[HN Gopher] International Reply Coupon
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       International Reply Coupon
        
       Author : chaoskanzlerin
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2024-07-07 14:52 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | RIMR wrote:
       | Ah yes, the source of the original Ponzi Scheme, before Ponzi
       | finished scheming.
        
         | codesections wrote:
         | Quoting for context:
         | 
         | " In 1920, Charles Ponzi made use of the idea that profit could
         | be made by taking advantage of the differing postal rates in
         | different countries to buy IRCs cheaply in one country and
         | exchange them for stamps of a higher value in another country.
         | His attempts to raise money for this venture became instead the
         | fraudulent Ponzi scheme.[24] In practice, the overhead on
         | buying and selling large numbers of the very low-value IRCs
         | precluded any profitability. The selling price and exchange
         | value in stamps in each country have been adjusted to some
         | extent to remove some of the potential for profit, but ongoing
         | fluctuations in currency value and exchange rates make it
         | impossible to achieve this completely, as long as stamps
         | represent a specific currency value, instead of acting as
         | vouchers granting specific postal services, devoid of currency
         | nomination.[25]"
        
       | rmason wrote:
       | I've used International Reply Coupons as a ham. When hams 'work'
       | each other they exchange something called QSL cards that are the
       | size of a post card confirming the conversation. Speak with
       | enough US States or foreign countries you can submit your QSL
       | cards to qualify for awards like Worked All States (WAS) or
       | countries confirmed (DXCC).
       | 
       | When working overseas hams, particularly when they live in the
       | third world it was common to mail them enough IRC's to cover the
       | return postage for them. Now while QSL cards haven't disappeared
       | most of it has moved to the web and digital confirmations.
        
       | endgame wrote:
       | Is it possible for consumers to still buy these from overseas? My
       | country seems to have stopped selling them, but I'd love to mail
       | one to a faraway friend.
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-09 23:00 UTC)