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Hi, sorry this has probably been asked before but having a few probs searching topics on the site atm. I usually send IRC's to USA with my requests but thought i would try US stamps instead - how many of what type do i need to put on my SASE for the celeb to send back? I use A5 envelopes, they have 1 or maybe 2 pics in, thats all. Thanks!

Anyone?

Thanks

Hi

I struggled with this one, you really need to go the the USPS website, http://www.usps.com/international/airma ... tional.htm and wrestle with it until you've got it. There are different prices for different sized envelopes, as well as weight, and a C5 envelope is about a quarter of an inch too big all round for the cheapest rate, which means that it'll end up costing about twice as much as a very slightly smaller envelope.

If you were to send 4" x 6" photos in a fairly thin envelope just big enough to fit them in (they are a standard size, but I can't remember off the top of my head which one they are), then as long as it's only one or two photos it'll be 98c, or three Forever stamps. The same would work for 5"x7" photos IF you can find envelopes smaller than C5 which they will fit in (I haven't in the UK, at least not cheaply enough to make it worthwhile).

On the plus side, as IRCs are ridiculously over-priced, pretty well anything you do with stamps is going to save you money.

Thanks for replying, i have had a look on that website but i just didn't understand it!! I will persevere with it. Thats one of the reasons wy i wanted to use stamps as IRC's are expensive and very hard to get hold of where i live as rural post offices dont stock them and are suspicious about ordering them in.

Good luck. It's not as impenetrable as the Royal Mail website once you've got to the right tables, although both sites look as if they've had some wideboy spiv in a suit carrying a laptop turning up to persuade them that it's a good idea to hide all of the basic information behind lots of stuff that moves about and flashes on and off and jumps up and down...

The tables are available here, you're looking at country group 5 http://www.usps.com/prices/first-class- ... prices.htm

If your envelope is in fact A5-sized, it would go as "letter" rate, but if the envelope is the corresponding C5-size as Stan mentioned, it would go as "large envelope" rate.

I would believe that what you're sending should be under 1oz - though you may want to double-check if you're sending two photos, just in case. Now, if it is under 1oz, 3 Forever stamps will cover postage, whether it's letter sized or large envelope size. If it is letter sized, USPS also makes a 98 cent stamp which will cover the exact postage necessary - you waste less money this way than with Forever stamps, but the value of that stamp does not go up the same way Forever stamps do, so if our postal prices increase, you're screwed.