CONTRIBUTED BY MEREDITH NOVARIO
In case, like me, you had no idea such a glorious thing existed. Behold.
2. www.apobox.com. Word has it that this service is cheaper than shipitapo. Five dollars per package + postage versus 7.95 at shipitapo.
3. This site lists all sorts of places that DO ship to FPO/AP addresses.
UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS COMMENT on Feb 15 2008…
When my in-laws received the bike, they did not repackage the bike. Instead, they took it to the post office and see if the post office will accept the package. The post office accepted it and it was shipped SAM. So, shipitapo was a rip off for us. Never used them again.
I have been using APOBox.com for over a year now. Up to Dec 2008, I’ve been extremely pleased with their service. However they are using this new Direct Flat Rate which sends mail SAM as explained to me by Steve of APObox. They use to to send Priority if able to.
I still have several Christmas presents that haven’t made it as of today after being shipped from their facility via SAM in Dec.
I submitted a trouble ticket last week and was told to enter a “custom shipping request” indicating that ALL PACKAGES need to be shipped priority. I did this and two days later, two of my packages were mailed from their facility via SAM even with this custom request. I wrote back to APOBox about this and got no response other than them closing out the ticket.
I just opened an account with shipitapo.com and will give them a try.
BOTTOM LINE: As of today if you use APOBox.com they will ship SAM and it may take up to 8 weeks to get your packages.
I have used both shipit and APOBOX. Both were fine. I think I like apo box better because they were fast and gave detailed tracking. Apple also gives free shipping to their warehouse.
CAPT Matt
Wow, I have never had a problem with shipitapo. However, I don’t usually order things that need re-packaging and just use it for my favorite things that I can’t get here without it or relatives!
Careful with shipitapo. I bought a bike and shipitapo refused to repackage it. People I know here shipped bikes through them, but they refused to repackage mine. Package was only over by a couple of inches which could have been easily remedied by repackaging in two packages (bike was unassembled). They charged me over $120 (added forklift fee, handling, special packaging fee – to add insult to injury) to have it reshipped to my relatives in the States. Now I have to pay more to have my relatives repack and ship it here. My main reason for using shipitapo in the first place was to avoid bothering relatives. Maybe next time I’ll try APOBox instead.
APO Box was GREAT!… quick friendly service. I got my kids a large Tonka truck that nobody else would ship. APOBox contacted me and offered to repack the box to make it APO size legal. The service was amazing. We use it as our main address now here in Japan. We wish I knew about them at our last post.
Ann
I personally use ShipitAPO. Both their PA and CA facilities are in Zone 1 postage zones (the cheapest) to send AP, AE addresses. It looks like apobox ships out of MT. So while ShipitAPO might be a couple of bucks more for the handling, I can save quite a bit in postage charges for items over a 1lb or so.
Also ShipitAPO now has a premium service for people who are constantly using the service. Includes $100 of insurance and drops the handling fee down to $6.95, plus the more favorable postage rates from their shops.