So been out of DX QSL chasing for a while and wondered what is the current value of "green stamps". Alan WD9GMK
Most DX will reply these days with $3 in 'green stamps'. Some still list $2... best to check their QRZ QSL preferences. There was one DX guy a year or two ago charging I think $10 for a card But my advice: don't put anything on the envelope outside that would indicate it's from a ham / to a ham. Many postal workers, not just foreign but probably right here in the states, have gotten wise to "green stamps" for QSL card requests and if they see a US ham sending an envelope to a foreign ham, will just rip the envelope open and steal the money. I've received three "destroyed in the mail" returns of outbound QSL cards, with the envelope and my QSL card in a USPS return envelope, but whadya know - the "greenstamps" did not survive. So if I really want a paper card, I use my wife's "Breast Cancer Awareness Fund" return address labels, and only put the name and address of the other ham - NO call sign on the envelope. Then I write "photos enclosed - do not bend" which tips any crooked postal folks off that the "card" they might feel inside is just photos. Dave W7UUU
For almost 20 years I used #2 sons APO and DPO addresses for QSL's as well as obtaining rather cheap former Soviet bloc electronics. The cost was my postage to NYC and his was an on base or in an embassy PO....walk to it. QSL's were then mailed from whatever country he was in to wherever he was living off base, no mention of a US military connection and "native" stamps were used. I also had a well traveled UK ham friend picking up goodies at large EU hamfests and then dropping at a US Embassy or Consulate which he regularly visited. I reciprocated whenever he needed something from here and didnt have to pay the USPS highway robbery rates. Carl
