Page 109 - Prepaid Reply Cards

6. THE SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DOUBLE CARD WITH PREPAID REPLY

INTRODUCTION OF INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPONS
According to the proceedings, the UPU delegates considered the different propositions to be a «sac d'embrouille»
– a «pile of confusion». Ultimately, all these suggestions were rejected and instead the concept of an
«International Reply Coupon» (IRC, in French «Coupon-réponse international») was accepted, based on a
proposal of the delegation from New Zealand, which just joined the Union.
IRCs were to be sold at the post offices in each member state and mailed as an inlay in a regular letter. In the
receiving country they could be exchanged for stamps covering the postage of a simple international letter at the
20g weight rate. In contrast to double cards with prepaid reply, IRCs were sold at a rate higher than the effective
letter rate. IRCs are still available today and designed and printed centrally to the order of the UPU, just differing
by the name of the issuing country, imprinted value and currency, and sometimes by language.
At the point of sale IRCs had to be cancelled by the originating post office and then again at time of exchange by
the collecting office. Usually IRCs only exist «unused» shows only the marking of the originating office, since the
IRCs were kept by the collecting office after exchange for administrational purposes.

French International Reply Coupon at 30 Centimes. Issued in Paris on 01.10.1907 – the first day of possible
usage for IRCs. At this time the international letter rate at 20g weight in France was 20 Centimes.

IRC issued in the then German occupied Czechoslovakia – called Bohemia and Moravia by the Germans.
The IRC was issued in Prague on 17.02.1940 and exchanged on 20.06.1940 in Quito/Ecuador.

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