Sending Mail to Members of the Armed
Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An
Overview
Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government
January 14, 2011
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R40550
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
Summary
Members of the Armed Forces on duty in designated combat areas can send personal
correspondence, free of postage, to addresses in the United States.
However, there never has been a comparable policy to permit individuals in the United States to
send letters and packages to troops serving overseas. That said, the federal government does
subsidize the postage an individual pays to send mail to troops. A sender is charged only for the
cost of the domestic portion of the delivery—the Department of Defense pays the cost to move
the mail from the United States to troops overseas. Additionally, since October 2008 the U.S.
Postal Service has offered a discounted package service to families wishing to send packages to
members of the Armed Services stationed overseas.
Legislation to establish a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit has been introduced in the 109th,
110th, and 111th Congresses. None of the bills were enacted.
This report will be updated to reflect significant legislative action.
Congressional Research Service
Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
Contents
Background ................................................................................................................................ 1
Current Costs for Mailers ............................................................................................................ 1
Legislation .................................................................................................................................. 2
109th Congress ...................................................................................................................... 2
110th Congress ...................................................................................................................... 3
111th Congress....................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion: Observations and Possible Questions for Congress................................................... 5
Observations ......................................................................................................................... 5
Possible Questions ................................................................................................................ 6
Contacts
Author Contact Information ........................................................................................................ 6
Congressional Research Service
Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
Background
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has a long relationship with the Department of Defense (DOD)
to facilitate correspondence and the exchange of gifts between service personnel and their
families. Post offices throughout the country accept mail and packages for military personnel and
deliver these items to military installations in the United States. Overseas military mail delivery is
somewhat more complicated. The USPS delivers mail and packages to USPS gateway sites in
New York, Newark, San Francisco, Miami, and Chicago. Domestic postage covers the cost of this
service. The cost of transporting the mail from those sites to overseas Army/Air Force Post
Offices (APOs) and Fleet Post Offices (FPOs) that serve members of the Armed Forces is borne
by the military mail service. For mailers, then, the postage is subsidized—they pay only the
domestic portion of the cost.
When the Armed Forces are engaged in combat or other dangerous activities, the President has
the authority to permit service members to send personal correspondence, free of charge, to
places within the delivery limits of a U.S. post office (39 U.S.C. 3401(a)(1)).1 This privilege is
currently available to service members in Iraq, Afghanistan, and certain surrounding countries
and seas, and to service personnel hospitalized in a military facility as a consequence of service in
the designated areas. The DOD pays the USPS for the costs of delivering this mail from the U.S.
gateway sites to any domestic address. Free mail must have a complete APO or FPO return
address and the word “free” written in the upper right corner with an APO or FPO postmark.
However, citizens of the United States have never been authorized to send mail to service
members, whether overseas or not, without paying postage. It is the case that the government
created “V-Mail” as a means for Americans to correspond with members of the Armed Forces
during World War II.2 But only members of the Armed Forces could send V-Mail free of postage.
Families and friends had to pay postage at the standard rates of the day.
Current Costs for Mailers
Those wishing to send correspondence to members of the Armed Forces overseas currently pay
postage between $0.44 and $0.95 per letter (1 to 3.5 ounces) and $0.88 and $2.92 for larger
envelopes (1 to 13 ounces).3
Someone wishing to send a package will pay the standard domestic package postage rates, which
are calculated on a range of factors, including package size, shape, weight, etc.4 Alternatively, a
1 The authority was delegated to the Secretary of Defense by Executive Order 12556 on April 18, 1986. For a list of
overseas assignment locations eligible for the free mail privilege, see “Free Mail Program for U.S. Armed Forces,”
Postal Bulletin 22224, January 17, 2008, pp. 12-13, at http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2008/pb22224.pdf.
2 Designed to economize on weight and space, V-Mail letters were written on forms that could be purchased at retail
stores or post offices. The forms were microfilmed, dispatched around the world, and then reproduced at a mail center
near the recipient’s location. No enclosures were permitted. See “V-Mail,” National Postal Museum website, at
http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2d2a_vmail.html.
3 See http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#wp1011092.
4 See the postage calculator at http://postcalc.usps.gov/.
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Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
mailer may take advantage of the discounted APO/FPO Priority Mail Flat-Rate Box.5 The USPS
offers “free Military kits” to military families who want to send packages overseas.
The mailing kits can be ordered by phone by calling 1-800-610-8734 and asking for the Care
Kit. Each kit includes two Priority Mail boxes, six Priority Mail Flat-Rate boxes, eight
Priority Mail labels, one roll of Priority Mail tape and eight customs forms with envelopes.6
A sender must pay postage of $12.95, a discount of $2 off the standard postage, for each 12” by
12” by 5” box.7
Legislation
Legislation to establish a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit has been introduced in the 109th,
110th, and 111th Congresses. None of the bills were enacted.
109th Congress
Representative Vito Fossella introduced H.R. 923, the Mailing Support to Troops Act of 2005, on
February 17, 2005. As introduced, the bill would have allowed family members of military
service personnel to mail letters and packages free of charge to active members of the military
serving in Afghanistan or Iraq, and to servicemen and women hospitalized as a result of disease
or injury suffered in Afghanistan or Iraq. To receive this free postage benefit, mailers simply
would have written on the envelope or box “‘Free Matter for Member of the Armed Forces of the
United States’ or words to that effect [as] specified by the Postal Service.” H.R. 923 would have
forbidden this mail to contain advertisements. The bill would have authorized appropriations to
reimburse the USPS for its extra expenses in transporting such mail.
Another approach to providing a free postage benefit was taken by Representative Harold E.
Ford, Jr., in H.R. 2874, the Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2005, which was introduced on June 14,
2005.8 The bill would have provided a free postage benefit to both families of service members
and charities. Soldiers mobilizing for overseas duty would have been given an allotment of
special stamps (equivalent in value to $150 per calendar quarter) to send to their families or
selected charities. These stamps would have permitted them to mail letters and packages to
service members without postage. There would have been a 10-pound limit on packages mailed,
and the DOD would have reimbursed USPS for providing this service. By putting individual
service members into the authorization chain for the mail they received, this bill would have
avoided the problem of the free postage benefit being used to send unsolicited mail to the troops.
Additionally, capping the allotment per service member would have mitigated potential stress on
the military postal system. H.R. 2874 was referred to the House Committees on Armed Services
and Government Reform.
5 For details on calculating postage and restrictions on package contents, see http://www.usps.com/
supportingourtroops/.
6 U.S. Postal Service, “Support the Troops With Timely Holiday Mailing,” press release, October 8, 2008,
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_102.htm. Some restrictions on contents do apply. See
http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/mailingrestrictions.htm.
7 See http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm.
8 H.R. 2874 superseded H.R. 887, a very similar bill introduced by Representative Ford on February 17, 2005.
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Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
On September 29, 2005, the House Government Reform Committee marked up H.R. 923 and, in
doing so, adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute that incorporated the core concept,
as well as the title, of H.R. 2874. As amended and ordered to be reported by voice vote of the
committee, the new version of H.R. 923 would have required the DOD, in consultation with the
USPS, to establish a one-year program under which a qualified member of the Armed Forces
would have received a monthly voucher. The voucher was transferable to a service member’s
family or friends, and would cover the postage to send one letter or parcel (weighing up to 15
pounds) to the service member. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that nearly all
of the about 145,000 American service personnel who would have been eligible for the postage
benefit would have taken advantage of it, and assigned it a budget cost of $30 million over
FY2006 and FY2007.9
The House Armed Services Committee added the language of H.R. 923 as Sections 575, 576, and
577 of H.R. 5122, the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. The
House passed H.R. 5122 on May 11, 2006. On June 22, 2006, the Senate substituted its own
defense authorization language for the House language and passed H.R. 5122. Neither the Senate
version of the FY2007 authorization bill nor the conference report (H.Rept. 109-702) included the
free-mail-for-troops provision.10
Thus, the free postage provision was not included in either the FY2007 defense authorization act
(P.L. 109-364) or the FY2007 defense appropriations act (P.L. 109-289).
110th Congress
Representative Fossella and 13 cosponsors introduced H.R. 1439 on March 9, 2007. The bill
would have established a postage benefit for members of the armed services on active duty in Iraq
or Afghanistan, and for individuals who are “hospitalized at a facility under the jurisdiction of the
Armed Forces of the United States as a result of a disease or injury incurred as a result of service
in Iraq or Afghanistan.” A beneficiary would have received one voucher per month, which he or
she could have given to anyone who wished to send him or her a letter or parcel free of charge.
The bill would have limited the weight of letters to no more than 13 ounces and parcels to no
more than 15 pounds. H.R. 1439 would have authorized an appropriation to the DOD to cover the
cost of this program to the USPS. H.R. 1439 was referred to the House Armed Services
Committee.
Senator Hillary Clinton and two cosponsors introduced S. 1444 on June 6, 2007. This bill was
very similar to H.R. 1439, although it would have limited packages to no more than 10 pounds,
and it would have capped the cost of the free postage program at $10 million in FY2008. S. 1444
was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, then to
the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services,
and International Security.
On May 16, 2007, Representative Fossella offered a floor amendment (H.Amdt. 184) to H.R.
1585, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. The amendment was quite
9 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Government Reform, Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2005, report to accompany
H.R. 923, 109th Cong., 2nd sess., H.Rept. 109-268 (Washington: GPO, 2005), pp. 7-9.
10 The free-mail-for-troops measure was not included in either the House or Senate reports (H.Rept. 109-504, S.Rept.
109-292) on the FY2007 defense appropriations bills.
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Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
similar to H.R. 1439 and S. 1444. It would have required the Secretary of Defense to provide a
“qualified individual” with one voucher every other month. As in earlier bills, a “qualified
individual” would have been defined as a member of the Armed Forces serving in Iraq or
Afghanistan, or a member of the Armed Forces hospitalized under the care of the military. This
individual could have given the voucher to anyone, who then could mail, at no charge, a parcel
(up to 10 pounds) or first-class mail piece (up to 13 ounces) to the same qualified individual.
H.Amdt. 184 was adopted by voice vote immediately.11
The House passed H.R. 1585 with the postage benefit provision on May 17, 2007, by a vote of
397 to 267. Again, the Senate passed its version of the defense authorization bill without the
postage benefit provision on October 1, 2007, by a vote of 92 to 3. The conference report
(H.Rept. 110-477) filed on December 6, 2007, did not authorize an appropriation for the postage
benefit.
111th Congress
Representative Peter King introduced H.R. 704, the Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2009, on January
27, 2009.12 The same day, Representative Kathy Castor introduced H.R. 707, the Home Front to
Heroes Postal Benefits Act. H.R. 704 and H.R. 707 were referred to the House Armed Services
Committee, and then to its Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
Like earlier bills, both H.R. 704 and H.R. 707 would have given one free-postage voucher per
month to each “qualified individual” in the Armed Forces. Each voucher would have provided
free postage on letters weighing up to 13 ounces or packages weighing up to 15 pounds. The
DOD would have provided advance transfers of funds to the USPS to cover the Postal Service’s
costs in delivering the mail to the APOs and FPOs. H.R. 704 and H.R. 707 would have authorized
this postage benefit for one year.
Though similar, H.R. 704 and 707 differed in two significant ways.
(1) H.R. 704, Sec. 2(b) defined a “qualified individual” as
a member of the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty (as defined in section 101
of title 10, United States Code); and ... serving in Iraq or Afghanistan ... or ... hospitalized at
a facility under the jurisdiction of the Armed Forces of the United States as a result of a
disease or injury incurred as a result of service in Iraq or Afghanistan.
10 U.S.C. 101(d)(1) defined “active duty” to mean
full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. Such term includes full-time
training duty, annual training duty, and attendance, while in the active military service, at a
school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department
concerned. Such term does not include full-time National Guard duty.
11 Rep. Vito Fossella, Congressional Record, vol. 153, part 81 (May 16, 2007), pp. H5243-H5244.
12 Representative Denny Rehberg introduced H.R. 2126, the Correspondence With Our Heroes Act, on April 27, 2009.
It was identical to Representative King’s H.R. 704.
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Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
Meanwhile, H.R. 707, Sec. 2(b) defined a “qualified individual” as “a member of the Armed
Forces described in subsection (a)(1) of section 3401 of title 39, United States Code, who is
entitled to free mailing privileges under such section.” This definition of “qualified individual”
may be broader than the definition included in H.R. 704 because 39 U.S.C. 3401(a)(1) includes
an individual who is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty, as
defined in [10 U.S.C. 101], or a civilian, otherwise authorized to use postal services at
Armed Forces installations, who holds a position or performs one or more functions in
support of military operations, as designated by the military theater commander....
(2) H.R. 704 did not define who may use a postage voucher. H.R. 707, Section 2(e) would have
permitted qualified individuals to transfer a voucher to “a member of the family of the qualified
individual, a nonprofit organization, or any other person selected by the qualified individual for
use to send qualified mailings to the qualified individual or other qualified individuals.”
When the House passed H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010,
on June 25, 2009, it included the text of H.R. 707 as Section 666. However, when the Senate
approved an amended version of H.R. 2647 on July 23, it did not include the free postage benefit.
Additionally, neither the House nor the Senate Appropriations Committee included a free postage
benefit when it approved H.R. 3326, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010.
Ultimately, the 111th Congress did not enact a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit.
Conclusion: Observations and Possible Questions
for Congress
The recent postage benefit bills prompt at least two observations and four questions.
Observations
(1) It is unclear whether any concerns exist about the voucher-type free postage proposals. As
indicated above, during the 109th, 110th , and 111th Congresses, measures advanced but were not
enacted. In each instance, the House bill carried the free postage benefit, and the Senate bill did
not. The conference committee reports did not elaborate on why the Senate version was preferred,
and the Congressional Research Service has not located any published accounts that detail any
objections to these postage benefit bills.
(2) It is unclear how much a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit would cost. Only one of the bills
introduced was scored—the CBO scored the final version of H.R. 923 (109th Congress), at $30
million for the 2006 calendar year, “including $17 million for postage, and $13 million for the
DoD’s transportation and administrative costs.”13
13 Congressional Budget Office, “Cost Estimate: H.R. 923 Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2005,” October 14, 2005, at
http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/67xx/doc6782/hr923.pdf, p. 2.
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Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview
Possible Questions
(1) Neither H.R. 704 nor H.R. 707 described the means through which the DOD was to provide
postage vouchers to military personnel overseas; nor did the bills describe how these individuals
would transfer these vouchers to family members or friends back in the United States. Both H.R.
704 and H.R. 707 would have required the DOD to devise the means for administering the
benefit. (The CBO’s scoring of H.R. 923 during the 109th Congress, it should be noted, did not
include an estimate of the costs of either voucher distribution to military personnel or voucher
transference to persons in the United States.)
(2) What precautions would be adopted to ensure that vouchers were not counterfeited? Is there
any risk that individuals could sell or trade postage vouchers for cash?
(3) Previous legislative proposals, such as H.R. 704 and H.R. 707 (111th Congress), would have
permitted a voucher to be used either to send correspondence or a package. Currently, a mailer
must pay between $0.44 and $0.95 in postage for a letter (1 to 3.5 ounces), and $0.88 and $2.92
in postage for a larger envelope (1 to 13 ounces). Should these relatively low-cost mailings be
further subsidized by enacting a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit?14 And are senders likely to
use a voucher for letters that can be used to cover the more expensive postage package?
(4) The dimensions and shape of a package significantly affect the USPS’s costs to deliver it.15
For example, mailing 15 pounds of widgets in a 20” by 4” by 4” package (320 cubic inches) from
the Silver Lake, Ohio zip code 44224 to the APO zip code 96278-2050 would require over $20 in
postage. Sending the same 15 pounds of widgets in a 12” by 12” by 5” Priority Mail Flat-Rate
Box (720 cubic inches) would cost $12.95. (Whether the DOD experiences similar cost
differences for package delivery is unclear.) To reduce delivery costs, should any free postal
benefit require recipients to use a box of a particular size and shape?
Author Contact Information
Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government
kkosar@crs.loc.gov, 7-3968
14 As noted on page 1 of this report, mailers pay postage only for the domestic portion of the delivery.
15 Computations come from the postage calculator at http://postcalc.usps.gov/.
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