Support Our Troops – Ship to US Military Addresses

My friend, Jordan Gaffey, has been stationed in Japan with her husband for 3 years. Jordan’s husband serves in the US military. I met Jordan a few months ago through a WAHM website called MomPack. Jordan expressed her frustration with buying online, especially on eBay, because many sellers won’t take the extra steps involved in shipping to a US military address.

Jordan offers the following suggestions about how all online sellers can accommodate our troops who have a APO/FPO address. (Hey, it is the least we can do for those serving our country, right?)

1) Remove shipping restrictions for international buyers, or add a note that you will ship to APO/FPO addresses. Jordan has wanted to order items several times in the past and ran into road blocks because the item had to be shipped overseas. When shipping to a US military address, the price is the same as for regular First Class or Priority. The only difference the the small green customs form that must be attached to the package. Jordan mentioned that she and other military moms want to give smaller sellers their business and buy their products, but sellers are not interested in making the sale happen.

2) When shipping an item to an APO/FPO address, always include either insurance or delivery confirmation. Priority Mail takes longer to reach Japan than to travel across the USA. Some orders never arrive and are lost in transit. In these situations, when contacting the seller, Jordan was told it wasn’t the seller’s responsibility. Sadly, she did not receive holiday gifts for family. (Imagine how depressing it would be to live in a foreign country at holiday time, and the gifts you order for your children don’t arrive! Now, that is a tough one to swallow.)

3) Please pack items carefully. This is very important. Jordan mentioned that at least three parcels contained broken items, or the box itself was crushed. Customs performs spot checks and they include a note in the package regarding the inspection. Then, Customs tapes the box back together. Packages sent to APO/FPO addresses travel through the US and arrive in California, are placed on a barge or plane, travel an average of 5,000 miles, are processed at a sorting facility, then dispatched to all of the bases. The package has a long trip to make, so make sure the box and packing materials can withstand the handling.

Remember that the brave men and women of the military are giving of themselves all around the world to keep America safe. Let’s do our part by helping them enjoy items from home. We can all take a few extra minutes to help someone who serves our country.

[Image Source: Flickr]