IRCs

IRCs are accepted by all UPU member countries.

IRCs are ordered from the UPU headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, by postal authorities.

Prices for IRCs vary by country.

IRCs purchased in foreign countries could be used in United States toward the purchase of postage stamps and embossed stamped envelopes at the current one-ounce First Class International rate ($ 1. 05 USD as of April 2012 ) per coupon.

IRCs are often used by amateur radio operators sending QSL cards to each other ; it has traditionally been considered good practice and common courtesy to include an IRC when writing to a foreign operator and expecting a reply by mail.

The profit that 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 was the intended profit generator for a scheme operated by Charles Ponzi, which became the fraudulent Ponzi scheme ; in practice, the overhead on buying and selling large amounts of the very low-value IRCs precluded profitability.

IRCs were priced at the cost of postage in the country of purchase, but could be exchanged for stamps to cover the cost of postage in the country where redeemed ; if these values were different, there was a potential profit.

Each IRC normally housed two information retrieval computers, although in some IRCs in London just a single machine was present.

IRCs were generally located within major telephone exchanges, rather than in BT Data Processing Centres, in order to give room for the extensive communications requirements.

In many cases, and as a courtesy, users of IRCs also send a Self Addressed Envelope to save the receiver the cost and time of buying and filling out an envelope.

International Retreat Centers ( IRCs ) are centers that offer facilities for those wishing to do both long-term and short-term meditation retreats.