International Reply Coupons (IRCs)
Updated 3 January 2007
International Reply Coupons, or IRCs, are a way for people to prepay the
postage for something mailed from another country without sending currency
through the mail. These coupons are issued by the
Universal Postal Union (UPU),
and sold through post offices in many countries. These coupons are
supposed to be accepted as payment for postage in any post office of a UPU
member country, although some post offices may rarely - if ever - see these
coupons, and may not know what to do with them. Officially, a single
coupon is supposed to be sufficient to send an envelope from one country to
another through international airmail, although in some countries two coupons
are required.
In the USA, IRCs may be purchased for US$ 1.85, and the
US Postal Service will
redeem IRCs at the rate of 84 US cents per coupon. This is the rate to
send an envelope (up to 1 ounce, or 28 grams) anywhere in the world via
airmail. In Canada, Canada Post sells IRCs for C$ 3.50 (plus, for some
provinces and territories, sales taxes), and redeems IRCs for airmail postage
to send an envelope (up to 30 grams) anywhere. The prices vary from
country to country, and the rate at which a post office will honor a coupon at
also varies from country to country.
The image below is what the current IRC looks like. Originally
released in mid-2006, it is valid through 31 December 2009. On
the back side, there will be a bar code along with a two-letter code
that represents the country which sold the coupon, dates showing the
validity of the coupons, and other information. Above the bar
code, there is a statement in several languages explaining what the
coupon can be used for.
Sample of current (2007-2009) International Reply Coupon,
front
IRCs in the USA...
In the past, IRCs were small pieces of paper, without expiration dates and
the barcodes found on current IRCs. For the past few years, post offices
around the world decided to stop redeeming the smaller IRCs, issued before
2002, and only accept the larger ones illustrated on this web page. Now
the United States Postal Service has officially stated that it will not redeem
any pre-2002 IRCs except for those originally purchased at a US post
office.
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