SendingtoSoldiers.com - Sending gifts and items to BFPO

Shop and raise money for Forces charities at the same time

A new British Forces shopping website has launched; ShopForces.com.

The site is a handy directory of UK online businesses and shops - most importantly, each time you follow a link from the ShopForces website and make a purchase, a donation is made to two charities, SSAFA Forces Help and The Royal British Legion.

So, next time you are going to make a purchase online, be it from Amazon, Boots or anyone else, go to ShopForces, click on the relevant shop link on their site and your work is done; if you proceed to make a purchase from the relevant store a commission payment is made to ShopForces and money is then donated to charity.

Full details on the ShopForces website here.

Have you been incorrectly charged for delivery to a BFPO address by the Post Office?

Since the FREEPOST to selected BFPO addresses began last August (see its announcement on our blog here) there has been ongoing confusion within the Post Office Network with regard to exactly who is included and how long it lasts.  It seems that many people with loved ones serving in operational areas are being told that the FREEPOST period has ended.  It has not.

If you have been told this by your Post Office, and been incorrectly charged, you can reclaim your money.  To do this you should get a form P58 from your post office, and send this to:

BFPO Enquiries
BFPO HQ
West End Road
Ruislip
Middlesex
HA4 6DK

enclose your proof of posting and they will arrange a refund by claiming back from the Royal Mail (subject of course to your item being incorrectly charged for in the first place).

Sending parcels to BFPO -The 'NON' DIY option!

Most of you will know that the FREEPOST to operational BFPO addresses has been extended into the New Year now. But if you can't always put together your own parcels, are spending time abroad, or just want a bit of variety - a reminder that there are companies that deliver their hampers and gift boxes to BFPO addresses. 

   Boxhappy.com have been delivering their boxes to all BFPO addresses for many years.  While they have a smallish product range they have always offered an excellent service and have a very good reputation.  You can view their range of items for BFPO delivery here.

Another company who deliver to BFPO addresses (including operational BFPO numbers such as Iraq) is Handy Candy. Their product range is pretty exclusively sweets and retro sweets but their hampers are good value and you can make up your own.

Continuation of FREEPOST service

Many people still seem to be a little confused with regard to the FREEPOST service, with some peeple writing in to us, thinking (wrongly) that it ended on December 7th.  We have copied and pasted the announcement below from the BFPO website:

Continuation of the Royal Mail Funded free 2Kg Mail Service to Op Telic, Op Herrick and HM Ships in Operational Support

The Royal Mail funded pre-Christmas free mail service to Operation Telic, Operation Herrick and HM Ships in support, which ran from 3rd Sep 07 to 9th Nov 07 has been authorised to continue from 08th Dec 07 until further notice.

Parcel to Afghanistan returned to sender 0.192g over weight limit!

Many of you will have heard this story reported this week; but if you haven't seen the details you can currently read the Daily Mail story in full here.

"With his son Danny serving on the front line in Afghanistan, Darren Smith was glad to take advantage of the Royal Mail's offer of free postage for parcels to soldiers. He sent off a package containing books, toothpaste, biscuits and sweets, along with two Remembrance Day poppies to remind Danny how much his family cared. A week later, however, he received a letter saying it could not be dispatched because it was 0.192 of a gram over the 2kg limit - the equivalent of a feather and less than the weight of the two 1gram poppies."

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this incident; the most important thing to remember is to weigh your items yourself if possible before taking them to the post office.  For several years, when sending to a BFPO address, I have always ensured that my parcel weighed no more than 1.9kg allowing a small margin of error (e.g. in the calibration of the scales) and allowing for the weight of any stickers or paperwork that might be attached to the parcel.  A little over-cautious perhaps, but it has served me well, and spared me what this poor father has had to go through!

Free Parcel Service Extended - FREEPOST to selected BFPO addresses continues!

From the Press Association today:

"A free parcel service for the families of British troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is to be extended, the Royal Mail has announced.

The service was launched in September after complaints from families and friends of the troops and was due to run out next month.

The Royal Mail said that, under a new deal agreed with the Ministry of Defence, the service will continue after Christmas and is expected to last as long as British troops are serving in the two danger zones."

You can read the story in full here.  This is fantastic news and congratulations to those who fought so hard to achieve this.

The story also says:

"Over the past few weeks around 100,000 parcels a week have been sent free of postage to around 14,000 frontline personnel, providing them with gifts, non-perishable food items and home comforts."

That is an awful lot of parcels!

Freepost Petition - Parcels 43

Remember that you can still sign the petition to reduce (or make permanently free) parcel postage prices for serving soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. In order to do so please visit the Parcels 43 website set up by Teresa Theobald here, or visit the petition page directly here.

FREEPOST to BFPO addresses - when does it end?

Just a reminder that the FREEPOST to BFPO service is due to end on 7th December.  We are aware that lots of our readers are taking advantage of this -  sending parcels to their service person several times a week - something that just wouldn't really be possible if there were postal charges in place.

Our sources tell us that there are still ongoing discussions regarding possible continuation of this service; but at the moment the 7th December date stands.

Freepost to BFPO - now Canadian Forces follow suit.

An interesting story has reached us from The Canadian media:
"As of October 26^th, Canada Post will begin providing free delivery of letters and parcels from family and friends to Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan and elsewhere overseas. While the free parcel service will be for the holiday season only (ending January 11^th, 2008), letters will continue to be sent postage-free throughout 2008."

The full story is available here.