History
The IRC was introduced in 1906 at a Universal Postal Union congress in Rome. At the time an IRC could be exchanged for a single-rate, ordinary postage stamp for surface delivery to a foreign country, as this was before the introduction of airmail services. An IRC is exchangeable in a UPU member country for the minimum postage of a priority or unregistered airmail letter to a foreign country.
The current IRC, available since 1 July 2009, is called the "Nairobi" model, and is available from post offices in more than 70 countries. IRCs are ordered from the UPU headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, by postal authorities. They are generally available at large post offices; in the U.S., they are requisitioned along with regular domestic stamps by any post office that has sufficient demand for them.
Prices for IRCs vary by country. In the United States in November 2012, the purchase price was $2.20USD. IRCs purchased in foreign countries may be used in the United States toward the purchase of postage stamps and embossed stamped envelopes at the current one-ounce First Class International rate ($1.05 USD as of April 2012) per coupon.
IRCs are often used by amateur radio operators sending QSL cards to each other; it has traditionally been considered good practice and common courtesy to include an IRC when writing to a foreign operator and expecting a reply by mail.
Previous editions of the IRC, the "Beijing" model and all subsequent versions, bear an expiration date. Consequently, a new IRC will be issued every three years. The current IRC will become obsolete on 31 December 2013. Current stockpiles in the hands of users should be expended by then, or exchanged for the new issue to be introduced at that time. The current issue IRC may be exchanged until 31 December 2013 (date printed on coupon).
Read more about this topic: International Reply Coupon
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)