Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview

Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government

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 is not a comparable policy to permit individuals in the United States to send letters and packages to troops serving overseas free of charge.

H.R. 1935 has been introduced in the 112th Congress to establish a new, free postage benefit. Military personnel who are deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, or who are hospitalized as a result of such deployment, would receive one postage voucher or coupon per month. The recipient may then give this voucher to a person in the United States, who could use it to send a letter or a parcel to a deployed member of the Armed Forces. Similar legislation was introduced but not enacted in the previous three Congresses.

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.


Date of Report: May 27, 2011
Number of Pages: 10
Order Number: R40550
Price: $29.95

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