Can anybody clarify the relationship of the Post Office and Customs Agency?  What if the PO accepts the form, can Customs then shoot the box back to us if it isn't filled out to their satisfaction?  OR, do we only have to satisfy the post office and once THEY process it, Customs accepts it?    Anybody know???

 I know that everything I mail from down here to the states goes thru customs and having spoken to the customs guys several times they say that anything going thru the post office sorting facility they can pull out and inspect.   If they see something suspicious or something they want to check they take off everything else on the sorting belt around that item.  Not sure how it works going OUT of the mainland but that is how mine get INTO the states....LOL.

Hi there all!  I've been monitoring this issue here and doing what I can to come up with a remedy for the inadequate number of addressee lines given on the new 2976-A for 5 or 6 line APOs.  Like many of you, I've contacted numerous legislators and leaders (fed & state), US Customs & Border Protection, and had many a conversation with USPS online, on the phone, and in person.  Today, I may have come to a potential breakthrough.  So, I'm passing this on:

The Military Postal Service Agency works with the USPS and the DESTINATION country's customs offices (for example Afghanistan Customs)--in the destination country. Their website is:   http://hqdainet.army.mil/mpsa/   I spoke with MSGT Cotter on the phone at 1-703-325-0432, today.  He does know of the 2976-A, but not about the Jan 2009 revised version (of course).  He told me to go to their website, click on Contact US (top menu bar) and enter my concern, providing details of the problem and an example of a 5 or 6 line address. He said to state "Attention:  MSGT Cotter and Faye Johnson, Chief of Operations" at the beginning of the email.  He said that he will look for the email and bring it to the attention of Faye Johnson.  He said that she's his boss and that creating a new form or approving a way to make the form usable for APOs is within her job description.  He also said that I could fill out a Customer Inquiry, but I looked at that and it doesn't seems to fit our problem--more for tracking a missing piece of mail.

I hope this helps us.  I hope you all have a great day!

Lela (glassideas 'cause I bead jewelry)
 

Sue - are you out there?

Hopefully Sue will see these questions.  She is the one that heads treatanysoldier.com and I am sure has come across the problem.  Maybe she can give us the info we need!

Thanks,

Vicki

What a dreadful mess!  I've been tied up elsewhere and haven't been on the forum in a while, but did catch the earlier info about the new form.  I asked my clerk about it that day and - like so many others - she'd heard nothing about it.  She gave me a big stack of the old forms to use.  Sounds like that will be of no help if this new one becomes mandatory.  I should think that everyone who sends much of anything overseas will be screaming about this form and maybe their protests joined with ours will turn the tide.  I just have to shake my head in wonder at what the people who make these kinds of changes must be thinking - - or not thinking.  I applaud every one of you who has taken the time and made the effort to get something done about this before it becomes the horrible logjam we all know it will be if it goes into effect.  It takes me an hour or more right now to pack a box, type the letter for inside, seal it all up, and to type the current forms.  I can't imagine how much longer it will take if I'm expected to actually itemize every little piece of candy and Slim Jim and weigh them!

Good news!  Just spent time with head of our local P.O. who was on the phone with person of authority re new forms.  It seems only "selected" post offices will have the new 'e-customs' software.  So, if your PO doesn't have it, they don't have to input each line item.  Secondly, there's been such a storm of protests that they're thinking of scrapping the whole thing, because it certainly was not well-thought out.  Therefore, I was told to just fill out the new form like I filled out the old one, but to use the new form which is mandatory as of March 21.  I don't know how this is going to affect how we put in the address, but we'll just have to squeeze it in there.  So, that's what I'm going to do, and keep my fingers crossed.  Maybe, after March 21, try just a couple boxes to recipients that e-mail back to see if they go through ok. 

I don't know if anyone mentioned this but IF the new form becomes mandatory, and we end up having to use multiple forms because of the # of items we send do you think we can use the older version form for the extras?  I would think they are only going to scan in the main form since they can't have multiple barcodes for one package.  The older forms at least would give you space to write smaller and fit more in the description boxes.  I thought I remembered reading a while back that someone had used multiple forms to list their items and their PO clerk threw out the extras and only sent the first one anyway.  I guess it will all be a work in progress until the powers that be decide what they want, and then our local PO decides what it wants, and then we decide what we can do within those parameters.

peachycor:

Thanks for this info, BUT, I went to the site, got the APO/FPO version and tried it out with 5 items and one of my addresses.  It didn't work!  The reply was "unable to process your request--fill in all the blanks".  Well, I had and I don't know what's not kosher.  Has anyone else tried this yet?  

I used to use the on-line custom form but had the same problem about 1/3 of the time.  Everything would be filled-in and it would still say that something was blank and would not process.  Sending in a question was a waste of time.I eventually gave up and started using the hand-written forms all the time. Now what? 

I had this issue with the new form online and the problem was that the weight entered for each item exceed the weight I entered on the 2nd page of the form.  I found that the error comes up when data fields don't match, but it doesn't tell you which fields don't match.  Had the issue a couple of times on page 2, but it wouldn't let me go past the page so it was easy to figure out.  I don't get an error if 5 items don't add up to what I put as the total weight, but seems to just be a problem  if I exceed the total weight.

 Hope this helps.

Anna

Mailed a box yesterday. Talked to the PO clerk. When I asked about the new form she said (without hesitation) "oh...they canceled that! Too much trouble." She said they do not even have the new form. she gave me a 2 inch stack of old forms. she had just recieved packages of the old form for our use.

this is crazy!!!!

I talked to my clerk yesterday and he said they were supposed to start implementing the new form this Saturday. He won't even be able to bring up the screen they will be using until Saturday morning. He said he was going in early Saturday to do a "trial run". I have one box ready to go today using the old form. Then I'll wait a few days, talk to my PO and see what's happening! This IS crazy!! The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing............

ugh! i just packed up a bunch of boxes to send next week when i saw this thread on the forum. I guess I will find out what my post office is doing this Tuesday when i go. I really hope this works out!!!

Joanne 

New forms have been no big deal here. Seems like the exact same thing just with squares to write the same info in. Couple things moved around but not too much.

My p.o. (granted they are excellent there) let me continue to write "packaged snacks" to include everything from granola bars to drink mix and "plastic bottles/hygiene items" for toothpaste to body wash...   so i got 10 items on one line and i never enter the per item weight on the form prior, i let them fill it in when they weight it. The first page seems like a cover sheet and i never had to do anything but the one normal form. Yes, it's the new one. Sorry you can't have my post office peeps unless you move here

I didn't try it online.

Hope everyone get's a similar experience next week!

 I asked about the new form at my PO the other day and the lady said "The customers always know this stuff before we do" and had not heard of it.  I said I have a stack of old ones that I plan to use up and she that was good, and we would ignore the new ones as long as we can.