Mail while deployed

[teresa]

Is there any rhyme or reason to when a ship has a mail call? My daughter is deployed and I haven't heard from her in several weeks but last time I got an email she had not recieved my package that I mailed 5 weeks prior. I can't imagine how difficult it is to get mail to a ship!  But I was wondering if there is some kind of rule of thumb?

[sailorwifenmom]

Here's how the mail works, and some tricks that will help...

When you mail something - letter or package - it goes via USPS to the military mail distribution area for your Sailor's APO / FPO address. (The APO or FPO is the "city" and the AP or AE is the "State" - that determines which coast it goes to.) Up until it gets to that point, it goes just like any other mail in the US.

Once it gets there, then the military will sort it and send it on. If it's going to a ship, then it gets forwarded to places near where they know the ship will be, and it either gets flown out on a mail flight to them, or they pick it up in port. It is NOT always "first come first served" with that mail. The official stuff goes first of course (not like to individual Sailors, but like to the Command). Then it's the letters and stuff, then packages.

Now, because space is an issue when getting the mail out to them, a smaller package is more likely to go faster, because it takes up less space as they are putting together the mail drops. If you have 1 big box, to one Sailor, or lots of smaller boxes, to lots of Sailors, that take up the same space, then the lots of boxes are going, and the big one gets pushed back, then, possibly pushed back again the next time... It will eventually get delivered, but it will take a lot longer. (Picture them all being bundled up like a big tetris cube, then delivered...) I know that it's fun putting together these huge care packages, and imagining them getting this big box from home full of goodies, but several smaller boxes really is better if you want it to get there quicker.

I always prefer to use the flat rate boxes at the post office. Yes, you pay for priority mailing and it only goes priority up to the military, then it goes like all the other boxes, but, for one thing, it gets to the distro that much faster, you pay a flat fee, so you can really pack it full and the weight doesn't cost you any more. For another thing, and most importantly, they are big enough to make a good care package, but are still small enough and "standard sized enough" that they "fit well" when they are getting the mail together.

My husband has been on land and sea deployments, so I've mailed to him for both, and our son was in the States while we were overseas and mailing FROM an APO, and, doing it this way, it's only ever taken about 2-3 weeks to get to them. (Now, there were times that was NOT the case, like with 9/11, but that was a special circumstance.)

[Anti M]

I knew someone who had a package get shuffled around for three month before it got to the ship.  No reason, but come to think of it, it was a larger box.

And never send anything super-valuable, the mail has been know to fall into the sea.  Or a high price item on a customs form says "steal me".