USPS Suspends All Mail and Package Services to Belarus Due to Lack of Air Transport – Effective July 22
USPS has suspended international mail services to Belarus citing Covid-related air transportation cancellations and restrictions until further notice, effective July 22, 2022.
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The reasoning seems a bit odd as shipping to Belarus has been in question for some time now and USPS had suspended accepting Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) shipments since March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
While Belarus is not directly involved in the Russian war with Ukraine, the country has provided staging support to Russia’s military. As a result, Belarus has been included in many of the sanctions packages imposed by the EU, US, and other democracies around the world.
Regardless of the reason why USPS is now suspending all mail services to Belarus, the US Postal Service constantly monitors mail services globally and evaluates parcel volume as well as transport capacity to adjust its service standards and availability.
Therefore, USPS has suspended the following mail services to Belarus until further notice:
- Priority Mail Express International (PMEI)
- Priority Mail International (PMI)
- First-Class Mail International (FCMI)
- First-Class Package International Service (FCPIS)
- International Priority Airmail (IPA) Packets
- International Surface Air Lift (ISAL) Packets
- Airmail M-bags
As already mentioned, the USPS Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) service continues to be suspended from an earlier notice.
The Postal Service advises that International Service Center (ISC) employees will endorse the items as “Mail Service Suspended —Return to Sender” and then place them in the mail stream for return.
In addition, US Postal Service retail locations will not accept affected mail services. If shippers deposit packages in a mailbox, drop off packages at retail locations that have collection areas for parcels, or if they are picked up by a postal carrier, USPS will return the item to the shipper.
Shippers are eligible for refunds. See this information from the USPS website.
Returns may take a few days and tracking may become erratic when this happens.
Please check our USPS status of international services page for more up-to-date Postal Service interruptions worldwide.
USPS Industry Alert for Belarus
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.