I just received my order of customs forms from the USPS and found that they are different from the ones I have used before.  These are new forms as of Jan. 2009 and the first sheet is red lines and boxes.  The From, To, and description boxes which used to be fairly blank are filled with grid lines so you have to write one letter per box.  Some of my contacts addresses contain a lot of information and I don't see how it will all fit in the appropriate boxes especially with adding the ATTN: Anysoldier.  Also the detailed description says one item per line and only gives 4 lines.  My boxes are usually a jumble of stuff and the instructions say not to generalize with words like "snacks" or "toiletries".  Has anyone used one of these new forms and how did you fill it out?  I do have a few of the older ones which I assume they are still accepting.

That must be why our PO couldn't get any customs forms after asking for them for a while.  I ordered some last week but haven't gotten them yet. 

 As far as the ATTN line, I always use it on the address label, but never put it on the customs form address. There's just not enough space for so many of the addresses, so I leave it off. 

It looks like they will just have to live with our generalizations since they don't like us using more than one page to list items.  Even though the instructions on the forms say to use more than one page if you need to, the PO here doesn't want more than one.  I don't know how we could be specific when we are sending 10-12 different items on such a form.  I would use my own judgement, and if they don't refuse it at the PO, just send it on with the faith that it will get to where it needs to go.

The customs forms are made up with commercial sellers in mind, so we just have to learn to get around their strict rules.

Gran

I always  generalize and simply do not say much.  I would say snacks, books and leave it at that.  I have never had a box refused.  I also do not put much $$ down.  I usually say between $25 and $30 so as to not invite theft.  I was given this tip quite a while ago so.  I think the less said the better.

There are a couple of reasons that I always itemized on the customs forms:

#1.  I have heard of some packages being damaged, and if the items are listed individually, the PO can tell which items went in which package when more than one are burst open and mixed together.

#2.  I use the customs forms as references to what I sent on which dates to which contact.

I suppose that they are trying to make them more readable for people who scribble beyond recognition otherwise.

Gran

According to my PO guys, the PO is moving towards automation - no more nice (or even surly!) PO guys, just individual stations where you weigh your own package and pay postage.  Since I have never been able to find a stamp machine in a PO lobby on the weekend that WORKS, it will be interesting to see how these automated self-service stations go over.  I live in an area with many different nationalities, many of whom barely speak English, so I would LOVE to see how someone like that is going to use an automated self-service postal station.

I am betting that the change in customs forms with boxes where you are supposed to print the address in individual letters is so that they can be scanned more easily by machines.

UGH!  Just something else to stress me out!!!

I just mailed two boxes and had a nice chat with my friendly PO worker. (no sarcasm-she really is super) She said the new forms require them to type everything in. It takes forever now. Usually there is only one worker and when i have two boxes-by the time she is done the line is out the door.

Our mail carrier doesn't have much of anything in a nice vein to say about the postal service, like they are a bunch of less brilliant minds, so I can't imagine what they will come up with to automate further.  They can't even find a contractor to make decent boxes.  We have had to almost reconstruct some of the MILI-FRB boxes we have gotten, and they surely weren't square as they were intended to be.  We had a couple of them that weren't even glued properly, and had to toss one of them that was unusable, and got one shipment in the 10-pk. (thinking they would be easier to handle) that had such deep gouges in them as to render a couple of them useless - and those were only handled by the postal service - not some inexperienced military gorilla.

Gran 

I mailed a box today using an old form and asked them for some extras so I have a few of the older version.  The PO master was working the counter and he said someday soon the screen will prompt them to type in the items and amounts so I will have to be specific.  His example was "Hershey's chocolate bar - amount 2 - weight 16 oz."  The PO defintitely needs to think about creating a form specifically for military packages and not lump them in with the international commercial packages.  Can you imagine how backed up the lines will be from having to type in all the contents of just one package let alone more than one.  No more running in to the PO on your lunch hour.  Maybe it won't happen!!!

I asked one of our PO Clerks if she had the new forms yet, she didn't have a clue what I was talking about.  When I explained what I had read on here and how they were going to work she said "who the heck comes up with these crazy ideas anyway?"

She and one of the other clerks have just gotten into mailing boxes themselves, I gave them AS cards a while back, so they understand how foolish this will be, not to mention lines will be around the block if they have to enter each item.   I'm going to write my legislators, probably won't do any good, but I'll feel a little better. 

 I asked her for some of the Custom Forms and she went and got me a big package of them!   Just hope they will keep accepting them til I run out, I already had a bunch, so it will a while before I need more.  Maybe by then they will see the folloy of their ways. 

Anita

Anita----my PO clerk had the same response....he had no idea about the new forms and gave me a big handful of the old ones. He was in the military before becoming a PO clerk. As you said, I hope they continue accepting the current forms until they run out of them!!! Hope everyone has a great day!

 Beth

As we all know each individule PO seems to receive and implement the new regulations on its own schedule.  They are also almost as in the dark as we are at times.  I am hoping that my PO was just jumping to conclusions about how far they will take this.  Perhaps it will just be a single question for them "did the customer write out all the details including weight and amount?"  and then they can click yes or no and move on.  http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=23904&productId=11681&langId=-1&WT.ac=11681 is the link to the new form.  If you click on view large image you can see the new grid format.

This is my 1st time posting to this website, though I have been here, very often.  So, I hope I do this right.

Lately, I've been reading about the dreaded new customs form 2976-A, here.  I've emailed usps.com explaining the problem this new form will present to us troop supporters: 1) Inadequate number of blocks and lines to properly list the recipient's APO address and 2) Many boxes contain 30 to 50 or more different items--way too many for the 4 lines this new form provides.  I received an email response the very next day.  It really was of no real help, basically, what you've all been told.  She did advise me to use however many of the forms that I would need to continue listing each of the box' contents.  She didn't say anything about the addressing problem.  Today, I was out, but I came home to a concerned sounding phone call from our local PO, asking me to return the call so she could "help me out."  Also today, I got a letter from the main PO in Portland (Oregon)--the nearest big city to us, assuring me that my city (Salem) PO would "resolve and/or clarify this matter as soon as possible."  So, tomorrow, I will do my best to get back to all these PO contacts.  When I get to speak to a human, I'll also tell them that for me to weigh each item, appears to be a duplication of jobs plus what happens if my scales disagrees with their scales.  That'll really mess up their form!  In the past, I've been very careful to list each item and the quantity, but I admit that in order to do that, I write across the Value and Weight columns that are adjacent to the space given for listing the contents.  I also list the total value and let the PO weigh it and fill that in--'cause that made sense to me.  Oh well, I'll let you all know what I find out. 

Want to know what I was doing while all these PO folks were trying to contact me?  Well, I had lunch with my son, who works with the Army Corp of Engineers--in downtown Portland.  So, while I was up there, I drove around to 6 different POs in downtown Portland, gathering up all the old 2976-A's that I could.  Well, I left a few, but we send out 8 to 10 boxes about each 10 days to 2 weeks--hooked, we are!  I'm hopeful that they'll at least let me use the old forms up before I have to figure out how to put square pegs into round holes.  ; )
 

The PO that we usually use never has a clue about anything new, so no point even asking them about the forms.  They did get a few old forms from another PO since they had tried to get them several times with no success, so Mr. Gran picked up a few.  They weren't feeling very generous with them since they had so few.  I am still waiting to see what kind I get in the order that I placed online last week.  I know that when they changed from the forms with 5 copies to the forms with 6 copies, we were told to trash the old ones that we had left.  Someone had mentioned once that when they went in with more than one page of customs forms to handle all the items in their box that the clerk just threw the additional ones away and used the first page.

Gran

Warning!!!  We finally got the customs forms that we had ordered about 10 days ago, and sure enough, they were the new forms.  I am hoping that we can find more old ones at another PO before they run out everywhere.  We only have a few of the old ones left.  One thing that I noticed is that there are only 12 squares for the first name, which would have to include the rank if one is used.

The instructions direct the sender to "enter the quantity, net weight and value of each article".

Gran