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JimDunlop2

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject: Sending mail to an APO from Japan.... |
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Anyone have any experience doing this? I want to send a package to a serviceman in Iraq but haven't the foggiest what's involved. I have complex military address to send to (which won't make ANY sense to a Japanese postal clerk except for the U.S.A. part on the very bottom)...
Usually you have to pay postage only to the nearest APO... But in my case, does that mean that I have to pay postage as if it's going directly to continental U.S.? Does it go to the U.S. first?
I'd like to know how does the package get handled. Does it get sent to an APO in Japan and then straight to the Middle East? Or do they load it onto a plane, unload it in the U.S. and let USPS handle it from there?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Oh yeah, and I guess you have to fill out a standard green customs form?? I suppose they have those at the post office, right? |
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Montbell
Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 18
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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IIRC, yes it does go to the US first, and from there to the APO where you want it to go. UNLESS, you can send it from a base PO somewhere in Japan, then it goes directly to the other APO.
I hope it makes sense. |
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nawlinsgurl

Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 363 Location: Kanagawa and feeling Ok....
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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I've done it before, when my husband was abroad. Your friend's mailing address probably says something like: 3rd Lt. Doe, John, 5th Platoon, 1st Expeditionary Unit, FPO AP, 56739 ??? Right??? Something a little crazy like that- As long as you have the CORRECT address from your friend you can address the box plainly in romanjii and ship it from the local Japanese post office. MAKE SURE the info is correct though. I sent a goodie box to a friend in Afganistan and had ONE number wrong and it came back three months later all smashed in!!!
The box will go from Japan and then to the US, and prolly out of one of the ports for the military. Usually San Diego, D.C., JFK, or New Orleans. It took about a week and a half to send something from Japan to my husband who was in Africa at the time. It also depends on how often they have a mail call. My husband was in a combat zone and the retards in charge where he was only checked mail twice a month. But I have friends in Afganistan and Iraq who get mail everyday.
You can only send stuff from an APO or FPO in Japan if you have a military id card or a friend that's willing to let you cheat the system and send the pkag for you. If you can find someone like that, that's good because it will be WAY cheaper. But the return address on the box will not be yours, it will be the address of your friend who's letting you use their
APO/FPO address.
Just a FYI, the USPS handles all of the mail for the military. The military just loads it on a Space Available flight and ships it to another base courtesy of the USPS.
Anyways, hope that helps!!!  |
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JimDunlop2

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:15 am Post subject: |
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Thanks guys... That's exactly what I wanted to know.... SUCKS that it actually has to go to the U.S first... Increases the cost to send by like 5000%..... And the logic sucks. So I suppose that if I had a friend stationed in Japan and sent him mail, it would go to the U.S. before it went BACK to Japan...? Sheesh.
I was wondering about the whole sending from an APO thing.. But as you said, the only way you could do it would be from on-base and have a military ID...
Ok.... Nothing I can do. I suppose it's got to be sent airmail then... surface or SAL would prob. take way too long and by the time the package made it there the unit will have likely moved.
Yeah, military addresses... gotta love em.... (For those who have never seen one, there is no street address, city name or anything.... Amazing that the mail even make it to them... Here's a (fake) example).
SGT Johnny B. Rock
HHC, 123rd Grenade Repair Bn
APO AE 09999
U.S.A. |
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shuize
Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:08 am Post subject: |
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As long as you have the address right, he'll get it. The post office/military is good about that. |
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Jeepchick
Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 2
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:54 am Post subject: my friend did this |
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I was stationed in Okinawa for a while and my cousin was in mainland Japan for a couple of months. I was in the military and worked with many local hires. I asked one that worked with me if my cousin could send a package to me from their address--that way it was a Japan-to-Japan address. She received the package and brought it to me at work. The bases all have work contracts with locals so the odds are that your friend can find one that will receive a package for them. |
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