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Hi, I'm from the Philippines and I'm going to send a fanmail with autograph requests for the first time. I used a 9x12 envelope and it currently weighs around 120 grams.

My envelope contains:
A cardboard (approx. 30 grams; to prevent damage to photos)
A letter (approx. 30 grams; I designed it and all that so it's quite heavy)
My drawing
Two 3R pictures
SAE

Each IRC costs PHP115 (£1.67 / 2.65 USD), but I have no idea regarding its exchange value and the cost of postage for my letter to the UK is PHP1,012 (£14.68 / 23.30 USD) which is hella expensive for me. I just wanted to ask how you determine the number of IRC's to include? Like in my case, should I have to have at least 10 IRC's? :neutral:

Also, I'm considering sending a plain paper instead of the one I made because it's realllllly costly. >.< And maybe omitting the cardboard as well. >.< AHHH I've no idea at all. What do you guys think? I'm in desperate need of help.

www.royalmail.com will have a calculator to help you work out your return postage cost.

IRC's have a poor exchange vaule in the UK, just £0.67, so you need to find the cost to decide if it's worth sending all that you want to.

kimmylee wrote:http://www.royalmail.com will have a calculator to help you work out your return postage cost.

IRC's have a poor exchange vaule in the UK, just £0.67, so you need to find the cost to decide if it's worth sending all that you want to.

Wow, thank you so much for the link! This is what I did, and I just wanna know if I did and understood it correctly.





So I'm gonna have to include 4 IRC's (£2.68) in my letter, and that's it? (n00b question: I don't have to pay £41.00, right? )
I was going to deduct the approximate weight of my letter (90 grams; £1.82) since it won't be sent back to me, but I thought the additional £0.28 wouldn't hurt and I'd be on the safer side...

Hi. Hope I'm not late yet.

WHAT??? A postage over a thousand pesos for 120 grams? WOW!!! I've been using our postal service for years and haven't encountered such kind of postage yet. It's very expensive. Last time I post a letter weighing 172 grams, it cost me only PHP 400++ . I think your clerk is putting too much stamps on your letter to save the dying Philpost. Are you using the EMS service? If so, I advice you to use the ordinary one. It takes only one to two weeks to arrive to its destination.

And just a advice to minimize the cost, just remove the cardboard and just put "DO NOT BEND" on envelopes (front and back) in BOLD letters. Why don't you just buy some stamps from here? Sa 4 na IRC, madaming stamps na yan. Di na ako bumbili yan kasi sobrang mahal saka ang mura ng exchange value.

Next time, kapag may tanong ka PM mo lang ako para matulungan kita. Matagal na akong collector.

4 IRC's yes that's correct

The £41 is the standard compensation level that you can claim if your item is lost/damaged.

For Small Packet rate you need to write SMALL PACKET in the top left corner.

ricin wrote:Hi. Hope I'm not late yet.

WHAT??? A postage over a thousand pesos for 120 grams? WOW!!! I've been using our postal service for years and haven't encountered such kind of postage yet. It's very expensive. Last time I post a letter weighing 172 grams, it cost me only PHP 400++ . I think your clerk is putting too much stamps on your letter to save the dying Philpost. Are you using the EMS service? If so, I advice you to use the ordinary one. It takes only one to two weeks to arrive to its destination.

And just a advice to minimize the cost, just remove the cardboard and just put "DO NOT BEND" on envelopes (front and back) in BOLD letters. Why don't you just buy some stamps from here? Sa 4 na IRC, madaming stamps na yan. Di na ako bumbili yan kasi sobrang mahal saka ang mura ng exchange value.

Next time, kapag may tanong ka PM mo lang ako para matulungan kita. Matagal na akong collector.

Hey! I replied to your PM. ^_^ May mga details parin kasi akong di maintindihan.

kimmylee wrote:4 IRC's yes that's correct

The £41 is the standard compensation level that you can claim if your item is lost/damaged.

For Small Packet rate you need to write SMALL PACKET in the top left corner.

Alrighty, thanks for your help!

ricin wrote:Hi. Hope I'm not late yet.

WHAT??? A postage over a thousand pesos for 120 grams? WOW!!! I've been using our postal service for years and haven't encountered such kind of postage yet. It's very expensive. Last time I post a letter weighing 172 grams, it cost me only PHP 400++ . I think your clerk is putting too much stamps on your letter to save the dying Philpost. Are you using the EMS service? If so, I advice you to use the ordinary one. It takes only one to two weeks to arrive to its destination.

And just a advice to minimize the cost, just remove the cardboard and just put "DO NOT BEND" on envelopes (front and back) in BOLD letters. Why don't you just buy some stamps from here? Sa 4 na IRC, madaming stamps na yan. Di na ako bumbili yan kasi sobrang mahal saka ang mura ng exchange value.

Next time, kapag may tanong ka PM mo lang ako para matulungan kita. Matagal na akong collector.

Hi po "ricin"! I'm from the Philippines din po and I'm also planning to start sending fan mails to my favorite Hollywood celebrities. I've been searching far and wide just to find a place where I can ask some questions, and thank God I found this thread! Gusto ko lang po i-clarify yung comment nyo (which I underlined)... You mean pwede pong bumili ng American stamps dito sa pinas to use as a substitute for IRCs? Or okay na pong IRCs nlang talaga ang gamitin? And out of curiosity po I just want to ask, how much on average do you spend in sending a fan mail to the US (both for shipping and IRCs)? I've visited your site po, and you really have a great autograph collection! I've read din po na you've received Elijah Wood's autograph? Is it true na preprints lang usually binibigay nya sa fans? Siya po sana una kong bibigyan nga fan mail if ever. Sorry po kung ang dami kong tanong. I hope you could find time to answer my questions. I'd appreciate it more than words! Maraming salamat po & best wishes!