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DX QSLing can get to be very expensive! With the Post Office always having an increase, both sending your card and paying to have a card sent back could cost upwards to $6.00 for each DX contact. A First Class International Letter outgoing from a US post office is $1.76. You are expected to pay the postage to the DX Operator to return a card to you which can be a several Dollars or "Green Stamps" or a couple of IRCs at $2.10 each. Total cost of just the postage can be as much as $5.96 not to mention the cost of envelopes. Multiply this by maybe 100 QSLs a year and you can easily spend $600.00+ a year just on DX QSLing. On top of all this, there really is no guarantee that you will get a card back. I stopped voicing complaints about the US Post Office when I learned that some foreign countries have crooked employees that will steal your envelope and pocket any funds you might have in there. On top of all this, there are Hams in some DX countries that have been tagged as dollar bill collectors. They do a lot of operating asking for a few of those Green Stamps for a card in return only they never send the card. It's an easy way to finance their hobby at somebody else's expense.

There is a solution:
The ARRL DX QSL Bureaus

Notice that I'm referring to DX QSLing. The Bureaus are for sending and receiving QSL cards with participating foreign countries' Amateur Radio Associations. See a list of those countries that do not have a DX QSL Bureau.

Incoming QSL Bureaus: (By Call Sign and NOT Call Area)

This list above is for the number in your call sign, not the call area where you might live. So, if you're K3XYZ and you live in Florida where is it considered "4 Land", you must still work with the Incoming Call Sign DX Bureau #3.

Receiving cards through the ARRL QSL Bureau is relatively easy. Just go to the store and buy a package of 6"x9" brown envelopes. In nice block letters up in the upper left corner print your call sign. I like to use a fat tip Sharpie marker. Next, print your address in the "Mail To" spot in the middle of the envelope. Finally, place the current postage where the stamp goes. I've been using those "Forever" stamps to avoid having to send stamps for envelopes I have on file in the event of a postage increase. Do this to 4 or 5 of those envelopes, fold them in half and stuff them into another 6"x9" brown envelope and mail them to your Incoming QSL Bureau. It will take more than one 44c stamp to mail to the Bureau because of the weight. Now, when you get about 6 DX QSL cards in at the Bureau, the Volunteers there will simply seal your envelope and mail it to you. But first, click on the link above that has the number that is in your call sign and read their directions on how they operate.

Another thing about the ARRL Incoming QSL Bureaus, most are always welcoming a donation. Because of the amount of postage they receive, and if they operate from a P.O. Box, that P.O. Box can cost somebody upwards to $900.00 a year. So, slipping them a Five or a Ten to help defray some cost would be welcomed.

One more thing I want to mention. I hope you're NOT in a hurry. It often takes a year or two for cards to make it to their final destinations. After I made my DXCC first 100, I was no longer in a fired up hurry to get those cards in the mail. The Bureau works just fine for me.

If you have any complaints, my W5 DX QSL Bureau has established a very effective Complaint Department. Remember, the QSL Bureaus are staffed by volunteers and the pay is lousy.