European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 letters the stars and stripes Friday april 24.1987 policy on postal insurance claims explained i am writing id inform readers Wajih. A move in their future or possible prob lems with the . Postal service so hat they May avoid the Many haute we have experienced. We moved in october 1986 from  a Germany to laugh Lin fab tews. We had lived in Ger Many Tor five Yean and look advantage of opportunities to buy Quality goods at Price much lower than in the United slates. When the time for packing came my husband and 1 decided to ship our porcelain figurines through the postal service As we had heard Many horror stories about valuables stolen or broken and not replaced by the government s reimbursements. We checked several limes with postal workers and each Lime were informed by a different clerk that packages going to inc United slates should be insured for their replacement value. We had our families Check on stateside prices for each figurine and Hen insured each piece for its replacement value. The figurines were shipped to my parents Home in Florida and when we opened the packages upon our arrival in Florida we found two of the five pieces we shipped broken. We Wen to the local Post office and spoke to the postmaster who gave us the proper forms for filing a claim. We asked him if we should Send the paper work to Florida to have my parents file in at that Post office since it was shipped there. He said no that from Texas would be acceptable. We piled both claims with All the Nec Essary documents. The Llandro figurine that was broken was insured for 1350 and we received ji7s from the Post of fice. The office that handled the claim informed us that they would Only give us the Price the figurine Cost in Europe and that it did t matter that i would never be Able to replace in for the amount they gave me. Furthermore 1 was informed by the clerk thai the postal workers in Germany had no idea what they were taking about that pieces can Only be insured for i hair Purchase Price nov or their replacement value. The second broken piece a Kaiser figurine was broken in half. It was shipped in1 a heavy cardboard Box with layers of foam rubber in fact in was inc original Box that in had been shipped in from the factory we got a letter from inc Posi office staling thai they would not pay this claim 5300 As they did not feel the figurine was broken by the Post  furthermore they said they did nor have to pay the claim As the Fig i was shipped to Florida and inc cd was filed in Texas. They said inc join Post office in fort Myers a. Feb no record of Jhc piece being received dam piles aged. They did not Contact the Post office where the Box was received picked up by my parents my husband and 1 feel the Jestal service is nitpicking details Kausic they have no record of what Jyh piece Cost in Europe and they do no Franl to pay $300. Llandro figurines arc More popular in the United slate and a Price would be much Cosier Toj pne by ail during our him overseas we mailed boxes to Faurand friends in the United Stales nov insured the con tents for  value. We never had any probe Crof receiving our full amount of the a pm until we resumed Here. Knowing of a i know now. I would advise each Mph every person who re turns to  Stales to have inc movers ask your valuables and take your can pcs with them. Not one thing was a in by the movers. In look the Tal service to do inc damage. Do of be fooled into thinking As we do Tihal the Purchase of insurance a Iti eally prevails any claims hassles. A from in Lauren i Stepaniak Tauf Thlin fab Texas editor s note Cpl Walt a. Kamion director of operations 7d2sth air postal Squadron he Safe re the i a frequent  tag of nun postal natron who Tabolt claim for damaged items basically the us. Postal service uses will Bow claims within the amount cowed by inc fee paid for lost Arlecta based m their actual Talue at the time and a put of trailing minus depreciation for we items and for the Cost at repairing a damaged article or replacing a totally damaged article not exceeding actual value othe article. Dps official Mere Correct in deny ing the fall amount of our claim not because it was Tor replacement value Bat because such value exceeded the actual value at in time and place of pulling. Uses will accept sales receipt in voices a reputable dealer s statement of value repair Bill. In evidence of value. But the writer must remember thai. In this Caw such documentation Mast be of european origin and not con to Yenta , furthermore from the writer s description of the packing material used it was clearly improperly wrapped Dps holds  responsible for provid ing adequate packaging Protection against deterioration or degradation of the package s Content. Mailing insured hems without understanding such uses procedures often results in such Fri Ira tons when in doubt inquire at your local Apo before mailing. Army cites changes in housing eligibility i have a question regarding the criteria for selection of military families for government quarters in usar eur Why Are military personnel on accompanied command sponsored hours in the grades of e-1 through e-3 not eligible for government quarters i understand that government housing is very limited in Europe and i am aware that Oha will cover 90 percent or More of a service member s rent having lived on the Economy for Over 15 months prior to moving into quarters after getting married. For Tower enlisted married personnel in the cont Ncneal United states 1 can readily understand some of the reasoning behind inc guidelines. There Are several soldiers Wilhen my unit thai fit t Bill perfectly Young recently married not a lol financial Security varying degrees of maturity. Take these Basic fads of anyone s Early Adu and add the unique challenges of living Over the picture becomes a Lille cluttered. Isolation of the non working spouse Ven with Young infants or toddlers in a fore at Environ ment coupled with the challenges of Najj hours or air Force Elc., for that Mailer brings a it emotion Al stress a Gross Lack of any  base such As that offered in the military a fusing Environ ment and very probably financial Tum ships through poor financial planning and  on the  visibly these Foj Kirs translate Ima poor Job performance  and Are often punctuated with re lated in lems with alcohol or drugs. The Jarc very real concerns for our Young married Solomi coming into the Economy environment Slize Loo that the percentage of the military Dialion we Are dealing with Here is quite Small e the majority of Tower enlisted personnel Are sin e. It does seem logical that some provision can be Nade for the lowered Lutcz married Soldier in terms of government housing. In my opinion they would have a higher priority on the housing list than cos and officers who do not have school age children. After All Aren t they we supposed to be More mature financially secure and better Able 10 handle these situations some enlisted personnel in this status i have spoken with Ore Fine living on the Economy and enjoy the Challenge the majority of those t have seen Are not Happy Are having marriage and or Money problems and Are just counting Down the Days to their Date of return from overseas. Again if i have overlooked some stipulation in the regulation that allows for exceptions to policy please let me know. Otherwise a candid and direct response with a possible solution to take better care of our sol Diers would be greatly appreciated thanks for your time and consideration. 1st it Jay k. Johnson Ett Lingen Germany editor s note Robert l. Henson Honshu division office of the Deputy chief of staff Engineer he Usa eur replies in december 19s4, Amy housing policy was changed to include Millers in pay grades a i Chr Mph e-3 As eligible for assignment to government housing. The army in Europe elected to implement the policy change As new housing was acquired specifically for Boldlen m those pay grades. In fact acquiring housing for e is through e-3� begun this fiscal year. Unfortunately construction of new quart ers on Post or in rough the build to lease a Ingram b not Quick. Most Likely ii will be two years before we actually see a Wertera ready for occupancy by personnel la those pay grades. To provide some Relief to the Junior enlisted Nuta and family ire do have a policy authorizing assignment of one bedroom government quarters to Soldier in those pay grades in Coram Luttes which Hare these Qatar ten. In Addi Tion at communities we lab Hare loosing to re cons of inc needs of e-4s and above assignment to Els Chr ooh e-3s is authorized. For information Ibe change in housing policy Tor e 3s and below and acquisition programming was tint published to Usa eur major commands and communities in january 198s. Cut in household shipping weight criticized i read an article in the so Ier mag Azine called easy weight Oss fee. 1987. The whole idea Szmed ridiculous to me. Culling shaping weight allowance Down to 25crcem of authorized weigh is no going to solve the army s problem it s just going to make the soldiers and heir families unhappy what makes inc army think that the items left behind in the slates were furniture that the government plans to Issue Here overseas i know from experience that much of my weight allow Ance did not go for furniture. Now the army wants to Cut out 75 percent of my weight allowance and Force me to leave behind my Exira television half of my stereo equipment my video equipment All of my arts and crafts my children s bicycles encyclopedias Elc. What makes the army think they can Issue any of those personal items they arc telling me i can t bring Over and can t afford to replace when 1 do come Over Many people require a certain firmness in their mattresses or icy can t sleep. What about Hose who ship special items for themselves or their children these personal things cannot be issued by the army but will certainly be unauthorized because of weight. I Don t recall Ever having seen or heard about any Type of Survey the army was doing for research on this. How did they come up with i hair Solu Tion i feel in would be More practical to simply Cut out shipping of certain common non personal items such As washers and dryers dishwashers Etc and achieve the goal they arc trying to attain. I Don t feel that reducing the authorized amount to be shipped is going to help.  Vai Fagen Germany editor s note let Harris chief. Housing division office of the Deputy chef of staff Engineer he Usa eur replies we tried very Bard to get an elec Tive str furniture support policy approved for sold Len serving with the army in Germany. The policy would have Perl led soldiers to choose be. Tween government furniture issued front army Hocks or bringing their own furniture to Germany. The army could not approve our re quest. The reason simply stated was funds to support the increased shipping costs were not in it army s budget. In fact. Congress reduced the amount of funds available for moving Millers from one military Post to another which resulted in the delayed pcs ire bad in Europe last year and Wilt have again Bis year. There bar been surveys to determine the Type of furniture support a Djen preferred. A 1984 Survey conducted in Europe showed 31 percent preferred to use All their own Fernt tire 57 percent preferred a mix of their own furniture and government furniture Aad the remaining ii percent preferred to rely entirely upon government Farn Ilare sup port. Again the furniture support policy derision for the army in Europe was based upon economics not preference. In limes of scarce resource dec fam made Are not always the most popular