APO

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by kydsid

It does require a customs form. But there is a different one used for APO/FPO's than normal. And yes it does leave American soil. All APO/FPO packages are cleared through the host country customs service. There are numerous reasons why you haven't had a problem, chief amoung them it isn't that big of a deal and really depends on the level of cooperation from the host country.

As for not declaring cigars and coming up with an alternate description I am against that based on my history and the fact that the DoD may hold the recipient responsible if the host country considered it 'smuggling'. Remember if the DoD is going to ding a guy for his 'guest' caught speeding on base they probably will here too. Host countries all have signed an agreement with the DoD so that anything that is for military members will not be charged duty for any reason. Unless it is a banned product it will get to the soldier. So what is the point of lying on a customs form?

If shipping to an overseas APO you will need a customs form. There is a special large Flat Rate box that says "We Support Our Troops" on the side, this gets a discount from the normal large flat rate price. I dont know if there are smaller APO boxes. I have sent 20+ large boxes to Iraq/Afghanistan in the past two years with no problems declaring them as cigars and value of $20.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by bobarian

<snip> There is a special large Flat Rate box that says "We Support Our Troops" on the side, this gets a discount from the normal large flat rate price. I dont know if there are smaller APO boxes. <snip>

I ship smaller boxes of cigars to a few friends who have APOs and there is no APO/FPO discount nor special box for smaller boxes that I am aware of, just the $2 discount on the largest size box.

Depending on the APO collection point in the US relative to your location, it can sometimes be cheaper to use a non-flat rate priority box for the smaller shipments which are over 1-2lbs, and larger than what will fit in the small flat-rate box, but less than about 7-10lbs and smaller than the large flat rate APO box.