All members should either have received or will receive shortly a note relating to postal play.

For many years, webserver play has predominated.   This is for good reason as:

1. Webserver is immensely quicker than postal. There is an inherent delay in domestic postal play of around a week for each complete move.   For a 30 move game, that equates to an additional seven months of play simply to transmit moves.

 

2. This is exacerbated for international play. Depending on the countries involved, postal play can take years longer than playing through the webserver.

 

3. Further, using the postal system is significantly more expensive than webserver. There are charges imposed by the ICCF for running webserver events, but these are insignificant when compared with the cost of postage, particularly for international games.

 

4. These problems are magnified by the uncertainty of postal communication and the impact of delays caused by industrial action and other logistical difficulties.

 

5. In addition to the problems with playing, postal play is increasingly difficult and time consuming to manage and involves substantially more work than a webserver event, in part due to resolving the problems arising from playing through the post rather than online.

 

6. In turn, this is reflected in there being a diminishing number of members who are qualified to organise or direct postal events.

For these reasons, the Executive Committee has decided that we will cease to sponsor postal play with effect from the beginning of the next membership year, i.e. 1st September 2023.

Further details are contained in the note to members.