APO and FPO Shipping Guide for Overseas Military
More often than not, the difficulty results from the merchant not understanding how to ship to APO or FPO addresses, and it is to easy for them to just not ship to those addresses rather than become informed of what is involved. The reasoning for why many of these merchants will not ship to APO or FPO addresses is because they think these addresses are international addresses, and this is just not so. APO (Army/Air Force Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office or Federal Post Office) are not international addresses, but are considered United States addresses.
Even though there are so many military friendly merchants out there, there are still many more who do not ship to them only because they do not understand that they are not international addresses; other merchants have other reasons like it being inconvenient. There is definitely a need for a guide to shipping APO/FPO, and it is the hope that by putting together a brief guide others, especially merchants, will have a new and better understanding for the process.
• APO/FPO addresses are not international addresses.
There is an assumption, that because we reside in a foreign country, our mail goes through an international postal carrier. This is not so. Our mail goes through USPS Priority Mail. If USPS surface mail is chosen, a package will take up to eight weeks to arrive, sometimes longer. Of course, this limits us when it comes to businesses that use only Federal Express or UPS; however, maybe in the near future, if negotiations go that way, this too may be an option. Mail sent to APO/FPO addresses will go either to California, New York, or Florida before it is transported to the overseas military installations.
• APO/FPO addresses have a state.
These addresses use the following state abbreviations: AE (Armed Forces Europe), AA (Armed Forces Americas), and AP (Armed Forces Pacific).
• Customs Paperwork:
Yes, when shipping a package to an APO or FPO address, the shipper will be required to fill out a customs form. This can be obtained at your post office or online USPS Customs Forms: https://webapps.usps.com/customsforms/.
• General Restrictions:
APO/FPO addresses do have restrictions against certain items being sent and shipped to these addresses.
1. A package shipped to APO/FPO should not exceed 70 pounds.
2. They may not exceed 130 inches when length and girth is combined.
3. The Post Office does require that packages be hand delivered by the company or person shipping item to the APO/FPO address.
4. Restricted items: perishable food, tobacco, alcohol, firearms, privately owned weapons, pornography, illegal substances, and
hazardous items. Check with your post office for any other restricted items specific to the APO/FPO zip code you are shipping too.
It is really not that complicated, and the efforts made to accommodate those military, who are so far from home, really is appreciated. There is an understanding and respect for companies' decisions not to ship, but not when they will not because they think these addresses utilize international postal services - they do not. Hopefully, in the near future, Federal Express, and UPS will finalize an agreement and ship to service members and their families residing overseas; but, even when that day arrives, there will still be those merchants that think they are international addresses.
Not only is there problems with some merchants not shipping to APO/FPO addresses, but also there are many who make it hard for military stationed overseas to do business with them. For example, when one decides to make a purchase online for a gift for someone back home in the states, they finalize their choice and head to the check out. When it comes time to enter billing information, they are brought to a halt; and more often than not, have to forget about making their purchase through that merchant. What happens is they can enter city as APO or FPO, but they do not give the choice for AE, AA, or AP in the states menu. You can attempt to use NY, CA, or FL, however, when putting in the zip and proceeding, it sometimes does not recognize the zip as valid or they may receive an email that their credit card was declined for invalid address. It can be rather frustrating. When emailing the merchants about this, the same old reply is made, they do not accept orders from international customers, and they do not care that you possess non-international credit cards and debit cards. A simple fix would be to add AE, AA, and AP to the state menu, this way even if merchant does not wish to ship to APO or FPO, at least those overseas can still make purchases that will be sent within the states.
Published by Jan Castagnaro
Jan is a mother of 3, with a husband in the Air Force. She has worked in the medical field on and off for over 12 years, and is presently back in school, working on her degree. Recently, Jan has relocated to... View profile
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- APO/FPO addresses use USPS for shipping option.
- APO/FPO are not international addressed.
- APO/FPO shippments will either go to California, New York, or Florida before transport overseas.
10 Comments
Post a CommentWe are online merchants who try to support the military by shipping to all military addresses, but to be honest, we lose our shirts when we do. There is no program that can calculate the cost of a military address up front properly (the P.O. API is always breaking down), so we try to estimate but today for instance, I am still stinging from a $28 postage bill that we collected $12 for. You can say military addresses are treated like USA but they are not charged that way, they are charged more for distance, so the rate can be $10 or $40. The solution is simple, we should go back to the days when the USA didn't try to make money on mail to soldiers... they should provide a reasonable fixed rate so merchants can operate successfully.
We definitely can help those that want to ship APO/FPO just go to www.endicia.com. We fully support this type of shipping with the USPS.
Thank you for your article!
As an online merchant -- EyesAcrossTexas (Amazon Merchant), I wanted the scoop on why other people in my trade did not seem to be willing to ship to APO/FPO addresses.
The two extra steps involved may cause some pause, but I personally have shipped numerous packages to APO/FPO addresses with ease, and will continue to do so! It's an honor to send packages to our service members.
Cassandra E. DeLarios
EyesAcrossTexas (Amazon Merchant)
Hello,
My name is Glenn Hauptmann, I am a veteran that served for ten years in the Air Force and workeds a postal clerk for the Military Postal Service. My brother-in-law, my wife and I started up a company called APO Box and we provide a mail fowarding service for all military members living abroad that have a APO/FPO address at a military installation. Our company gives all service members the ability to purchase goods online from any merchant. We do this by having our customers ship their items that they order online to our warehouses, then we use the USPS (Untied States Postal Service) to ship our customer's package to there APO or FPO location. If you are interested in our services you can learn more by visiting our website ( www.apobox.com). Our service is free to sign up, so please check us out and see the shipping potential you still have while living overseas serving our great country.
Glenn Hauptmann
Sales and Marketing Director
Great article, I'm stationed in Japan and found this issue to be true even with major retailers. I found http://www.navalstandard.com who charges a small fee, but will ship anything that's allowed to be sent via USPS to any FPO or APO address. They even group packages together to reduce shipping costs. Hope this helps.
I run a website that details shipping policies of various merchants. We always post info for APO/FPO shipments. I'm aiming to have a page devoted to companies that ship to APO/FPO addresses and list the cost / delivery times. We're still in the process of compiling this, but you can find the info quickly when shopping at our site by looking at our store info pages. http://www.centsible.net.
You can use Netgrocer to ship items to APO/FPO addresses. They have some really great specials and have been around since 1996. Check them out www.netgrocer.com
Well, it cut off the last part. I was saying as long at it isn't one of the prohibited items. Also it cut off my comment that you can also get free flat rate shipping boxes from USPS for send stuff to military overseas. Just call USPS' packing supplies order line at 1-800-610-8734, select option #1 ("Express Mail, Priority Mail or Global Express Guaranteed products"), and ask a customer service agent for CAREKIT04 (or a military kit"). You need supply only your name, address, and a phone number, and they'll get a kit off to you that should arrive within 7-10 days. That is just the materials, you still have to pay postage.
I am afraid it is not that simple, and that is why merchants shy away. All military mail goes through USPS. If you look at the USPS site, you will find restrictions for shipping to military overseas. Each military zip code (country, basically) has a set of applicable restrictions. They differ. For example anything going to Iraq and most of the middle east prohibits pork products, nude pictures, drinking alcohol and anything that is used for making alcoholic beverages, etc. It means the shipper has to verify their product is not on the list for that zip. Then, they also have to fill out a customs form since they are not sending it as a gift, and there are other complications that businesses have to abide by, that are not required by individuals. It is just too much hassle, and puts them at risk legally, so they pass. if you need something shipped, the best bet is to get it sent to someone in the states and let them relabel it to send overseas. (As long as it isn't one of the p
Great piece. I was considering something similar, but it looks like you have it covered. Well done!