Australia Post and AFPO addresses

Hi all,

Recently I have had some feedback and read some comments covering difficulties when dealing with posting some of our items, often our parcels to AFPO addresses, through Australia Post. To get some of these queries sorted I had a very helpful conversation with a representative from Australia Post last week and he sent me the following email to confirm some details. I have copied it here as I cannot photocopy the actual email or scan it because it is printed in a faint font and does not copy or print well as you can see from the photo.  That said, if you would like a copy of the email to take with you to the Post Office please let me know. 

Initially I got in touch with the Post Office because some people were being told that they could not post to AFPO 09 because the address mentioned Germany. Now, we might have a hold on posting to AFPO 09 at the moment but that is only because the team on the current rotation to do not have enough time left for our parcels to reach them.  There will probably be other deployments to the same location so although we are waiting for Australian addresses for this group, we will be posting to that location again in the future. 

Additionally, whilst I was on the call, I also checked which customs forms are required for our AFPO parcels as some of us have been told only the large form, others have been told you need to use both the large form (CN23) and the smaller green form (CN22)

You will see the response below. The requirements are very clear. We only need to use the CN23 form from now on. 

Below is blue is the text of the email I received last week from Australia Post clarifying the answers to my questions. 

Hi Jan-Maree,

Thank you for speaking with me today regarding your members sending Australian Defence Force Mail to Germany. I am sorry to hear they have been having issues and I hope I can clarify all the concerns in this email.

I would like to stay by clarifying that the only customs declaration that needs to be filled out for these articles is the CN23 which will be available at all our post offices. Regarding the concerns with including the country name on the label, while this is not a requirement it should not affect their ability to send at their local post office.

The address you provided me which has been provided by the defence force

RANK NAME SERVICE_NUMBER OP KUDU GERMANY RANSTINE

AFPO 09 AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE FORCE SYDNEY 2890

We treat the first line as a persons name internally and it is used to route the parcel once it arrives with the defence force, the second line "AFPO 09 AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE FORCE SYDNEY 2890" is the only detail which is relevant to us in terms of delivery.

No fee would be payable for parcels sent under 2kg to eligible countries however this does not apply to parcels sent to Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

Some resources which may be helpful to your members are included below to ensure they do not have difficulty sending these parcels:

https://auspost.com.au/sending/guidelines/mail-for-defence-personnel

https://www.defence.gov.au/adf-members-families/military-life-cycle/absence-from-home/care-packages-messages

I hope this clears up some questions for you. Additionally, I noticed some recent comments re difficulties with Australia Post so I will address them here but in future, if you have any problems sending off one of our parcels PLEASE CAN YOU CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL.  I don't want you to experience problems like these and I would always rather sort them out on behalf of our organisation but I would prefer an email rather than a comment on Facebook as I can't always keep track of Facebook comments. There can be a lot sometimes. 

DO YOU NEED A PRINTED LABEL TO POST TO AN AFPO ADDRESS?  Absolutely not.  Handwritten is just fine but please make sure you are very neat. 

DO YOU NEED THE GREEN CUSTOMS FORM (CN22) Not any more. We have been told that we need to use both forms by some Post Offices. I have finally received (as per the above) information that we only need to use the large customs form CN23.

You should never have to pay postage to an AFPO address (at least not the addresses I give you) unless your parcel weighs more than 2kg. If the parcel is more than 2kg you will need to cover the cost of postage from your location to Sydney.  

If you would like a copy of the above email from Australia Post please send me an email and i will forward you a copy so you can print it out for reference. 

If you have any other questions or difficulties with Australia Post with regards to our parcels please send me an email. Comments on Facebook are easily missed and I would like the opportunity to clear up any difficulties you are having. 

Cheers all.

Jan-Maree