(Another) IRC Question

[Tomaldo]

Hi all;
TOday I went bought 8 IRCs from a post office near my place of education. The lady at first did not know what i was on about, they had never sold any before and I bought all their stock off them.

When I got home I was having a look at them, and remembered hearing numerous times about how to send to the US you need to enclose 2 of them. Yet on the back it says:

This coupon is exchangeable in any country of the Universal Postal Union for the minimum postage for an unregistered priority item or an unregistered letter sent by air to a foreign country.

Therefore should enclosing 1 not be enough? This may sound stingy but I don't really want to enclose two if one will suffice as I can't see the Post Office getting any more for quite a while if I'm the only peron buyong them!

Please could someone clarify this for me.
If you are interested I'm planning to send to Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies and Sean Astin.

Thanks for taking the time to read this rather long post, and for any advice you may have to give.

Tomaldo

[Tomaldo]

Another Question, to send a 10g letter to the US costs 40p, so is it OK to use 2 first class stamps instead of having to make up that value with say 10p stamps?

Thanks again

Tomaldo

[Larisie]

Hey there,

I'm not really sure about your IRCs question, as I've only used them a few times. But I wouldn't send to Sean Astin, as on his website it says it costs $30 for an auto. Just thought I'd mention that! Also, Viggo isn't a very good signer TTM unless you want to try via venue he MIGHT sign.

Larisie

[nowandagain]

This coupon is exchangeable in any country of the Universal Postal Union for the minimum postage for an unregistered priority item or an unregistered letter sent by air to a foreign country.

One IRC will cover a regular, standard letter.

If you are sending SAE with a larger envelope in the hope of a photograph (e.g. a 9x12 envelope), this will require a minimum of two IRC's in order for it to be sent back to you.

Hope this helps

[TheCollector]

Hi Tomaldo

nowandagain is right in their post 1 IRC only covers for a standard letter:

This coupon is exchangeable in any country of the Universal Postal Union for the minimum postage for an unregistered priority item or an unregistered letter sent by air to a foreign country.

The problem with o/seas post is that the UK still bases all it's postal costs exclusively on weight, whereas other countries take into account of the size of the envelope as well. The Royal Mail is currently reviewing that, so hopefully in the future the mailing of UK letters should be a lot easier!

Also, you said about making up the postage with normal second (or first) class stamps? That is fine, you just have to count a second class one as 21p and a first class one as 30p. As I said above though, you have to be very sure to weigh your letters / envelopes before you send them. You might be surprised at how much they weigh!!! (By the way, a 10g letter is actually 47p not 40p, and 10g is nothing!!!! Just a basic letter & envelope will weigh around 40g!!!!!!)

To give you an idea, I have attached the postal costs from the UK to the USA and Europe below:

USA & Zone 1
47p 10g
68p 20g
1.05 40g
1.42 60g
1.79 80g
2.16 100g

Europe
42p 20g
60p 40g
78p 60g
96p 80g
1.14 100g

If you would like to confirm these prices yourself, have a look at the Royal Mail website: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... aId=400347

Hope this helps!

Ian

[Tomaldo]

OK thanks all of you for the help!