I now have two years of good $ records of income and outgo for answering
QSL cards direct and via buro for my Thailand call sign.
The answer is I can account for $11.00 USD net cost to me per month.
That is eleven dollars times 12 months = $132.00 USD per year.
This includes printing cards, paying for Air Mail stamps, and answering
buro cards. That includes cards resulting from CONTESTS*. I do not send
any card that is not requested, direct and buro.
It does not include travel to post office, a P. O. box rental, envelopes
for some, and such misc.
It is via the generosity of direct mailing hams including green stamps that
cuts my costs and very cheap local printing of color cards, as cheap as
plain other places.
I can not see how hams who respond faithfully to all card requests can
possibly make money on QSL cards. I guess my costs are low which means the
net cost/loss to hams in other locations must be higher.
I enjoy so much getting cards and responding that my costs are a tiny price
to pay for the joy they give me. That is especially true for those that
say, "I am 70 years old, a ham all my life, and you are my first Thailand
QSO, pse QSL."
There is just no substitute for touching real things, 73,
--
Charly, HS0ZCW
*See how this message is relevant to contests! Ah ha!
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