101 Flares Filament.io 101 Flares ×

Ship FPO | Boholistic Mom

In 2012, my address was an FPO address.  I am a Boholistic Mom, but my husband wears a uniform.  He serves his country in the United States Navy.  I am a military spouse and I am proud to serve my husband as he serves the United States of America.

Many military members and military families become stationed overseas while they are a part of the military community.  Before we leave our home country to move overseas, we know that we are sacrificing time with our families and some of our American conveniences in order to stay together as a family.  We may have to buy transformers to make our appliances work, buy new bulbs for our lamps, and have to learn how to hang clothes out to dry because the electricity cost is so high in other countries.  These sacrifices we gladly make, but some we shouldn’t have to make.  We have access to the USPS through our local bases.  We live overseas, but we can send things home and we can receive packages from our families and from companies in the states.

We’ve found that many companies are fully willing to ship to FPO (Fleet Post Office), APO (Army Post Office), and DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) addresses.  These companies take the time to fill out the customs forms and allow us access to our American goods.  We can’t buy everything from the states, but these companies help us to get what we need to care for our families.  Unfortunately, not all companies are so kind.  We’ve found some companies that add hefty charges to FPO/APO/DPO orders because they will have to fill out customs forms and take their packages to the post office.  I’m glad they ship to us . . . but I can’t help to feel that they are taking advantage of the military families who want these companies’ products.  Even $10 per order is asking a lot when it costs them nothing to fill out a customs form and most companies are still using USPS to send mail even if they do not use USPS to mail packages.

The cost to send to an FPO address is the same cost as it would be to send a package to a military base in New York.

Finally, some companies refuse to ship to FPO/APO/DPO addresses.  They make claims saying that their merchandise doesn’t make it overseas or that it becomes damaged during shipping.  While this seems like a legitimate excuse considering we occasionally do receive packages that have been damaged in transit, even in the states packages become damaged in transit.  They can be damaged anywhere.  Then there’s this lovely little thing called insurance.  USPS offers insurance on all of their Priority shipping.  If I pay for Priority, a company gets insurance for their product.  If it comes damaged or doesn’t arrive, they get their money back!  So the companies that claim to not ship to FPO/APO/DPO addresses because “the extra handling involved led to an extremely high percentage of lost and damaged items.”  This refusal to ship isn’t for the sake of the customer, but rather their own personal unwillingness to file for insurance and package their items securely.

I totally understand restrictions relating to size and weight.  I do not expect to get furniture overseas.  I also know that we can’t get oversized items.  The companies that I will add to my “blacklist” are companies that have products that are easy to ship, are not likely to be stolen (such as electronics), and are not oversize/furniture items.

I support the companies that support the military families by shipping to FPO/APO/DPO addresses.

I scold the companies who overcharge military families by adding hefty charges to ship to FPO/APO/DPO addresses.

I admonish the companies who refuse to ship to military families who have FPO/APO/DPO addresses.

Please join me in supporting the companies who support the military and refusing to purchase goods from those who will not support overseas military families.  Thank you!

Ship FPO / APO / DPO

All Types of Items
  • Amazon – (most items coming directly from Amazon, especially Prime items)
    • Has a list of items that they cannot ship due to postal laws, yet still a helpful resource for other items

  • Target (excludes some items)
  • TJMaxx – Ships ground (standard) only
  • Oriental Trading
  • Overstock – (Apparently some distributors ship FPO/APO/DPO, some do not.  Overstock, as a company, has a policy that they do ship to FPO addresses, but they seem to be unable to fulfill this promise due to how their company works with drop shipping.  Please share your experiences with us!)
  • Walmart
  • QVC – Demoted to “Does Not Ship FPO” List due to their manufacturers primarily using UPS.
Arts and Crafts Supplies
Athletic Gear and Outdoor Goods
Auto Accessories

Bath, Body, and Makeup Products

Children’s Products
Clothing Companies

Department Stores

Eye Glasses
  • 39DollarGlasses – Excellent prices and no shipping for military families!
Homeschool and School Supplies
Home Business Companies
Home Goods
Lingerie, Underwear, and Bras

Military Focused Gift Companies

Natural Food Companies

Party Supplies

  • Party City
    • 1/31/15 – refused to ship to an APO customer even though Party City’s policy states they ship APO/FPO/DPO (via Boholistic Mom reader)
    • Update: This may have been an isolated occasion.  We have another reader from an APO who says they did ship to her address.  Please keep us updated with your experiences!

Pet Items

Photos and Photo Accessories
Shoes
 Other lists of companies who support military families overseas:

Adds an Extra Charge for FPO/APO/DPO

(including discriminative policies to overseas families)

  • Clarks – Adds $10-$20 – Write Clarks here to discourage their extra charges
  • Forever 21 – Does not offer their free shipping for orders over $50 to their FPO/APO/DPO customers, but does offer USPS standard shipping to FPO/APO addresses.  Write Forever 21 here to encourage Forever 21 to offer free shipping deal to FPO/APO/DPO customers.
  • G.H. Bass & Co. – Adds +$15 charge to ship to FPO/APO/DPO addresses – Write G.H. Bass & Co. here to request that they reduce their extra charge to ship to FPO customers.
  • Gymboree – Adds $10 – Write Gymboree here to discourage their extra charges
  • Hobby Lobby – Doubles shipping charge to FPO/APO customers – Write Hobby Lobby here to request that they reduce their shipping charge to FPO customers.
  • Modcloth – Does not offer their free shipping for orders over $50 to their FPO/APO/DPO customers (they charge $8 flat rate shipping) and does not offer their exchange policy to military families – Write Modcloth here to encourage Modcloth to offer their free shipping deal to their FPO/APO/DPO customers.
  • Nautica – Adds $10-$20 – Write Nautica here to discourage their extra charges
  • QVC – Adds offshore shipping rates to FPO/APO/DPO resulting in increased shipping rates – Write QVC here to discourage their inaccurate charges
    • in the past, we heard that they did have fast shipping
  • Zulily –  Charges $9.95 for APO/FPO addresses instead of the $5.95 for domestic addresses with no reason given for the extra fee – Write Zulily here to discourage their extra charges

If you are a company who would like to be removed from the Adds an Extra Charge List, please e-mail me through the “contact us” page and I’d love to hear and share your new policy!

Blacklist – Refuse to Ship to FPO/APO/DPO

  • The Container Store – Write The Container Store here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call:  1-888-CONTAIN
    • Tweet: here
    • Facebook: here
  • Little Tikes – Write Little Tikes here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-800-321-0183
    • Tweet: here
    • Facebook: here
  • North Face – Write North Face here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
  • Finish Line – Write Finish Line here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
  • Staples – Write Staples here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
  • Ulta – Write Ulta here to encourage them to send to DPO (they currently ship APO/FPO with ground shipping that takes over a month to arrive)
  • VistaPrint – Write VistaPrint here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
  • Pier 1 Imports – Write Pier 1 Imports here to encourage them to send FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-800-245-4595
    • Tweet: here
    • Facebook: here
  • QVC – Write to QVC here to encourage them to ask more of their product manufacturers to ship USPS to FPO/APO/DPO addresses.  Some products ship USPS, but many of the products apparently ship UPS.  UPS does not cooperate well with USPS in getting products overseas to military families.
  • Famous Footwear – Write Famous Footwear here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-888-869-1053
    • Tweet: here
    • Facebook: here
  • SuperShoes.com – Write SuperShoes here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call:  1.866.842.7510
    • Tweet: here
    • Facebook: here
  • American Express – Contact American Express to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-877-297-4438
    • Facebook: here
    • Tweet: here
  • Morphe Brushes – Contact Morphe Brushes here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-844-373-2906
    • Facebook: here
    • Tweet: here
  • Nordstrom Rack – Contact Nordstrom Rack here to encourage them to send to FPO/APO/DPO
    • Call: 1-888-966-6283
    • Facebook: here
    • Tweet: here

If you are a company who would like to be removed from the blacklist, please e-mail me through the “contact us” page and I’d love to hear and share your new policy!

 

Twitter Tag #ShipFPO, #ShipAPO, #ShipDPO

#ShipFPO | Boholistic Mom @BoholisticMom

Do you have a retailer to add to our list?  Please share it below in the comments section.

Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.


101 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 95 Google+ 1 Pin It Share 5 Email -- Filament.io 101 Flares ×