Ship to Military Addresses

Reference for how carriers handle shipments to Military addresses, including how to format the address in ShipStation.

Photograph of two US soldiers carrying cardboard boxes

ShipStation can create labels to Military and Diplomatic addresses (APO/FPO/DPO etc.), but it will depend on the limits of the carrier used for the shipment. The addresses do have a specific format to follow.

Carrier Limitations

The major carriers connected to ShipStation have unique services for these specialized addresses.

Carrier

Service

USPS

Military & Diplomatic Mail

DHL eCommerce

Requires Endicia's integration

FedEx

SmartPost Service

UPS

UPS SurePost Services

Address Format Guidelines

  1. Write out the service member's rank and full name in the name field.

  2. Include their unit and PO box on Address Line 1.

  3. The city field will need to be one of the abbreviations set forth by the Military:

    • APO: Army Post Office

    • FPO: Fleet Post Office

    • DPO: Diplomatic Post Office

  4. The Region field for your order needs to be assigned a “state code,” which is categorized by the following abbreviations:

    • AA: Armed Forces Central and South Americas (Armed Forces Americas)

    • AP: Armed Forces Pacific

    • AE: Armed Forces Europe (including Canada, Middle East, and Africa)

  5. Set the country as the United States, as these addresses are considered part of the U.S.

    Here's a screenshot of how this should be formatted:

    A properly formatted APO address is shown on the ship to address screen.

Military Shipments and DHL eCommerce

The above military addresses are considered domestic for outgoing shipments. This means you cannot process these shipments through a direct DHL eCommerce integration (formerly DHL Global Mail), as they can only create labels for international shipments. However, you can process these types of shipments through Endicia's integration of DHL eCommerce for domestic services.

The services available with DHL eCommerce domestic through Endicia are as follows:

  • DHL GM Parcel Expedited,

  • DHL GM Parcel Plus Expedited,

  • DHL GM Parcel Ground, and

  • DHL GM Parcel Plus Ground.

Notes about Military Addresses

Some shipments, although considered Domestic, may still require customs information. Check with your carrier for their specific requirements and more information.