Reminder: International Reply Coupons

All postal retail units must submit foreign-issued (exchanged) and U.S.-issued (redeemed) international reply coupons (IRCs) accepted through December 31, 2011, to their assigned destruction stamp distribution cen­ter (SDC) or stamp distribution office (SDO) as follows:

SDCs accepting redeemed or exchanged IRCs:

Kansas City, Phoenix, and Atlanta

SDOs accepting redeemed or exchanged IRCs:

Caribbean, Alaska, and Honolulu

Redeemed or exchanged IRCs (pictured below) with an expiration date of December 31, 2013 (Item Number 330800), are the only version that will be accepted by SDCs and SDOs. The due date for submission by postal retail units is January 31, 2012.

Image of an IRC

Image of an IRC

The redemption rate for foreign-issued exchanged IRCs with an expiration date of December 31, 2013, is: 90 cents.

Customer-returned U.S.-issued IRCs are redeemed at 1 cent less than purchase price.

Handbook F-101, Field Accounting Procedures, part 11-6.6 contains specific instructions for submitting exchanged foreign-issued and redeemed U.S.-issued IRCs to SDCs or SDOs.

Do not return IRCs with an expiration date of December 31, 2009, and earlier to an SDC or SDO. IRCs with an expi­ration date before December 31, 2009, that were not returned as advised in past Postal Bulletin articles must be removed from your inventory, destroyed locally (no value), and posted as a shortage (AIC 767) to your unit reserve stock inventory. (POS units must enter a count in the “Count Inventory and Cash” workflow; select “yes” to the question “Is this a final count”.) Unit reserve custodians may submit a claim for loss to the district Finance manager following procedures in Handbook F-101, Field Accounting Procedures, sub-chapter 8-7, Claim for Loss. Upon receipt of an approved claim for loss, clear the stamp credit short­age (AIC 367) and offset to AIC 633, Claim for Loss; use Reason Code 10, Uncollectible Employee Items.

Do not return IRCs with an expiration date of December 31, 2009, and earlier to an SDC or SDO for any reason.

SDC and SDO

SDCs and SDOs must mail redeemed and exchanged IRCs (with an expiration date of December 31, 2013, only) received from postal retail units by February 28, 2012, to the following address:

Eagan ASC Finance Branch
Financial Reporting
U.S. Postal Service
2825 Lone Oak Pkwy.
Eagan, MN 55121-9617

Handbook F-101 part 12-2.8 contains specific instruc­tions for submitting exchanged foreign-issued and redeemed U.S.-issued IRCs to the Eagan ASC.

Handbook F-101 is available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:

n Go to http://blue.usps.gov

n In the left-hand column, under “Essential Links,” click PolicyNet.

n Click HBKs.

(The direct URL for Handbook F-101 is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/hand/f101.pdf.)