Have you heard of Small Package Shipments? This is a little known resource that is available Marine Corps families during any PCS (even CONUS) but it was really handy when we made the move to Okinawa! Small Package Shipments are just like any other shipments you make during your PCS and is considered to be a partial DITY. The weight of these shipments are a part of your total household good weights.

Small Package Shipments are a great way to send some of your most needed items to your next duty station without having to wait for your express shipment or your household goods shipments to arrive. These are items that you may want to have on hand immediately but that you can’t take with you on the travel to your next duty station.

Small Package Shipments are shopped via postal carriers. For CONUS shipments you can use the U.S. Postal Service or any third party small package service like UPS or FedEx. For OCONUS shipments you have to use the U.S. Postal Service as this is the only carrier that can be shipped to your FPO/APO mailbox.

What is Small Package Shipments?

Small Package Shipment is meant to ship a small amount of your personal items to your next duty station. It is not an entitlement to ship your express shipment or any of your main household good items. According to the official Small Package Shipment memorandum, “small package shipments should be used when sending a portion of articles authorized as unaccompanied baggage or household goods through the U.S. Postal Service or commercial small package service such as UPS, FedEx, etc. The intent of this entitlement is to use small package shipments for those items the Marine wants to ship separately from unaccompanied baggage and/or household goods shipments. This method of shipment is not to be used to ship entire unaccompanied baggage or household goods shipments.”

READ THE OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM HERE

How does the Small Package Shipment work?

The Small Package Shipment is part of your regular household goods move. It is considered a Personally Procured Move (PPM or DITY). In this case it is considered a partial PPM or partial DITY.

If you are currently stateside (CONUS) you will submit for a Small Package Shipment through DPS or visit your local Personal Property Office to request a Small Package Shipment. You will be given a series of forms and documents — be sure to keep all documents for when you submit for reimbursement.

If you are overseas (OCONUS) you must request that your Personal Property Office Counselor submits the request for you. Again, be sure to keep all documents for when you submit for reimbursement.

You will be reimbursed for your shipments based on the weight of those items. In order to submit for reimbursement you will need, “preparation of a Personally Procured Move (PPM) application, DD 2278, DD 1351-2, PPM Checklist, complete set of orders, an inventory of the items shipped in each shipment to ensure only those items that qualify as household goods or unaccompanied baggage…and all receipts that provide the cost per shipment, weight per shipment and the date shipped.”

The PPO should been able to help you secure all necessary documents, but be sure to create an inventory list and keep all receipts on hand when you submit for reimbursement.

What can I ship in the Small Package Shipments?

Small Package Shipments aren’t meant to send things like your televisions and bed frames. These are small items that can fit into small package shipments.

Since we were moving OCONUS, we found that the Small Package Shipment was really very useful to us since we didn’t know how long it would be until our UAB and HHG actually arrived.

We used these black and yellow bins to ship things here to Okinawa. Although we had things in our UAB, we wanted some things on hand when we arrived in Okinawa. We also had purchased some school clothes and other items that we wanted to send over without having to bring additional suitcases. This helped us limit the number of bags we had to make travel easier as well.

Here is a list of things that we added into these bins. You can put most anything in there that fits in the categories described by the official memorandum, up to 70lbs:

• Books
• Toys
• Back to school clothes we purchased before we left
• Extra toiletries
• Necessary uniform items that we weren’t carrying by hand
• Kids activities like coloring books, puzzles, and their favorite stuffed animals
• Air mattresses
• Light bedding and small towels

How do we mail our Small Package Shipments?

You will be shipping to your FPO/APO mailbox, so ensure your sponsor has set that up and get the address from them.

You must mail U.S. Postal Service – that is the only one that will deliver to FPO/APO. If you live off base, you can pay for international shipment but that is expensive and complicated. Most people ship to their FPO/APO using USPS.

It took about 6 weeks for our small package shipments to arrive here in Okinawa, so about the same time as our Express Shipment was allotted. In our case, our UAB actually arrived first and our Small Package Shipment arrived a couple weeks after. But it was still worth it to us to have some additional items sent to Okinawa without having to carry it along in a suitcase during the long days of travel.

Want to learn more about what to pack in your Express Shipments and Household Good Shipments?
Click below to read more.