Yes! Good tip giving them the full name not just the acronym. I was quite surprised that U.S. Postal employees were not better acquainted with IRCs but, then again, perhaps in this Twitterific world their relevance is diminishing! :-)

Thanks all, for the tips!

SNazz123

I was going to say 'Do you sell IRCs' but i thought for a moment and ended up saying 'Do you sell International reply coupons.'

Of course the women at the post office had to ask someone else if they sold them

You only need 2-3 IRCs (maybe 4 AT MOST) and that includes sending overseas. And what I've found in the past is that the people in the post office don't know what an IRC is, so make sure you say "International Reply Coupon". That is saying you don't already.

Thats a confuising way to put it for me who isnt that experienced with sending overseas

But im glad thats what you wanted to know. If you ever need any help on estimating how many IRCs you need feel free to ask on here. BossC is a brilliant moderator who knows a lot about these things {thumb2}

Yes, indeed, that's exactly what I mean! It's easy to look up the current exchange rates amongst currencies but knowing what they charge for a certain weight of an item and/or a certain class of postage (Airmail, by boat, etc.) is impossible to know hence my questions to you all. In a current scenario of mine I simply sent $10 in U.S. currency for an item that cost me $3 in U.S. currency to send to the U.K. with the hope that I sent more than enough funds to cover returning the item to me. And, I hope the lack of IRC didn't cause the party in question a huge inconvenience.

SNazz123

When i went to the post office for the first time to get IRCs they didnt know how many i needed because they didnt know the exchange rate from other countries. So i had to predict how many i needed.

I dont know if this is what you mean though

Well, thanks to each of you for the IRC feedback. This may sound small to many of you but one Post Office I visited is in a town of about 40,000 - the others were much smaller - but they had no clue. Anyway, it is good to know that this may still be an option - that is, getting IRCs.

Now I need to understand one more concept. Let's say to send a large envelope from the U.S. to the U.K. it costs $3.00 in U.S. Dollars. How does one know how much the IRCs should cost? Postal rates can vary widely as do currency exchange issues. How does one know who to make sure the IRCs more than cover the return postal costs. I can't get my head around how this is executed. Thanks in advance!

SNazz123

This is the issue with IRC's

The thing is, IRC's are not very much seek out. A lot of post offices know that and know that they do not sell many. This is why many post offices in the U.S.A have taken them from the selling list this year 2009. You'll have to contact the branch before going to ask if they sell them. Like anything, if they do not sell enough, they assume people are no longer interested in them.

If you can't find IRC's check out our trading forum! There are people there you can buy them from.

Good luck!

Chrissy {thumb2}

Yes, the USPS still sells IRC's, but as already said usually only the larger branches carry them. When you ask for them, they usually don't know what your talking about. The reason why is because noone really uses them much anymore, besides collectors like us If they do know they carry them, they usually don't know the code to ket in the price. It gets aggravating sometimes, but they learn slowely.

Khackdrums

Thanks EastendersFan - very kind of you!