Shipping Packages To Troops? Get It In The Mail!
Monday December 11th is the mailing deadline for assuring that packages to troops in Iraq or Afghanistan will arrive before Christmas. Military mail headed to other overseas points should be sent by December 11th also, the Postal Service said Tuesday.
If you are mailing packages within the U.S., the Postal Service's suggested deadline for packages via parcel post is December 13th. For parcels sent first class, the deadline is December 18th. Customers should ship Priority Mail by December 20th and switch to Express Mail by December 22nd and December 23rd.
"I would encourage people to mail earlier. That way that gives you a chance for somebody to send you a card back," said Pat Donahoe, deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer. "But if you get them in on those days, we'll get them delivered."
Delivering over 20 billion letters, packages and cards between Thanksgiving and Christmas is no small feat. December 18 is thought to be the busiest mailing day for the U.S. Postal Service which processes an average of 670 million items per day.
Everyone wants the packages they shopped for to arrive in good condition. Here are some packaging suggestions:
- use sturdy packaging
- allow room for cushioning
- remove batteries from gifts
- use the U.S.P.S free package pickup
- purchase stamps on line at http://www.usps.com
- request mail hold service on line at http://www.usps.com
Other suggested mailing deadlines for Christmas delivery are:
- Global Airmail parcels, cards and letters: December 4th for Africa, Central and South America; December 11th for other foreign destinations.
- Global Priority Mail: December 4th for Central and South America; December 6th for Africa; and December 13th for other foreign destinations.
- Global Express Mail: December 11th, Africa, Central and South America; December 15th, for Asia-Pacific Rim countries, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East; December 16th for Canada.
- Global Express Mail Guaranteed: December 19th, all foreign destinations except Canada; December 20th for Canada.
Im in iraq and i order a laptop december 5th it shipped and arrived in walnut, CA to ship to iraq and still it has not arrived to me it has been over 3 weeks so there was a very meery chrismas for me. we had little to no mail on the 25th and today is the 29th. the mail services is very unreliable have the time, the only thing we have to look foward to is mail but with repeat dissappointment the mail service has gotten worse. this is my 3rd deployment OIF 1 mail was quick and got here no later than two weeks but now it seems to say it is safe to mail things one month plus to receive your mail
There has to be a better way to ship packages. I sent my daughter Army 1LT pilot a small package on February 29, and as of March 21, it has not been received. She ships to Iraq from Germany in 4 weeks. The APO system IS NOT WORKING and needs to be redesigned so that we can provide our support to our troops.
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