Very disappointing QSL card response
- Thread starter jaymatt1978
- Start date
RichardW9RAC
Member
When I send out QSL card the cost is around 4$ if it is sent domestically, so as you can imagine I send them selectively. I QSL with all CW contacts who send a card, no postage required. I have this noted on my QRZ page also. Nothing against SSB, but I do not QSL with those contacts. Since it's my money, my time, I feel it's my choice. 73 Rich W9RAC
A QSL card in a standard 3x5 envelope shouldn't be more than a stamp at most...Must be some gold plated QSL cards you have to be around 4$
Regards,
-Frank C.
RichardW9RAC
Member
I'll help you out here, Frank. All my cards are original, I design them as well as the envelope. The cards are printed on heavy stock to look and feel original, 1930s vintage. The envelopes I have printed with my designs and the inside is printed with my call as a security block. Also, each card and envelope is fitted with an original Samuel Morse .01$ stamp, an original U.S. Post Office Amateur Radio issue stamp, an original Voice of America U.S.postage stamp and a vintage Indiana state stamp. So you see Frank, although they are not gold-plated as you had speculated, they are expensive to produce at a quality level. I have had a few articles written about them. Unless you are on the CW bands, it is unlikely you will be able to judge the quality for yourself. 73 Rich W9RACA QSL card in a standard 3x5 envelope shouldn't be more than a stamp at most...Must be some gold plated QSL cards you have to be around 4$
Regards,
-Frank C.
Rich,
That makes much more sense! My cards are printed on pretty good stock, not heavy or super heavy. I just use a standard 3x5 envelope so my cards don't get destroyed in the mail. I use sticker labels for the addresses and security block on the back. I'm not sufficient on CW but I do listen here and there.
Regards,
-Frank C.
Just checking my search engine for current card cost and assuming that one sends out cards infrequently, the specialist printer that was at the top of the list charges $84 for 100 cards. Add in postage and an envelope and one is over $1.00 USD per contact. Certainly, one could order 1,000 cards or more to reduce the per card cost, but at my age, I'd have to send out a QSL card to nearly every contact I make and my estate will have some to throw out when I achieve SK status.
RichardW9RAC
Member
Send me your call Ill send you one out. 73 Rich W9RAC
Spankymedic7
Member
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I hate to echo the 'no obligation' message, Jay, but a QSO that was no more than an exchange of callsigns and signal reports won't mean much to many hams, and especially to a DX station that get bombarded with QSL card requests.
Having been DX I can tell you that sending cards is both time consuming and expensive --So if you want a QSL from me, make me want to send you one of mine-- for instance, remind me of something we talked about, include a photo or a postcard of your home towne , maybe a short hand written note---make it personal ....tell me how long and hard you have tried to work the Antrax Islands for your DXCC (even if its a fib- a little white lie can win this damsel's heart
Send your card first-- and make it a NICE looking card; put it in an envelope-- nothing is such a turn off as a mangled ink smeared one colour postcard with some chicken-scratch on the back--- and if its domestic include a SASE --if its foreign include some "green stamps" ***.
I am not lecturing; this is just lessons learned from being a ham since forever. QSL'ing is an art. and I've done it from all sides.
Good luck Jay
Lauri
View attachment 129730
*** SASE---self addressed stamped envelope, "green stamps" (an old ham expression) for "George Washingtons"
(my best QSL ? a case of duty-paid wine from a French ham for a rare IOTA contact
---------------------and did I say it ? I hate on-line confirmations !
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I disagree with the "greenstamps"...why should I have to pay for my own QSL card, and then pay for the other? If one can't afford sending out their own cards, or is snobbish enough to require SASE and/or money just to reply, well...I think you know where I'm going with this.
Look at it this way. You didn't have to send the other guy a QSL card. You did that out of the goodness of your heart. But, you are asking the other guy to do something for you. You are asking the other station to send you a QSL card. Printing and mailing QSL cards costs money, as you know. You don't know the other guy's financial situation. Maybe printing and mailing QSL cards is a financial hardship. Maybe his country makes it difficult for him to mail something to another country. So, if the other guy wants an SASE or "green stamps" and you want his QSL card, it's gonna cost you. If you choose not to pay, that's up to you.
I just got two QSL cards this week -- of course because they are expecting reciprocation. I upload all of my logs to LOTW, eQSL and QRZ. That should cover pretty much any award some american is working. And, on my website I specifically state that I am not interested in postal QSLing anymore. Yet people send cards expecting a response. Pretty irritating. As far as I know, all ARRL awards are handled by LOTW, CQ awards by eQSL, and then QRZ awards by QRZ. What's left that requires an American station to receive a postal QSL from another American station? We're talking about FT8 QSOs - so these guys have computers and likely have already received my confirmation on one or more platforms.
Ugh.
Ugh.
W8HDU
Member
QSL cards are a courtesy, not a requirement. Expecting someone to give you a card just for the QSO is like standing next to a coworker at the vending machine and expecting them to buy you something. I often find the best way to get a card, is to give a card. But there is no guarantee you will.
Postcard postage is only $0.44. For s___s sake, if someone is that cheap they can't return the favor, then don't talk to them on the air.
Here's my card for 2023. I have a different card each year, the photo is from a local photographer, and I make the card in MS Word.
I also have cards for my business radios since there are some SWLs and scanner listeners who will let you know that they heard you. I feel it's polite to answer them if they took the time to contact you with details.
But I'm also the type to write thank you letters to people, and when I was in AM radio would send QSL cards for a reception report.
Not required, but it's the right thing to do.
Postcard postage is only $0.44. For s___s sake, if someone is that cheap they can't return the favor, then don't talk to them on the air.
Here's my card for 2023. I have a different card each year, the photo is from a local photographer, and I make the card in MS Word.
I also have cards for my business radios since there are some SWLs and scanner listeners who will let you know that they heard you. I feel it's polite to answer them if they took the time to contact you with details.
But I'm also the type to write thank you letters to people, and when I was in AM radio would send QSL cards for a reception report.
Not required, but it's the right thing to do.
Ahhh, a security block to keep prying eyes from seeing the PII on the QSL card that's also printed on the outside of the envelope 👍
I like the card, BTW @W8HDU !
Here's the thing...it isn't bad if you're sending a few cards a month. There was a time in my ham "career" where I was receiving 1,000-2,000 QSL cards a month, during some of the busier months!! In fact, I have a couple pounds of cards sitting at the bureau right now, just waiting to be shipped to me, and that's not counting the ones that were sent direct. There will probably be 1,000 cards in that batch. 90%+ of all my cards are DX. That's what I do. I do contests and I work DX.
I don't send my cards as postcards (by choice, so my extra cost, of course) because the postmark looks ugly, or makes the QSL info unreadable in some instances. I think I'm still at $0.55 or so for my standard forever stamps, and around $1.20 for international stamps. That doesn't include the cost of envelopes or the QSL card printing, of course, neither of which are cheap.
You can see where those costs add up very quickly. Even 500 cards a month at $1.20 in postage is $600, just for the postage alone, every single month. That's more than my first apartment cost!
I'm in a financial situation where I can handle that cost, thankfully, but not everybody is. So to say it is snobbish to require a SASE or greenstamp is a snobbish statement in and of itself. You're either assuming that everybody can afford to return the favor, or you very likely only receive 3 or 4 cards a month, if that, and the couple bucks isn't a big deal.If it's a card I really want or need, then I will send a greenstamp or two. I have had greenstamps returned to me with a thanks but no thanks note attached, and I have done the same. The only reason I appreciate a return envelope (stamped or not) is because it saves me time when it comes to finding the address and printing the labels.
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".....I disagree with the "greenstamps"...why should I have to pay for my own QSL card, and then pay for the other?....."
I am going to disagree with this disagreement. I feel under no obligation to send a card confirming a QSO-- especially if the cards I receive show no deeper thought than a mass-mail.
As far as any type of electronic confirmations- I am a Luddite when it comes things like LOTW et al............. its never worth holding your breathe waiting for my "e-confirmation."
Domestic QSL's, while still a $$ issue, pale in comparison to international. Sending cards to-or-from foreign countries is not only expensive but often a royal PIA.
Fortunately in my ham career I have run across very few foreign stations that were not aware of this, and the vast vast majority that wanted my card went out of their way to make it easy for me (like that case of wine mentioned previously.)
Anyone remember/use IRC's (International Reply Coupons) ? I haven't used them in ages and have a nice collection of them from the four corners of the world that I keep saying someday I will redeem --but they are a real pain to deal with too-- and good luck if you are like me and deal with a tiny rural Post Office. I am not sure my Post Mistress has ever dealt with them, let alone seen one.
An old trite Bromide from my past went-------------
"The final courtesy of a QSO is a QSL"
Well, that is a two way street....... and SASE and a few Green Stamps is part of that courtesy too.
Lauri
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".....I disagree with the "greenstamps"...why should I have to pay for my own QSL card, and then pay for the other?....."
I am going to disagree with this disagreement. I feel under no obligation to send a card confirming a QSO-- especially if the cards I receive show no deeper thought than a mass-mail.
As far as any type of electronic confirmations- I am a Luddite when it comes things like LOTW et al............. its never worth holding your breathe waiting for my "e-confirmation."
Domestic QSL's, while still a $$ issue, pale in comparison to international. Sending cards to-or-from foreign countries is not only expensive but often a royal PIA.
Fortunately in my ham career I have run across very few foreign stations that were not aware of this, and the vast vast majority that wanted my card went out of their way to make it easy for me (like that case of wine mentioned previously.)
Anyone remember/use IRC's (International Reply Coupons) ? I haven't used them in ages and have a nice collection of them from the four corners of the world that I keep saying someday I will redeem --but they are a real pain to deal with too-- and good luck if you are like me and deal with a tiny rural Post Office. I am not sure my Post Mistress has ever dealt with them, let alone seen one.
An old trite Bromide from my past went-------------
"The final courtesy of a QSO is a QSL"
Well, that is a two way street....... and SASE and a few Green Stamps is part of that courtesy too.
Lauri
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W8HDU
Member
This is the card sent to SWLs who hear my business band radio. Just sent one to a fellow in Ontario last week when the band was open. Frequencies are 29.73000, 29.75000, and 29.77000, all 20K0F3E @ 100 watts. Call sign: WRUG234. Still waiting for the F.C.C. to grant the base license.
The joke on the card ... when I was designing it, we were all trying to decide what we would put on for a picture since the business is construction. A picture of a crane or Bobcat is sort of dull, and someone suggested a group picture of employees. So....
The joke on the card ... when I was designing it, we were all trying to decide what we would put on for a picture since the business is construction. A picture of a crane or Bobcat is sort of dull, and someone suggested a group picture of employees. So....
W8HDU
Member
As I recall, they were an evil necessity if you wanted a verification from a SW broadcaster. Is that right?
I hate to say how long ago it was when I used them. Perhaps the 70s?
IRCs?
I used to have some in the 1970s, but forgot to turn them in prior to the deadline for redemption.
The United States Postal Service stopped selling international reply coupons on 27 January 2013.
The UK Royal Mail stopped selling them in 2011 due to virtually no demand.
I used to have some in the 1970s, but forgot to turn them in prior to the deadline for redemption.
The United States Postal Service stopped selling international reply coupons on 27 January 2013.
The UK Royal Mail stopped selling them in 2011 due to virtually no demand.
IRCs were central to Charles Ponzi. Anyone know their crime and post office trivia?
W8HDU
Member
There was a show on TV about it. Interesting way to pull off a con-job. I'm sure if they were around today, Facebook Marketplace would be using them for scams.
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