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  • 2007-01-17 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Soldier Receive a Rude Response from an Online Mat Retailer? (en)
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  • This email hit our inbox in 2007: APO (Army Post Office or Air [Force] Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) addresses are part of a military mail system used for exchanging mail with U.S. personnel stationed outside the United States, generally at the same domestic rates charged for sending mail within the U.S. Military personnel, their families, and others who have had occasion to order merchandise for shipment to troops stationed overseas have generally learned to first check with the vendors to ensure that they will indeed send product to APO/FPO addresses. Because shipments sent to APO/FPO addresses require extra processing (e.g., they must be sent via USPS, mailed from a post office, and accompanied by customs forms) and involve additional mailing restrictions, not all businesses are willing to accept orders intended for APO/FPO destinations. The e-mail exchange reproduced above took place in January 2007 between a U.S. Army soldier serving with the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq and online retailer Discount Floor Mats of West Allis, Wisconsin, with the former inquiring about whether the latter would ship floor mats to APO addresses. Not only did the retailer reportedly respond in the negative, but they supposedly couched their turn-down as the rude statement that We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq. Discount Mats has not responded to multiple inquiries, but Sgt. Hess responded to our e-mail inquiry and said that he did receive the e-mail reproduced above: (He also said that he appreciates the support of the many people who have asked us for his e-mail address in order to provide him with the mats he was seeking, but he asked that we not give it out as has already found a supplier and is being bombarded with e-mail.) The news department at radio station WTMJ in Milwaukee also reported that a vice-president with Bargain Suppliers, the parent company of the Discount Mats web site, had confirmed that the e-mail in question was sent and that the employee who sent it is being held accountable and will be dealt with. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also reported that: Later news reports indicated that the employee in question had been discharged: About a week after the original incident, the Discount-Mats.com web site came back up with the following message displayed: Additional information can be found here. (en)
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