International Reply Coupons IRC's

 

Most Hams will have come across the IRC, especially if they are interested in exchanging QSL cards. IRC's have been around for many years now and are used to "buy" postage stamps. Perhaps many of you might not know that the newer designs have a finite shelf life and you may be holding IRC's which are already useless or will be useless in a very short time.

IRC's were introduced at the Universal Postal Union Congress in Rome in 1906 and were first issued on October 1st 1907. Here are two examples from those early days...

When one writes to a stranger and requests a reply, it is considered polite to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. This works well when both persons live in the same country; however, if they are from different countries, the enclosed postage stamp will not be valid.   This technical problem was solved in 1906 when the Universal Postal Union, during its Congress in Rome, introduced the International Reply Coupon service. As the service began before the days of airmail, the earliest coupons could only be redeemed for a single-rate ordinary postage stamp to a foreign country. In terms of today's UPU Convention, International reply coupons (IRC) are exchangeable in all member countries for the minimum postage of a priority item or an unregistered airmail letter sent to a foreign country.   The UPU's International Bureau processes several million coupons each year and deals with all accounting aspects. The International Bureau does not sell IRCs directly to customers; they must buy them from their local Post Office. Although Post Offices are not obliged to sell IRCs, it is mandatory for Post Offices of the UPU member countries to exchange the coupons. If a Post does not sell IRCs, it is possible to purchase them in a post office located in a neighboring country.

 

In the past, IRC's did not have an expiry date and were valid as long as the issuing Post Office had stamped the IRC. The design shown here is known as the C22 design and was superseded in the year 2000 by the CN01 design. If you still have any stocks of the C22 then you can use them as wallpaper but they are no longer valid for postage stamp exchange at the Post Office. You can keep them in your stamp collection as a curiosity or relic of bygone days.

 

This type of CN01 IRC was valid from 2000 until November 2006 but could still be exchanged for stamps until the end of December 2006. It has now been superseded by a new CN01 design which is valid from November 2006 until November 2009.

After the end of December 2006 this CN01 type will have expired and will no longer be accepted by the Post Offices all over the world.

 

 

Shown here is the new CN01 IRC which was made available in July 2006 and is valid for postage stamp exchange until December 2009. These are the only ones you should accept now.

A special version was issued in 2007 to mark the 100th Anniversary of UPU

    

The Universal Postal Union now has 190 members with the inclusion of Montenegro in July 2006.

Member Countries and Non-Member Countries of the Universal Postal Union

There are 190 member "countries" of the Universal Postal Union, a United Nations-based organization that seeks "to foster the sustainable development of quality universal, efficient accessible postal services in order to facilitate communication among the people of the world."

Since there are 193 countries in the world but only 190 member countries of the UPU, who's not part of this useful organization? There are actually five non-member countries but two non-country members!

Country Non-Members

The five non-member countries include three former United States territories, for whom the United States Postal Service still delivers the mail - the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau.

The other two are Andorra and Taiwan. Andorra is listed as a "UN member country whose situation with regard to the UPU has not yet been settled." Taiwan is an interesting case because they're not listed as being part of China, as one might expect.

Non-Country Members

The two non-country members are the 1) Netherlands Antilles and Aruba and the 2) Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba entered the UPU in 1875 and the Overseas Territories joined the UPU in 1877. Both are composed of territories of the Netherlands and United Kingdom, respectively. The Overseas Territories includes:

  • Anguilla
  • Ascension
  • Bermuda
  • British Indian Ocean Territory
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Cayman Islands
  • Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
  • Gibraltar
  • Montserrat
  • Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  • St. Helena
  • Tristan da Cunha
  • Turks and Caicos Islands

The overseas territories of the United States (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Virgin Islands of the United States of America) are not counted as a combined individual member as do the U.K. territories; the U.S. territories fall under the U.S. membership.

How does one become a member of the UPU? According to their site, "any country member of the United Nations may become members of the UPU. Any country non-member of the United Nations may become member provided that its request is approved by at least two-thirds of the member countries of the UPU." Apparently, a country non-member of the U.N. doesn't even have to be a real country.

 

 

© Philippine Amateur Radio Association, Inc. 2009