Official and personal mail operations will be fully operational in early February. By late February, the units will be able to accept bulk mail. However, there is a 70-pound U.S. Postal Service weight limit, and military postal officials recommended that parcels be no larger than a shoe box. Free mail applies only to outgoing personal correspondence, including first-class letters, cassette voice tapes and personal communication videos weighing 11 ounces or less.
Service members have to pay for parcel shipments.
Army Lt. Col. Jerry Peck, chief of staff for the Military Postal Service Agency, said Navy ships and Marine units have unique, permanently assigned ZIP codes. Mail currently takes eight to 10 days to travel either way between the United States and Bosnia. Mail from Europe to Hungary and Bosnia is taking two to four days, Simms said. Peck said the postal agency supports U.S. peacekeepers with eight military post offices in and around the former Yugoslavia.