News

USPS® UPDATE

Posted by Sam Stone

Temporary Service Suspension

Effective April 7th, 2020, the Postal Service will temporarily suspend international mail acceptance to destinations where air and sea transportation is unavailable due to widespread cancellations and restrictions into the area. Customers are asked to refrain from mailing items addressed to any of the following countries, until further notice. *Please note another country was added after this was originally posted.

  1. Angola
  2. Benin
  3. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  4. Cameroon
  5. Cook Islands
  6. Costa Rica
  7. Gambia
  8. Guatemala
  9. Kyrgyzstan
  10. Laos
  11. Lebanon
  12. Malawi
  13. Moldova
  14. Mozambique
  15. Papua New Guinea
  16. Paraguay
  17. Republic of the Congo
  18. Rwanda
  19. Senegal
  20. Seychelles
  21. Solomon Islands
  22. Sudan
  23. Tajikistan
  24. Tanzania
  25. Timor-Leste
  26. Tonga
  27. Uganda
  28. Uruguay
  29. Vanuatu
  30. Venezuela

Due to the COVID-19 global crisis, the USPS® has suspended international mail and shipments for 20 countries effective April 3, 2020 and until further notice. Customers are asked to refrain from entering items addressed to any of the affected countries. You should not mail to these countries or the mail will not be delivered and will be returned to sender. *Two additional countries were added after this was originally posted – see below.

  1. Botswana
  2. Cayman Islands
  3. Chad
  4. Ecuador
  5. Fiji
  6. French Polynesia
  7. Honduras
  8. India
  9. Kuwait
  10. Libya
  11. Madagascar
  12. Maldives
  13. Mongolia
  14. New Caledonia
  15. Panama
  16. Peru
  17. Samoa
  18. Saudi Arabia
  19. South Africa
  20. Bolivia
  21. Sri Lanka
  22. Zimbabwe

These service disruptions affect Priority Mail Express International® (PMEI), Priority Mail International® (PMI), First-Class Mail International® (FCMI), First-Class Package International Service® (FCPIS®), International Priority Airmail® (IPA®), International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®), and M-Bag® items.

For already deposited items, other than GXG, Postal Service employees will endorse the items as “Mail Service Suspended — Return to Sender” and then place them in the mail stream for return.

For any returned item bearing a customs form, the Postal Service will, upon request, refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the suspension of service.

For all other returned items not bearing a customs declarations form, the Postal Service will, upon request, refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the suspension of service, or the sender may re-mail them with the existing postage once service has been restored. When re-mailing under this option, customers must cross out the markings “Mail Service Suspended — Return to Sender.”

Unless otherwise noted, service suspensions to a particular country do not affect delivery of military and diplomatic mail.

USPS® is closely monitoring the situation and will continue to update customers until the situation returns to normal. As this information is changing on a frequent basis, be sure to check this page or the USPS webpage for current updates.