An International Reply Coupon (IRC) is a device by which a person in one member country of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) can prepay the return airmail postage cost of a letter of a specific maximum weight from a different UPU member country. At the time of writing and in theory at least, IRCs are exchangeable in all countries with the exception of Taiwan. UPU member countries may decide not to sell IRCs, (notably the Netherlands and Sweden, amongst others) but their exchange is compulsory in all countries.
On 1st July 2009, a completely new style of IRC went on sale, known as the CN 01 or Nairobi IRC. This new IRC will remain valid until 31st December 2013. The validity of the Beijing IRC issue of 2006 expired on 31st December 2009, and such IRCs became worthless after this date. In future, only the 2013 expiry type of IRC will be acceptable by the UK postal authorities and an example is shown below.
Do not expect a direct reply if you use 2009 expiry IRCs after 31st December 2009.
The name of the country of origin is printed on these coupons as a matter of course. Also printed on them, amongst other things, is a standardized UPU bar code containing the ISO code of the country and the date of printing. Each country’s postal administration will have the option of printing the selling price on the coupon itself.
IRCs can be bought “new” over the counter of the larger post offices and preferably be hand stamped in the left hand box by the issuing office. This box is marked “Empreinte de contrôle du pays d’origine (facultative)”, which means: “Control stamp of the country of origin (optional)”.
When presented in exchange for postage stamps, the receiving office should legibly date stamp the right hand box. This is a mandatory requirement to validate the IRC. This box is marked “Timbre de bureau qui effectue l’échange”, which means: “Stamp of the office making the exchange”.
Unfortunately, many post office counter clerks in many countries do not know or understand the rules and either stamp the wrong box by mistake at the time of issuing the IRC or fail to stamp any box at all (which is optional anyway). For the same reasons, counter clerks may then refuse to exchange IRCs for postage stamps, particularly if they are unstamped or incorrectly stamped. As a result, it is fair to say that unstamped or incorrectly stamped IRCs may be considered worthless by the DX station.
Consequently, do not expect to receive a direct reply if you use incorrectly stamped IRCs.
Examples of incorrectly stamped IRCs are shown below.
When you buy new IRCs from your local post office, please make a point of asking for them to be properly hand stamped in the left hand box.
Like many other QSL managers, I often have for sale at a modest discount small numbers of correctly stamped and valid “second hand” IRCs, although this arrangement generally only works for UK based stations. Such “second hand” IRCs circulate widely within the amateur radio community as “ham currency”, without ever being exchanged for postage stamps.
A properly stamped and valid 2013 expiry IRC.
An unstamped and possibly worthless 2013 expiry IRC.
An incorrectly stamped and possibly worthless 2013 expiry IRC.