Important summer move notice

  • Published
  • By Suzanne Barto
  • 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron
F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  The F. E. Warren Personal Property Shipping Office should be the first stop for anyone receiving orders out of the area. Summer season -- May 15 to Jul. 30 -- is coming fast which means the Transportation Service Providers will get extremely busy and will blackout move dates as they fill up with personal property shipments.

To help ensure customers get their desired move dates, it is imperative they contact the F. E. Warren PPSO at 773-3824 when orders are received. Customers are also welcome to visit the PPSO, located at 7300 Saber Rd., Bldg. 1274, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Another great source of information is http://www.move.mil. This Web site has a wealth of information covering all facets of a household goods move, whether it is from here to Texas or from here to Japan. It also enables most customers to counsel themselves on their own computers at home or work. There are also four computers located in the PPSO computer lab. These computers are available to customers who are experiencing trouble with the website, or to customers who do not have a computer.

Once the move application is submitted online, the applicable orders must be faxed, emailed or personally delivered to the PPSO selected by the customer. Customers should follow up to make sure their orders were received by the PPSO with a phone call. That PPSO will review the hard copy of orders and look over the online shipment submitted by the customer. If there are no problems with the orders or shipment, then the PPSO will submit the shipment and it will be booked. The shipment will not be booked if the customer does not send orders and notify the selected PPSO of their shipment.

There is also a way to submit an application for performing a Personally Procured Move, formerly known as a Do-It-Yourself move. Depending on the customer and the type of shipment, an in-person briefing will still have to be accomplished. The following shipments must be counseled in person: shipments going straight into storage, local moves accomplished by movers, some shipments less than 500 pounds, shipments going to uncommon destinations, first and last time movers, shipments set up by a person with a Power of Attorney and moves set up by a Summary Courts Officer or next of kin. Customers can save a few hours out of their busy day by self counseling through move.mil. This will also help ensure the shipment is signed off with enough time to get the customer's desired pick-up date.

The summer policy handed down every year by the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command is written out below. SDDC governs all Department of Defense household goods shipments.
· Effective May 15, the F. E. Warren PPSO will require 21 days from the customer's briefing date to book shipments leaving the area of responsibility. If the customer self counsels online, then the rule is 21 days from when the selected PPSO electronically signs off the shipment. Customers must submit a primary and alternate pick up date in case the primary pick up date is not available.

· Customers must be flexible with their move dates. It is imperative that customers contact their TSP as soon as possible to schedule a pre-move survey and affirm their pack and pickup dates with the TSP. Move dates are not guaranteed until they are affirmed directly between the customer and TSP.

· Customers will receive automated e-mail notifications for each step in the move process. PPSO recommends using commercial e-mail addresses because the customer's work email account will be deleted upon their departure.

· Any shipment that requires a move date sooner than 21 days by no fault of the customer; the PPSO will contact the Joint Personal Property Shipping Office booking section to see if the move is possible. Move dates are not guaranteed, as stated above, so it would be wise to have a Specific Power of Attorney written up by the legal office for a trusted friend or family member in case the move dates cannot be secured. The PPSO, JPPSO and SDDC will also require the customer to provide an Emergency Impact Statement as to why the shipment needs to be picked up within 21 days.

Unfortunately, last minute issues do pop up from time to time. To help eliminate any last minute issues, customers should be proactive and contact their PPSO or JPPSO office if they have not been contacted by their TSP at least 10 duty days before their first pack date. The PPSO or JPPSO will double check the paperwork for mistakes and provide customers with their TSP's contact info. If the TSP is not reachable, then the JPPSO should be notified immediately.

Moving can be extremely stressful on all involved. Taking the time to properly plan the move will help reduce the stress and keep critical steps from being forgotten. Keep in mind that setting up the household goods move, whether it is online or in person, should be one of the first things accomplished after orders are received. A good tip is to have a calendar just for the move, which serves as a reminder and helps visualize when tasks must be completed. Another thing that will help is to establish a clear dialogue with all parties involved in the shipment. The Warren PPSO is committed to providing unrivaled customer service and everything possible will be done to ensure that customers get their goods moved on time.