and a signal report. The International Amateur Radio Union and its member societies recommend a maximum size of . Although some QSL cards are plain, they are a ham radio operator's calling card and are therefore frequently used for the expression of individual creativity — from a photo of the operator at their station to original artwork, images of the operator's home town or surrounding countryside, etc. Consequently, the collecting of QSL cards with especially interesting designs has become a frequent addition to the simple gathering of printed documentation of a ham's communications over the course of his or her radio career. Normally sent using ordinary, international postal systems, QSL cards can be sent either direct to an individual's address, or via a country's centralized amateur radio association QSL bureau, which collects and distributes cards for that country. This saves postage fees for the sender by sending several cards destined for a single country in one envelope, or large numbers of cards using parcel services. Although this reduces postage costs, it increases the delivery time because of the extra handling time involved. In addition to such incoming bureaus, there are also outgoing bureaus in some countries. These bureaus offer further postage savings by accepting cards destined for many different countries and repackaging them together into bundles that are sent to specific incoming bureaus. Most QSL bureaus operated by national amateur radio societies are both incoming and outgoing, with the exception of the United States of America, and are coordinated by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). For rare countries, that is, ones where there are very few amateur radio operators, places with no reliable (or even existing) postal systems, including expeditions to remote areas, a volunteer QSL manager may handle the mailing of cards. For expeditions this may amount to thousands of cards, and payment for at least postage is appreciated, and is required for a direct reply (as opposed to a return via a bureau). The Internet has enabled electronic notification as an alternative to mailing a physical card. These systems use computer databases to store the same information normally verified by QSL cards, in an electronic format. Some sponsors of amateur radio operating awards, which normally accept QSL cards for proof of contacts, may also recognize a specific electronic QSL system in verifying award applications. One such system, called eQSL, enables electronic exchange of QSLs as JPEG or