Where it lives
The kit sits in the military supplies aisle of the Postal Store, alongside the APO/FPO carton sold on its own and the MILI-PAC envelopes. There is nothing to sign up for and no account to attach it to.
Care packages
The USPS Military Care Kit, unpacked
USPS mails you a box of boxes for sending a care package to a service member, and charges nothing for it. Six Priority Mail Flat Rate cartons, a roll of tape, address labels and customs form envelopes arrive at your door. Kit contents and limits were read off usps.com and the Postal Store on 2026-07-28; the customs form walkthrough further down was checked against the USPS military mail page on 2026-08-12, because the form is the one job the kit leaves with you.
Kit contents itemisedPostal Store, read 2026-07-28Limits stated, not guessed
Six cartons, one order
The kit is built around six parcels: six boxes, six labels, six customs envelopes. Order early, because the boxes travel by ground.
Everything in the kit, itemised
The Postal Store lists the kit under military supplies with a full contents breakdown. Here it is as a list, with the sizes USPS prints beside each carton so you can decide what actually fits before the kit shows up.
| Item | How many | Size USPS lists |
|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail APO/FPO Flat Rate Box | 2 | 12 × 12 × 5-1/2 in |
| Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box, top loading | 2 | 11 × 8-1/2 × 5-1/2 in |
| Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box, side loading | 2 | 13-5/8 × 11-7/8 × 3-3/8 in |
| Priority Mail tape | 1 roll | Not listed |
| Priority Mail address labels | 6 | Not listed |
| Customs form envelopes | 6 | Not listed |
The proportions tell you how USPS expects the kit to be used: six cartons, six labels, six customs envelopes, one roll of tape. The tape is the part that runs short if you belt every seam twice, so keep an ordinary roll of packing tape beside it. The two side loading mediums are the shallow ones at 3-3/8 in deep, which makes them the right home for books, photographs and flat snacks, while the top loaders take jars and tins standing up.
Source: Military Care Kit product page, store.usps.com, read 2026-07-28.
How the ordering works
How many you may take
The quantity selector runs from one to five kits per order, which is thirty cartons at the top end. That cap is aimed at the unit-level sender rather than the single household parcel.
How it reaches you
USPS sends supplies orders by Ground Advantage with tracking, quoting 2 to 5 business days. Order two weeks before the packing weekend and the boxes will be waiting rather than the other way around.
One detail worth planning around: the APO/FPO carton appears in the military aisle in packs of 10 and 25 as well, so a family or a school group sending a run of parcels can skip the kit and take a bundle of the one box they need. The kit is the convenience option, not the volume option.
The weight and size limits that actually bind
Every carton in the kit is a Priority Mail Flat Rate box, so the postal limits come from Priority Mail rather than from the kit. Three numbers cover almost every care package.
70 lbs on the scale
USPS states 70 lbs as the maximum for Priority Mail and charges the same Flat Rate up to that weight anywhere in the country. Read at usps.com/ship/priority-mail.htm on 2026-07-28.
The lid is the real limit
A Flat Rate carton is only correctly used when its flaps close on their own and the box keeps its shape. Bulging a lid shut is how a care package arrives opened and retaped.
27 by 14 by 14 for DPO
Diplomatic post office parcels are capped at 27 in long by 14 wide by 14 high per the USPS military mail page read 2026-07-28. All six kit cartons sit comfortably inside that.
The limit nobody looks up until it stops them is content, not size. Individual military ZIP codes carry their own restrictions that follow the host country rather than US rules, and they change. USPS runs a lookup that takes the destination ZIP and the date you plan to mail, which is the correct check to run the week you pack rather than the month before.
Sources: usps.com Priority Mail, usps.com military and diplomatic mail and the APO/FPO/DPO restrictions lookup, all read 2026-07-28.
What the kit does not do for you
It hands you envelopes, not forms
Six customs form envelopes come in the box. The declaration inside them is still yours to complete, through the USPS online tools or on PS Form 2976-R before you reach the counter.
It does not address the parcel
Military mail wants a named person, their unit, and the APO, FPO or DPO line with AA, AE or AP and the ZIP. City and country names stay off the label entirely.
It does not buy postage
The cartons are supplied at no charge; the postage on each one is not. Flat Rate means one price for the box, not an absence of price.
Our own rules page for military addresses covers the addressing format, the customs paperwork and the named-recipient requirement in more depth, and it is the page to read next if this is your first parcel to a base overseas.
How to fill out the customs form for a military care package
A parcel to an APO, FPO or DPO ZIP travels on a customs declaration, and the kit only supplies the envelope it rides in. The USPS military mail page, re-read 2026-08-12, gives senders two ways to produce the form itself, and three details decide whether the counter visit takes two minutes or fifteen.
Pick the form path
Build the declaration online — Click-N-Ship walks through the customs step and prints it with the label — or fill out PS Form 2976-R on paper and hand it to the retail clerk, who creates the label from it. Arriving with the paper form already completed is what keeps the line moving.
Itemize the contents
USPS notes that more detailed package descriptions are now required for all countries, so write the care package out line by line — protein bars, wool socks, paperback books — each with a quantity and a value, not a single word like snacks or gifts. Value items at what replacing them would cost.
Address it the military way
The form repeats the label: the service member's full name, rank and unit, then the APO, FPO or DPO line with AA, AE or AP and the 9-digit ZIP. USPS says to leave city and country names off entirely so the parcel cannot slip into a foreign mail network.
Before sealing anything, run the destination ZIP through the USPS restrictions lookup linked above — individual military ZIPs ban whatever the host country bans, and the lists move. Then slide the finished declaration into one of the kit's six customs form envelopes on the outside of the box, and the paperwork is done.
Source: usps.com military and diplomatic mail, read 2026-08-12. Declaration rules beyond military mail — values, harmonized codes, the other form numbers — live in our customs forms and HS codes guide.
Where SMKlog fits, and where it does not
A parcel bound for a military ZIP travels through postal channels from acceptance to delivery, so the comparison our checkout exists to run has nothing to compare. We say that plainly rather than sell you a quote we cannot fill. What we do price well is the civilian half of the same job: gear posted to a family address before a deployment, a footlocker coming back to a stateside ZIP, a care package sent to a base with an ordinary street address in the continental US. Describe the box, and three carriers price it side by side.
Common questions
How do I get a USPS Military Care Kit?
Order it from the military supplies aisle of the Postal Store at store.usps.com. The kit costs nothing, the store caps an order at five kits, and USPS sends it out by Ground Advantage in 2 to 5 business days with tracking.
What comes in the Military Care Kit?
Six Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes, two in the APO/FPO size and four mediums split between a top loading and a side loading shape, plus one roll of Priority Mail tape, six address labels and six customs form envelopes. That listing was read on the Postal Store product page on 2026-07-28.
How much can a care package weigh?
USPS puts the Priority Mail ceiling at 70 lbs and charges one Flat Rate price up to that weight. Inside a box of this size the corners give out well before the scale does, so pack to the strength of the carton rather than to the number.
Do I still need a customs form?
Yes. The kit supplies the envelopes that carry the paperwork, not the paperwork itself. USPS points senders to its online tools or to PS Form 2976-R filled in before a counter visit.
Can UPS or FedEx carry a care package to a base overseas?
No. An APO, FPO or DPO address routes through military postal channels, which no private carrier touches. The kit exists because the postal route is the only route.
How do I fill out the customs form for a military care package?
Create the form online through Click-N-Ship, which walks you through the customs step, or complete PS Form 2976-R on paper for the clerk to work from. List the contents line by line with a quantity and value for each, and address it to name, rank and unit at the APO, FPO or DPO ZIP with no city or country named. From the USPS military mail page, read 2026-08-12.