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GERMAN POSTAGE STAMPS VS. THE DREADED IRC
I had a close, personal friend in Germany visit his local post office and the regional post office (after hearing of a firestorm of protest in Germany), to ask one question: "What about the IRC?". The response was frigid at both locations, in short: "Please tell your American friend not to burden us with that worthless piece of paper. Most Germans don't even know what one is, and we don't want to mess with them." They explained that the German people have never liked the IRC, and that the attitude of the postal service toward it had changed due to the flood of them coming in from the USA. Thus, the rules were rewritten in 1997.
If one takes an IRC to a German post office and wants to simply convert it into cash or German postage stamps, that is impossible. It is possible to use the IRC as postage under the following circumstances:
The IRC will be converted UP TO to the maximum value of a "priority standard letter". For airmail to the USA, that is Euro 3.00. The German citizen must have in his/her possession the IRC from the USA or any other country, and the already-prepared letter of response, in order for the German post office to determine the validity of the IRC and its value against the weight and measurements of the response your German contact is trying to send. If the IRC or letter of response do not meet German postal regulations, then the transaction will be refused.
A "priority standard letter" is an airmal letter weighing a maximum of 20 grams (140 millimeters to 235 millimeters in length by 90 millimeters to 125 millimeters in width, by no more than 5 millimeters high). If the German response exceeds the maximums by the slightest amount, it is no longer a "standard letter." A response which exceeds the maximums CANNOT BE SENT using an IRC.
An IRC costing $1.75 in the USA is ONLY worth up to 2.00 Euro. If the cost of the response exceeds that amount, it cannot be sent. It must fall within definition of a "priority standard letter," described above.
In brief: ONE IRC can be used for one airmail standard letter ONLY if one brings the prepared response and envelope to the German post office where it can be evaluated (weighed and measured) to see if it falls within the definition of a priority standard letter. If it does not, your German contact MUST purchase (out of his/her own pocket) and use German postage stamps - and toss the IRC.
This set of circumstances is particularly frustrating, unnerving, and unsettling to the German who WANTS to respond to your inquiry, only to discover that his/her response falls outside the post office regulations and he/she must pay personally for the return postage involved. The IRC then becomes a worthless piece of paper in his/her desk drawer at home, or, more likely, in the trash can, and you get NO response. Imagine an elderly "cousin" who receives your letter, lives in a rural area, dutifully arranges transportation to an area post office (which may be miles away), only to discover that the IRC will not work. Think what you would do in your country, should that happen.
DO OUR GERMAN FRIENDS A FAVOR!!! USE GERMAN POSTAGE STAMPS INSTEAD OF THE FRUSTRATING IRC AND PERPLEXING GERMAN POSTAL REGULATIONS!!! PRESERVE OUR GOOD RELATIONS WITH GERMAN GENEALOGISTS AND OTHERS TRYING TO HELP US!!! ORDER YOUR STAMPS FROM ONLINE FRIENDS LIVING IN GERMANY, OR THROUGH DON WATSON, DWATS <AT> COX . NET !