Sending parcels to a BFPO address

[BadIdeaGenes]

My other half flys to Afghanistan tonight, Op Herrick, this is all new to me and I haven't been given much info at all. I've read that I can get blueys from the post office and send them for free but info on care parcels has been much more confusing. I've read something about shoe boxes under 2kg being free but also that you have to pay a fee for the first part of postage in the uk, as a student I'm quite worried about the cost.

I currently live out in the sticks near only small village post offices, will they have any paper blueys? Will they have any info?

However soon I'll be moving to London to study and imagine it may get easier then?

I'd be very grateful if someone could clear up my confusion about the cost of parcels

All PO's should have a supply of 'blueys' and can obtain them for you in the unlikely event that they haven't.

You are correct about the free postage up to 2kg.
This Royal Mail webpage should help.

Also look into e-blueys - they're a bit like emails but go through a secure server and are printed out and distributed like post out there.

For parcels - even though they're free to send, you'll still need to take them to the counter to be weighed and have a freepost stamp put on and you also have to put a customs label on - ask your post office to give you a supply of these in advance to save time. Even rural post offices should have them .

Parcels - and letters - are totally free to the Herrick BFPO addresses.

For both, you need to hand them over a PO counter, and the staff stick a printed stamp on them (plus customs label for packages). Thus is free to you, but shadow charged behind the scenes to MoD. Only blueys can be just chucked into a postbox.

They are very strict about size and weight of packages. If you are over, you cannot pay an excess, they simply won't carry them.

If OH has time, have him pick up blueys from his local PO before he goes (are you seeing him off?) as I've found not everywhere has them.

Defo sign up for ebluey they get there in around 24/48 hours and you can attach pictures too.
Careful with the weights on parcels my po wouldn't take them even if they were a tiny tiny bit overweight

you may actually find the rural post office easier, ours was as the whole concept was a novelty to them, they could never work out what to do with their computer to print the free postage labels out and used to just take them off me so they could work it out later. They often went over the weight as they had taken them then realised

Eblueys are great and easy to use but beware of getting timed out as you lose the lot and have to start again

scaevola are they really that strict on weight? DH got his dad to post out his pc last time he was there

Amazon will post to the BFPO no too so you can send presents with a message

and if you get amazon to deliver to afghansitan you can claim the VAT back

2Kg is quite a lot!

But yes, I've had a parcel refused (lots of fave chilli sauce and some retro sweeties) but no problems when repackaged into two parcels.

Really heavy/odd items you need to find someone who is visiting and get them to carry whatever it out.

They have to be strict, the system would be absolutely overloaded otherwise.

Thank you! I went into the nearby town today and got a whole stack of paper ones

Do amazon actually deliver to bfpo addresses then?

I'll definitely look into e-blueys, I was also wondering if I put the bluey in my printer and printed a photo on the inside, would that be allowed?

Oh and if you are posting parcels with some items which may be frowned upon (i.e. the bottle of pimms or gin) then wrap them in a disposable nappy so if they break it will all be soaked up by the nappy (rather than leak out over the COs post which he gets v.v. about) and also puts the sniffer dogs off the smell of alcohol so they don't open the parcel and discard of take for their own party the items

DH is out there jsut now and has spent far too much money had things delivered by amazon (and then claimed the VAT back)

Just to check - is there a value limit for sending to Afghanistan by Amazon? DP was told that they wouldn't send anything over £200 to a BFPO address.

Sorry, cannot help on the Amazon bit.

But for heavens sake, don't waste your money by trying to send alcohol to a dry posting.

If it's spotted on X-ray, the whole parcel will be disposed of. If it gets through, it must be handed in immediately and still intact. If it isn't and is discovered it is a major disciplinary matter. And frankly, the commanders out there have thousands of things they'd rather be dealing with than alcohol issues.

Hello, maybe you're all sorted on this now, but just to say my dh sends us blueys with pics printed on, so don't see why that would be a problem the other direction.

If you're ordering online, just remember BFPO is a UK address, i.e. do not put Afghanistan in the address or it will go missing.