Alternatives to IRCs?

[Crocoduck]

Hi.

I had a long message here, but then that most frustrating of forum experiences happened: I was logged out by the time I was done, and was asked to log in again when I hit Submit, all typing lost.

In short, I want to send this DVD boxset: http://www.littlewoodsireland.ie/toy-st ... 961345.prd which I already own, from my home in Dublin, Ireland, to the Pixar studio in California, to be autographed by John Lasseter (along with the IRCs and SAE, and my letter, of course). There are 2 thin plastic cases for the DVDs inside the cardboard outer case shown.

Is this a good idea? I've never done anything like this before. Are the boxes appropriate for signing? What are the chances of them being sent back, or lost forever? The feedback for Pixar and John Lasseter on here seems to be full of success. Are the cool photos and stuff others have received on here sent by default, or do I have to specifically request stuff?

Also, how much would this cost? I'm prepared to buy 3 IRCs to aid my chance, and I'd be using "large envelopes" as specified here: http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/What+Are+Yo ... geenvelope
I'm prepared to spend up to about 15 to 20 Euro (the equivalent of about 19 to 25 Dollars) if my chances are good.

[vjw0307]

Just send the DVD cover/jacket...don't send the whole dvd case or the DVD's. This will cut down on your shipping. Not sure on the cost though.

[Crocoduck]

Thanks to that very helpful advice, I was all set with my letter and my DVD cover sleeves, when I ran into a fairly major barrier: the person behind the counter at my local post office had no idea what IRCs were, and it turns out the Irish postal service doesn't even sell them.

Is there anything else I could use instead? I was getting all psyched up about this.

[HappinessStan]

I recently bought some US stamps on eBay, people buy them on holiday and don't use them, it's occasionally possible to get them for less than cost price. Look for US Forever Stamps.

Alternatively you could try to get some dollars, about $3 will get something from the US to England, not sure how much it would cost to Ireland, but suspect that being in the EU it would probably be the same.

[kimmylee]

I think for you loose US dollars would be the best way, no idea what the exchange rate is though from Euros to $.


You need to check out www.usps.com where you can calculate the return shipping.

[chris32]

Hi, I'm new here. i was also wondering if it's appropriate to just put dollar bills instead of IRC's as our post office doesn't sell them too. How much is the right amount to put? I'm from the Philippines and sending it to U.S. Thanks.

[Crocoduck]

Thanks a lot for the adice, everyone. I think I'll send a $5 bill if that will be enough?

That price calculator is baffling, though. I have no idea how much the letter will weigh (and I only understand metric weights, anyway) and don't understand the difference between the different kinds of mailing...

[ultimateager]

$5 bill should be plenty. Also just for your calculations... 28.35 grams = 1 US ounce. Most of my packages are between 3-5 ounces

Anybody that sees this, I live right next to the post office and I'd be happy to buy/trade (for UK stamps) stamps anytime

[pinoygreats]

I live in the Philippines and never see an IRC selling in our Post Offices. What i did is I enclose 1 or 2 dollar bill inside the addresed envelope instead of IRCs. I been doing that for 2 years and it seems work. I think the sense of an IRC is basically like that. The celeb will use the IRC to cover the price of the postage. The problem is if the celeb is too lazy to go to the Post Office, nothing will happen.