honor and
redeem IRCs that have been purchased in other countries. IRCs are a form of
prepaid postage, redeemable for a single unit of airmail postage in any UPU
member country. Hams have long used them to provide return postage for QSL
cards from DX countries.
