An international reply coupon (IAS) (IRC, engl: Internationally Reply coupon) is a coupon, which can be exchanged in countries within the Universal Postal Union (UPU) against the value of the postage of a Luftpostbriefes heavy up to 20 gram abroad.

The purpose of an IRC is to refund to the receiver of a letter the fees for an answer. For letters, which are inland sent away, it is usually sufficient to attach back postage in the form of stamps. If the receiver is however abroad, then it is usually very difficult to receive stamps of the appropriate country in order to settle it as back postage. An IRC can be acquired in each country, the member in Universal Postal Union is.

Price list for a IAS

The cost per internationally Reply coupon can vary from country to country substantially. Thus an IRC e.g. costs in

Conditions: January 2006

Since the postage rise in Germany for 20-g-Luftpostbriefe to 1,70 EUR it became often more favorable to buy internationally the Reply coupon abroad.

Beginning as alternative currency

An alternative is to attach a US Dollar as note to a letter. However the foreign exchange laws of some countries forbid this. Occasionally an IRC serves also as currency for small values.

Very frequently IRCs are used for refunding the postage costs in the correspondence between radio amateurs or short wave listeners and a foreign broadcasting station, who want to be confirmed their receipt observations with QSL maps.

The IRCs issued since 2002 still keeps by 31 December 2006 its validity. The UPU wants to present a new, falsification safe IRC Design on 1 July 2006. In the USA an IRC can be exchanged against stamps in the value of 0,84 US$ with USPS.

See also

• Post office

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