Ship military care packages to help Be the One
American Legion Family members Rob and Michelle Williamson simplified the process of shipping for individuals and businesses in 2017 when they founded ShipThrifty, allowing shippers a cost-saving and hassle-free way to create, purchase and print their own shipping labels online with major carriers. A year later, they provided those same ShipThrifty benefits with military families to make shipping care packages to servicemembers overseas and stateside easy. Since then, hundreds of thousands of care packages have been delivered to America’s military men and women “to boost morale and bring those away from home a piece of home,” Michelle said.
ShipThrifty’s mission to support servicemembers, veterans and their families falls in line with The American Legion’s mission. Together, they have formed a partnership to continue caring for servicemembers through the shipping of care packages and the Legion’s Be the One suicide prevention initiative.
Through this partnership, whether you are shipping one package or 1,000, Legion members and posts can:
- Save up to 60% on shipping with major carriers
- Cut shipping time by 90% (no waiting in line or handwritten customs forms)
- Protect servicemembers and collect addresses safely
- Earn funds to offset future shipping costs
- Reduce nonrefundable returned packages
To get started with ShipThrifty, create a free account today at shipthrifty.com/rf/legion. You also can call ShipThrifty at 800-544-4992 or send an email to contactus@shipthrifty.com.
The American Legion spoke with ShipThrifty about the benefits of shipping military care packages through them, how it works, and how ShipThrifty is supporting Be the One. With American Legion Be the One Days on the first of every month where posts are encouraged to raise awareness about Be the One, an idea is for posts to have a care package event and place Be the One brochures in the packages.
The American Legion: What impact do care packages sent to our servicemembers have that you have heard?
Michelle: We've heard firsthand from chaplains that care packages are a tool for saving lives. Struggling servicemembers go to chaplains to get shampoo, a toothbrush or snacks which provides an opportunity for conversations and support when needed. The chaplains also save full boxes for folks they know are struggling or don't get care packages from home to remind them others are thinking about them. With the Be the One initiative, sending care packages is the perfect way to spread the message and get information into the hands of those who need it both here at home and for those serving far away. When the community is asked to be part of the initiative, the message may touch others struggling.
The other thing is the connections from those care packages. We have groups who have sent care packages that are still connected to the service members who got them and communicate and do stuff with them, and it's just a huge opportunity that way.
Question: How does ShipThrifty make shipping to military bases, stateside and overseas, easy?
Michelle: One of the things that we realized when we were dealing with the families was they didn't always know what an APO was. They didn't know how to address a package, and so ShipThrifty is very different from other tools on multiple levels. We have two different address books (for stateside shipping and overseas). The location, city, state and ZIP code fields literally are drop-down menus so people can't type them wrong or make a mistake, and they're not mixed up with the domestic stuff even though they're domestic shipments. We just tried to think of what mistakes would somebody make and try to prevent those mistakes from happening.
And a lot of people don't realize that there are base specific restrictions. If you send a bigger box and you go over 20 pounds, it's going to cost you almost double. These are the tips and the resources and the information that we're able to share with the Legion members.
Question: Many American Legion posts can Legion Family members send care packages through ShipThrifty. Can you share a success story?
Michelle: Every year we do (a care package event) at the Cannon Falls (Post 142) here in Minnesota. They did almost 600 packages during COVID. With the (ShipThrifty) tools, they're not sitting there doing handwritten customs forms or waiting for hours at the post office. We probably had all labels done and printed in about 45 minutes total.
Rob: We’re just super thrilled and proud of being able to help them do this. And that's what we do every day. We talk to people that are looking at doing this, are doing this, because it's all about getting the communities together and the servicemembers care packages, and that's a lot of fun.
Michelle: It’s funny because everybody comes back and says if I would have known this existed, I never would have done it any other way.
We also do a manifest – one manifest take 500 labels. It's basically a scan, like a barcode that you see at the grocery store on your groceries. (For the Cannon Falls post they took) that to the post office, and it’s a single scan and all 500 boxes are checked in. They don't have to wait in line.
The post office typically has them go to the back and put they call those big bins that they put the packages in pumpkins.
Question: What are common questions with military shipping that you hear that ShipThrifty can answer?
Rob: How do we get addresses for servicemembers and what do they need? What should I send right? Can I color the inside of the boxes or the outside of the boxes? If it's if school and young kids are involved, should I sort of filter what gets put into the box and read that before they send it? There’s a great little nugget of a story this.
A school was doing notes (to put in care packages), and these kids were young and one of them wrote very sincerely, “Please don’t die.” And the group read this, and they were like I don’t know if we should send it. Terry, who ran the group, said, “Nope. We're sending that note.” She comes to find out months later that (the deployed servicemembers) loved it. They put it on the on the door going out of the base and every time they left, they said, “Not today, kid.” And they'd smack that sign.
Question: How does a Legion post get started with ShipThrifty?
Michelle: To get started with ShipThrifty, a Legion post can create a free account today at shipthrifty.com/rf/legion. They can also call us at 800-544-4992 or send an email to contactus@shipthrifty.com. A lot of people use the flat rate boxes from the post office and it's one of the most expensive ways to ship packages, and so one of our first tips is let's talk about what you're sending.
Rob: One of the things we love to do is have conversations with groups and people about what they're thinking because we have this very unique perspective. It changes whether you're in Pennsylvania or California, and when we can talk to them sort of early and often, we can really make it simple and find them the best economical way to do it.
Michell: People don't realize that there's base specific restrictions. You know, they know that they can't send aerosols. They know that they can't send certain things, but they'll put hand sanitizers in the packages. Hand sanitizers aren't allowed because they contain alcohol. So we try to make sure that people understand what they can send.
Question: Why ship through ShipThrifty?
Michelle:We’ve got the tools in place and the military expertise, and we know the process back and forth. We’ve done this with hundreds of different groups both remotely and in person. We actually can talk somebody through coming up with a budget for it, a plan.
Rob: And we help with preventing or reducing the likelihood of return packages. It’s about saving the organization time and ideally, money. We have a customer that sends a lot of care packages to servicemembers, spouses when they're deployed, and the way she puts it is, “I feel like I've added you guys to my team.” And that's true. We’re right there with them.
Question: Why are you passionate about ShipThrifty?
Rob: It's gratitude for me. It's support, its connection to home and then it's that intervention opportunity. Whether that intervention opportunity is talking about Be the One at a care packing event with all of those veterans at the post and their families or community members. We never know whether it's going to be a piece of paper that has Be the One that's in the care package, or whether it's somebody that you hear talking about it at the mall or at a post or at a bake sale. But when you add all these up, the more opportunities there are to spread that word, the more likely it is we individually and collectively can change that and move that needle the other way. And that's why this is all just so important to us.
We were doing an event and one of the gentlemen that I was packing boxes with was one of the first tank commanders in Iraq, and he was telling a story. He said, “I'm reading the Cheeto bag and I'm wondering, where did this come from? Who put these Cheetos in the package?” It's a connection to home and then, he said by the time he left and came home, aside from signs on the base, he said he hadn't seen the written language English for months. So it is that connection to home that is so, so important.
Michelle: I always say we do the best thing in the world because not only do we get to see the notes that come back from the servicemembers, we get to experience the impact that we're having for the people that we're helping do the shipping.
And then the other thing is when I look at the whole Be the One program, this connection is ideal because you're getting to the people who need the information and we're able to spread that Be the One message through the care packages and provide support and that connection.