Tips to prepare for peak PCS season

By Beverly Sowell, Stuttgart Transportation Office

Peak season for Permanent Change of Station (PCS) begins May 15 and runs through Aug 31, with the busiest weeks being May 15 through July 4.

The Stuttgart transportation staff is here to assist you with your move. There are important documents that are needed prior to your shipment being booked and the Stuttgart transportation office will assist each customer with the process.

When you receive your orders, the first thing you will need to do is contact the Central Processing Facility (CPF) at usarmy.stuttgart.id-europe.mbx.cpf-out-processing@army.mil for the CPF questionnaire. Once CPF receives the completed questionnaire back from you, a copy is returned within 24 to 48 business hours stamped with the “CPF seal” so that you can begin your transportation outprocessing.

When you receive the CPF questionnaire, you should contact the Transportation Office immediately at usarmy.stuttgart.405-afsb-lrc.mbx.pppo@army.mil with a copy of your PCS orders and the stamped CPF questionnaire. We will respond to you within 48 hours with confirmation that we have received your documents, and you will be assigned a counselor.

Tips to make your move a little less stressful:

First, be flexible. Your requested move dates may not be available. Be open to shifting your dates due to carrier availability and provide alternate move dates at time of counseling.

Second, do your best to make yourself available for a pre-move survey after your shipment is booked with a moving company. The pre-move survey allows the moving company to plan your shipment and be prepared on the first pack day.

Next, identify any unusual items you may have at time of counseling and to your moving company when they contact you. This helps the moving company to get the necessary approvals for any special packaging the item may need prior to the start of your move. Ensure you keep the Defense Personal Property System (DPS) and your carrier updated with new information, such as a delivery address, new phone numbers, etc.

Lastly, do not book your PCS flight, terminate your rental lease or make any other appointments until you have confirmation that your household goods (HHG) shipment is booked.

You are required to use a personal email address as your primary email contact. If you use your government email address, you may not have access to it during your move and could miss valuable information. If you work in a secure area were personal devices are not authorized, you will need to provide your commercial work telephone number as the movers will need to contact you for a pre-move survey.

Once you have completed your move, and if you have loss/damages, you must report the loss/damages in DPS within 180 days of delivery in DPS If you do not have an account, you will need to create one in order to submit a claim for loss/damages of your HHGs. Once the carrier is notified that you are filing a claim, you have 2 years from delivery to submit the claim.

Shipping Alcohol

If you are going to ship alcoholic beverages back to CONUS, there are a few mandatory steps in order to do so. During your initial communication with the Transportation Office, you will need to inform the customer service representative that you would like to ship alcohol. We will provide you with the necessary paperwork, and I highly encourage you to plan early.

You must contact the alcohol control board of your destination state (contact information at https://www.ttb.gov/wine/state-ABC.shtml) to check if taxes/duties/permits apply; you may be required to pay broker fees. Please inform the state representative that you are shipping alcohol for personal use.

When you receive the email contact from the state, you will need to provide that information along with the completed alcohol documents to the Transportation Office. 

The Stuttgart Transportation Office is located on the third floor of Panzer Building 2913. If face-to-face counseling is not available at the time of your move, your counselor will communicate with you through telephone and/or email.

Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Shipments

For more information about shipping POVs, please see the “Shipping your car from OCONUS to CONUS” section of this magazine or https://www.pcsmypov.com.