Embassy, consulate mail pickup to be limited

[unhappycamper]

Embassy, consulate mail pickup to be limited
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, November 8, 2009

Starting next year, the State Department will no longer provide postal service to military retirees and Defense Department contractors who pick up their mail at an embassy or consulate.

The policy change is expected to affect roughly 4,800 military retirees living overseas, said Thomas Saunders, an Army spokesman for Installation Management Command-Europe. He did not know how many contractors would be affected.

Saunders said the new policy would not affect retirees and contractors currently authorized to pick up their mail at a Defense Department installation. It also doesn’t apply to military retirees or contractors working in an official capacity for the State Department or an agency affiliated with it.

The change, effective Dec. 31, is occurring because responsibility for postal facilities at embassies and consulates has shifted from the military to the State Department. A briefing document stated that the Defense Department no longer funds the operation and has no legal authority to transfer funds to the State Department to cover the cost of the service.

The change will affect chiefly retirees and contractors who live far from a U.S. military installation or in a country that has no U.S. military base, such as mainland Portugal or France.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65944