[CQ-Contest] Outgoing "W" QSL's

[Jim Lowman]

At 12:44 AM 2/16/98 -0600, you wrote:

>(Fortunately, there are some folks out there that recognize the
>financial situation of clubs/special events stations and stuff a
>dollar or so in their envelope along with their SASE.  I always
>include in the donor's return envelope a decal or patch I am able
>to glom from our public affairs office or from the astronaut
>office.  The non-SASE accompanied cards are handled the very
>last, after all other cards have been mailed.)

Last July, we had a special event at our club, celebrating 50 years
of existence.

Three of the "Big 4" ham magazines carried the announcement (although
one mis-stated the duration of the event as four hours, instead of 12 -
guess which one?) and it was also sent out on the Internet and on packet.

We sent exactly the same information to each medium.  Since we offered
a certificate as well as a QSL card, we were specific in asking for at
least an 8-1/2" x 11" envelope.

For the most part, we received what we asked for; even got a couple of
green stamps, which was considerate.  There were very few without either
SAE/SASE or postage; what we did get were a number of smaller envelopes,
even down to the standard letter size that one might drop a QSL card into.

Since we had commemorative QSL cards printed for the event, and spent 
nearly a buck for color copying of the certificates, we spent almost $1.50
to QSL each one received, including those without postage.  Fortunately,
as I mentioned, very few were received without postage.

However, I'd be willing to bet that those who didn't follow our instructions
on envelope size were disappointed with the result.  We instructed our QSL
manager for this event to fold the certificates and QSL cards to fit into
whatever size envelope was supplied.  These were handsome QSL materials,
if I do say so myself; something I'd be proud to hang on my shack wall.
I sure wouldn't want to have seen the certificate after it had been stuffed
into an undersize envelope.

So much for following instructions, I guess.

73 de Jim - AD6CW



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