Over recent years more than occasional comment has been made by some DXers about whether QSL Managers make money from sending out QSL cards. Obviously, not all DXpeditions have the same policies but a year after the VP2MUW expedition, here’s how our QSL finances stack up.

Important note: I’m writing this in the interests of transparency on the topic following a few very emotive posts and policies from some DXpeditions. This is certainly not an appeal for money, and I don’t propose to suddenly increase the amount I ask for, nor do I wish to dissuade you from asking for a card if you want it!

Most people request direct cards via OQRS. Until April 2019, the cost of an international stamp from the UK was £1.25. It was then increased to £1.35. (These international stamps cover 20g to Europe or 10g to anywhere else, which is sufficient to post a QSL card).

In turn, I asked for £1.80 for direct cards until April 2019, and then £1.90 thereafter. This means I was asking for 45p per card more than the postage price. That 45p needs to cover the card printing, labels for the QSO information and address label, an envelope, and, of course, Paypal fees. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t) – Oh, and due to a complete failure to account for Paypal fees on my part, I actually only charged £1.60 for cards until January 2019, which includes the bulk of cards ordered immediately after the trip.

I have sent 206 direct VP2MUW QSL cards (ie. 206 different recipients – there is more than one QSO on each card) so far. Here’s how the outgoings stack up for those cards:

Item:	Quantity:	Each:	Total:
Labels	412	£0.058	£23.90
Envelopes	206	£0.068	£14.01
Stamps (UK)	36	£0.56	£20.16
Stamps (International)	155	£1.25	£193.75
Stamps (International)	15	£1.35	£20.25
Card printing	206	£0.042	£8.65
PayPal fees	206	£0.31	£63.86
Total cost to me:			£344.58

Note: It’s difficult to extract from Paypal exactly how much you have spent in fees for a given period. The £63.86 shown here is an estimate based on their standard rates, across all the payments I received. It’s almost certainly an underestimate because it doesn’t account for the voluntary donations, which will also have attracted a percentage charge.

By asking for £1.60-£1.90 per card, I received £196.70 in total, meaning that sending direct cards made me a loss of 72p per card. (There will also have been a few ‘green stamps’ and pre-stamped envelopes mailed to me, but I’ve ignored those as I don’t have exact records of these. They are certainly a small number, however, as OQRS is the main way I am asked for direct cards.) Fortunately, we have some very generous people in the hobby, so I received an additional £105.20 in voluntary donations. These donations help offset that loss, reducing it to 21p/card.

However, we haven’t discussed bureau cards yet. I don’t get any money for those. I’ve so far sent 630 cards via the bureau. Luckily, these only need one mailing label each, so:

Item:	Quantity:	Each:	Total:
Labels	630	£0.058	£26.46
Card printing	630	£0.042	£36.54
Total cost to me:			£63.00

There’s then the cost of sending the cards to the bureau to consider. This is more difficult for me to judge as each QSL card batch I send contains cards for multiple expeditions but I’d estimate I have spent about £20 on bureau postage for the VP2MUW cards alone during this year.

If we take £83 as the total cost to me of sending bureau cards, the final amounts look like this:

Incoming:			Outgoing:
Direct cards	£196.70		Direct card costs:	£344.58
Donations	£105.20		Bureau card costs:	£83.00
Total	£301.90		Total	£427.58
			Loss:	£125.68
			Loss per card:	£0.15

For the benefit of an American audience, here’s a conversion to dollars:

Incoming:			Outgoing:
Direct cards	$253.74		Direct card costs	$444.50
Donations	$135.71		Bureau card costs	$107.07
Total	$389.45		Total	$551.57
			Loss:	$162.12
			Loss per card:	$0.19