PO sets holiday mail dates

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With thousands of American troops and civilians in the Middle East, it's time to think about sending Christmas mail.
Parcels traveling to civilians in the Middle East by surface mail should be sent by Oct. 21 to be there in time for the holidays, the Postal Service said Friday.
Parcel post addressed to military APO and FPO addresses worldwide should be sent by Nov. 13, the agency said. The deadline is Nov. 27 for mail shipped on military aircraft when space is available and Dec. 4 for military parcel airlift mail.
First-class letters and priority mail to APO-FPO addresses with ZIP codes beginning with 093 should be sent by Dec. 6, and the deadline for other military ZIP codes is Dec. 11.
The post office advises that military mail should include service member's full name, military organization and unit and APO-FPO number. Do not include the country name in the address of military mail.
For civilian mail, place the city or town and province name on the line after the street address. Also, put the foreign postal code in front of the city name and on the same line. Write the name of the foreign country in capital letters.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.