What is APO/FPO? APO/FPO Review

APO/FPO is also known as the United States Field Post Office. In international trade, when items are sent abroad, the issue of FPO/APO is involved.

APO/FPO Explanation

APO = Army Post Office;

FPO = Fleet Post Office.

APO/FPO Locations are military mailbox addresses, which are garrison mailing addresses generated by the cooperation between USPS and DOD (U.S. Department of Defense).

About APO/FPO

In the United States, only USPS (United States Postal Service) can mail to PO Box or APO/FPO addresses, which means that only postal mail can be sent to APO/FPO addresses (such as China EMS, Hong Kong EMS, China Large Parcel, Hong Kong Large Parcel, Hong Kong Small Parcel, China Small Parcel, Singapore Small Parcel, Swedish Small Parcel, Dutch Small Parcel, etc.).

UPS, FedEx, DHL, and TNT cannot deliver to PO Boxes or APO/FPO addresses.

APO/FPO can send ordinary mail (letters, postcards, printed materials) and small packages, and international parcels.

It is worth noting that in order to make it easier for military personnel stationed overseas to send and receive mail Overseas Mail, the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Defense negotiated an agreement called Overseas Military Mail.

Field Post Office (APO/FPO) addresses are divided into three military "states" and two equivalent "cities":

1. Three military "states":

(1) AA: Armed Forces (the) Americas;

(2) AE: Armed Forces Europe;

(3) AP: stands for Armed Forces Pacific.

2. Two military “cities”:

APO, stands for Army Post Office;

FPO stands for Fleet Post Office.

Based on this construction, a typical overseas military email address would look something like this:

By making all overseas military mail eligible for the domestic mail processing program, the USPS can easily use its advanced mail processing machinery to sort and process this overseas military mail just like regular mail.

Cross-border shipping settings

When setting the background shipping address, cross-border sellers are advised to block APO/FPO Street and APO/FPO PO Box directly and do not check them. Because many customers leave inaccurate or inaccurate addresses, it is often the case that the goods cannot be received or no one signs for them. Even if they can be delivered, the time will be relatively longer than that of ordinary orders. In addition, since these areas are unpopular, the orders themselves are very few. In order to avoid more trouble later, it is recommended that new sellers who are online block them directly when setting the shipping method.