USPS Military Shipping
The United States Postal Service provides shipping to military addresses at affordable domestic prices. Prohibitions and regulations are guiding the posting of packages to military addresses, and oftentimes, a custom form is required.
USPS Military Guidelines and Restrictions
There are laws and guidelines to follow when shipping to military addresses. As security increases and the x-ray of items become increasingly serious, it is necessary to take out time to understand the items that can be shipped and those that will not be allowed for shipping. This is to prevent the time wasted on the packaging and paying for shipping.
Regardless of who, whom or where you’re sending a package to, certain items are never allowed for shipping. Accordingly, perishable, hazardous, and restricted materials are not allowed. Specific items include; explosives, flammable materials, combustible, poisonous liquids, tobacco, sharp items, oxidizers, live animals, radioactive materials and some battery types.
Each listed item has very specific materials listed in them. For example, under perishable goods, materials goods like, eggs, plants, meat, fresh foods, illegally gotten items and several more.
Further Mailing Restrictions When Shipping to Military Addresses
For more specific restrictions and guides, military personnel within the Middle East are usually placed under more restrictions. Some of them, include; Obscene items, like writings, movies, videos and other materials like comics. There are also restrictions on things such as nudity, pornographic materials and other sexual-inducing items.
Other materials include bulk items, especially those affiliated with religion outside the Islamic faith. Although small quantities for personal use, are allowed. There is also a strict restriction on pork and everything affiliated with pork meat.
A very important thing to note when handling shipments to military addresses is important to note the following details; the rank of the military personnel, name and unit of the personnel and also, and the DPO/APO address with the zip code. It is important to note that the Zip code is the 8-digit number identifying a specific location. Shipment is usually addressed to one person.
How To Ship to Military Bases?
There are exact steps specific to sending military shipping within the country. These steps are;
Inputting the client’s name. For military APO/FPO addresses, the complete name of the client including the rank and unit is inputted. However, for DPO (diplomatic) addresses, titles might be excluded and “Embassy” can be used in place of a name.
For street addresses, input the customer box number if this is available.
Use the initials, APO, DPO or FPO to differentiate between, Army, Fleet or Diplomatic locations.
Select state. This is usually identified as, AE, AP, or AA which identifies, Europe, the Pacific, and America.
Enter zip codes.
If it is being shipped to a residential address, select either a Yes or a No. This helps to identify whether the client is residential or not.
Finally input the information necessary into the Carriers tab located at the bottom of the field. Select USPS in this space. The space allotted for Weight specifies the weight limit and this helps divide the package into a small parcel for the Package carrier and a larger parcel which would require a Truck.
Finally, click save, and a custom record is created immediately.
Usually, it is advised that the United States is selected in the country area regardless of the actual location of the package. Something worthy of note is that only the USPS is the carrier that can deliver to military addresses. In other words, only USPS has permission to ship packages to APO/DPO/FPO addresses.
Conclusion
A lot of questions might be asked as to the reason why so many restrictions exist in the USPS for military shipping, in truth, these restrictions exist to increase safety. Most items listed can constitute danger when not properly packaged, and USPS tried to prevent the likelihood of a disaster by placing these regulations. However, other than safety, factors such as politics, and legal and environmental issues can contribute to these prohibitions.
- Can I track a package shipped to a military address using a customs declaration form number?
Answer: No, you can not. The custom declaration number is used majorly in international packages.
- Where can an individual get accurate details on the shipping regulations attached to military shipping?
Answer: For in-depth details and information on USPS military shipping, anyone can consult the USPS website at https://postcalc.usps.com/Restrictions.aspx for further clarification.
