Dive Gear Express offers Super Saver (Continental US) and US Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail shipping to APO/FPO and DPO addresses for most of our products, subject to some APO/FPO/DPO restrictions for specific addresses. Most APO/FPO/DPO addresses have weight and/or dimension restrictions or surcharges that can prevent us from shipping large/heavy packages, such as SCUBA Tanks and absorbent. Your APO/FPO/DPO address must be properly formatted and recently those formatting requirements are being strictly enforced by the USPS. We ship immediately but are not able to estimate delivery times to APO/FPO/DPO addresses (although MPSA suggests most packages deliver in one to two weeks), and packages are not trackable.
When entering an order for shipment to an APO/FPO/DPO address, remember these are always a domestic US address. You should always choose the ship to country as United States and enter the appropriate ship to 9-digit ZIP+4 Code regardless of the ultimate destination country. When entering an APO/FPO/DPO zip code you will notice a message stating that UPS (United Parcel Service) shipping is not available. However, USPS (US Postal Service) and Super Saver options will be correctly listed as available shipping options.
Dive Gear Express is a participant in what is termed as the Known Shipper Program, the benefit being expedited handling of our small package shipments. In order to have our packages accepted through the Known Shipper Program by the US Postal Service, we are required to use their electronic addressing database. As part of the process of printing a combined address and postage label, the USPS database will validate the Ship To address you entered during payment checkout for your order. Failed validation is common for non-governmental addressees, such as commissaries and contractors. If the USPS database fails to validate your address, effective February 2012 with your permission we can now force our system to ship to your address if you confirm the address you provided is correct and are willing to accept responsibility for delay or non-delivery.
The USPS electronic address database has apparently undergone a recent change which is causing it to very strictly enforce APO, FPO, and DPO addressing guidelines. In particular it is now requiring a ZIP+4 nine digit zip code on nearly all of the APO, FPO and DPO addresses. The formatting problems are usually easy to fix and require only a few minutes of your time to research, or call your local mail room (CMR) or personnel service center (PSC) to determine how your address is formatted in the USPS database.
Military personnel addressees should include their grade, rank or rating. All addresses must show the recipient's full name, UNIT number OR Consolidated Mail Room (CMR) number OR Personnel Service Center (PSC) number OR Ship Name (Hull Classification Number), and BOX number (if a box number is assigned). For all addresses, the city and state must be the appropriate three letter "city" (APO, FPO, or DPO) and two-letter "state" abbreviation (AA, AE, or AP) for that specific zip code. In most cases, your address MUST have a 9-digit ZIP+4 Code, a 5-digit ZIP is no longer acceptable. All other information such as assignment, base and building name, or actual location, must be omitted.
SGT Kevin Taylor
UNIT 2050 BOX 4190
APO AP 96278-2050
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SGT Robert Smith
PSC 802 BOX 74
APO AE 09499-0074
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Seaman Joseph Doe
USCGC HAMILTON (WEHC-715)
FPO AP 96667-3931
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SGT Jane Doe
CMR 1250
APO AA 09045-1000
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John Doe
UNIT 8129 BOX R
DPO, AP 96520-8129
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The standard USPS Priority Mail restrictions are weight, not exceeding 70 lbs, and dimensions, not exceeding 108 inches total length plus girth. APO, FPO and DPO addresses can have zip code specific restrictions that supercede the standard USPS Priority Mail restrictions, but until recently the USPS electronic postage database did not fully enforce those restrictions when printing the combined address and postage label. Packages to many APO/FPO/DPO zip codes that exceed 35 pounds or 35 X 17 X 17 inches now may have very expensive surcharges imposed or, particularly for DPO addresses, may be rejected entirely. Our experience has been the 'oversize' packages can also experience transit delays. As a result, we no longer ship scuba cylinders or rebreather absorbent to APO, FPO and DPO addresses.
A few APO/FPO/DPO zip codes have heightened security restrictions that prevent shipment via even the Known Shipper Program participants. Our understanding is these specific zip codes require the package to be presented at the counter of a US Post Office where the individual who is mailing the package will be recorded, and the package itself can be inspected as part of the acceptance process. We are unable to ship your order to those zip codes with such security restrictions.
Our shopping cart system does not perform the address validation at the time you enter the order. The validation is performed later when we process your order for shipment. Thus entering an order via our website does not mean we can ship your order to the APO, FPO or DPO address you entered. Your address still must validate with the USPS database and if it will not validate we can not ship unless you are willing to accept responsibility for non-delivery. We appreciate the job you are doing for your country and we really want to ship your order. Please help us by taking the time to provide us with a current and correct format for your APO, FPO or DPO address.
