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When I was first licensed (1959), I got QSLs in the mail just about every day. I made a fairly crude (Paleolithic by today's multicolor/multimedia standards!) black and white card with a photo of myself at my rig on the left side, QSO information on the right side, and the back of the card blank for the address. My dad knew a local printer so we went there and ordered "500" cards, figuring that would hold me for a while. Dad and I went back on the specified day and learned that there had been an "error". The order clearly read "500", but the shop had printed "5000" of them. That print shop didn't make any profit that day! And yes, they even helped cart them out to the car!

But the reason I received so many is that I lived in Las Vegas NV. At that time, Nevada was really thinly populated with hams. Most of the cards I received said something like "Ur my last state for WAS! PSE QSL!" Quite a few even included SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes), or US stamps. One guy in Israel sent me an actual IRC! Post Offices don't know what they are today, and didn't have too good a handle on it back then either.

There's a lot less QSLing for routine QSOs today, whether because of postage rates, or the proliferation of eQSLs, like - well, like eqsl.com - and the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LOTW). Or maybe hams just don't care that much about it any more. Personally, I QSL most of my DX contacts, especially if I need the other guy's card. Stateside, I answer all cards received. There's the postage problem again.

<blockquote data-quote="Beetle" data-source="post: 379912" data-attributes="member: 1066">When I was first licensed (1959), I got QSLs in the mail just about every day.&nbsp; I made a fairly crude (Paleolithic by today&#039;s multicolor/multimedia standards!) black and white card with a photo of myself at my rig on the left side, QSO information on the right side, and the back of the card blank for the address.&nbsp; My dad knew a local printer so we went there and ordered &quot;500&quot; cards, figuring that would hold me for a while.&nbsp; Dad and I went back on the specified day and learned that there had been an &quot;error&quot;.&nbsp; The order clearly read &quot;500&quot;, but the shop had printed &quot;5000&quot; of them.&nbsp; That print shop didn&#039;t make any profit that day!&nbsp; And yes, they even helped cart them out to the car!&nbsp;But the reason I received so many is that I lived in Las Vegas NV.&nbsp; At that time, Nevada was really thinly populated with hams.&nbsp; Most of the cards I received said something like &quot;Ur my last state for WAS! PSE QSL!&quot;&nbsp; Quite a few even included SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes), or US stamps.&nbsp; One guy in Israel sent me an actual IRC!&nbsp; Post Offices don&#039;t know what they are today, and didn&#039;t have too good a handle on it back then either.&nbsp;There&#039;s a lot less QSLing for routine QSOs today, whether because of postage rates, or the proliferation of eQSLs, like - well, like eqsl.com - and the ARRL&#039;s Logbook of the World (LOTW).&nbsp; Or maybe hams just don&#039;t care that much about it any more.&nbsp; Personally, I QSL most of my DX contacts, especially if I need the other guy&#039;s card.&nbsp; Stateside, I answer all cards received.&nbsp; There&#039;s the postage problem again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Beetle, post: 379912, member: 1066"] When I was first licensed (1959), I got QSLs in the mail just about every day. I made a fairly crude (Paleolithic by today's multicolor/multimedia standards!) black and white card with a photo of myself at my rig on the left side, QSO information on the right side, and the back of the card blank for the address. My dad knew a local printer so we went there and ordered "500" cards, figuring that would hold me for a while. Dad and I went back on the specified day and learned that there had been an "error". The order clearly read "500", but the shop had printed "500[B]0[/B]" of them. That print shop didn't make any profit that day! And yes, they even helped cart them out to the car! But the reason I received so many is that I lived in Las Vegas NV. At that time, Nevada was really thinly populated with hams. Most of the cards I received said something like "Ur my last state for WAS! PSE QSL!" Quite a few even included SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes), or US stamps. One guy in Israel sent me an actual IRC! Post Offices don't know what they are today, and didn't have too good a handle on it back then either. There's a lot less QSLing for routine QSOs today, whether because of postage rates, or the proliferation of eQSLs, like - well, like eqsl.com - and the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LOTW). Or maybe hams just don't care that much about it any more. Personally, I QSL most of my DX contacts, especially if I need the other guy's card. Stateside, I answer all cards received. There's the postage problem again. [/QUOTE]

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