Paste a military or diplomatic address. You get a corrected label to copy, whether USPS currently accepts the ZIP, and what that ZIP won’t take.
One part per line, the way it prints. Commas work too.
Checked in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.
A military address has three lines. The last one stands in for the city, state and ZIP, so the label never says where the recipient actually is.
Rank and full name
Use a specific person. Generic labels such as “Any Soldier” fail the check.
Unit, PSC or CMR, and box
The box line goes directly above the APO, FPO or DPO line, because USPS reads the line right above it as the delivery address. Ships use the ship name and unit number.
APO, FPO or DPO, then AA, AE or AP, then the ZIP
They take the place of the city and state. The ZIP decides which of each is right.
The checker tells you what’s wrong with one address. These explain the rules behind it.
They’re all military or diplomatic post offices that stand in for the city on the label. APO (Army Post Office) serves Army and Air Force units. FPO (Fleet Post Office) serves Navy and Marine Corps units and ships. DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) serves U.S. embassies and consulates.
USPS assigns each ZIP to exactly one of the three, so the ZIP decides which one to write, not the recipient’s branch.
The ZIP decides this too. ZIPs starting 09 are AE (Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada). ZIPs starting 962 to 966 are AP (the Pacific, including Japan and Korea). ZIPs starting 340 are AA (Central America, South America and the Caribbean, not Canada).
No. The label carries only military routing. A foreign city or country can make USPS address checks and shipping software reject or rewrite the address. If a checkout form asks for a country, choose United States.
The usual causes are an APO written on a ZIP that belongs to an FPO or DPO (or the reverse), an AA, AE or AP that doesn’t match the ZIP, a ZIP that’s closed or mistyped, a foreign city or country left on the label, and the box line not sitting directly above the APO, FPO or DPO line. The checker looks for each of these.
No. USPS treats APO, FPO and DPO mail as domestic and charges domestic rates. Most ZIPs still need a customs form for anything 16 oz or heavier and for any merchandise, so check the restrictions for the ZIP.
USPS makes the final delivery to every APO, FPO and DPO address, and regular UPS, FedEx and DHL services can’t deliver to them directly. Some economy services hand the last leg to USPS (FedEx Ground Economy is one), but which services do has changed over time. Confirm with the carrier before you buy, and expect the same customs form and restrictions as any other mailer.
No. USPS and the Department of Defense don’t publish that, to protect the people stationed there, so this site doesn’t guess. Ask the recipient if you need to know.
No. This is a snapshot of published USPS data, not a live lookup, so it checks the format, the ZIP and the post office type. Only USPS or the recipient can confirm a specific box.
No. The check runs in your browser, and nothing you paste is sent, stored or logged. The site’s security headers also tell your browser to block the page from sending data anywhere.
The ZIP table is from Postal Bulletin 22712, published October 1, 2026. USPS issues a new one about every two weeks, and this site is refreshed from each. For a close call, confirm at the post office.
Which ZIPs are active, and what each one restricts, comes from the APO/FPO/DPO table in USPS Postal Bulletin 22712, published October 1, 2026. It lists 557 active ZIPs. USPS issues a new bulletin about every two weeks, and this site is refreshed from each one.
Whether a ZIP is APO, FPO or DPO comes from USPS change notices going back to 2009, with the most recent notice winning. Where no recent notice exists, two public ZIP databases fill in. Each check says which kind of evidence it used.
Of the 557 active ZIPs, 284 have a USPS-confirmed type, 214 have several older sources agreeing, 46 rest on weaker evidence, and 13 are unknown. A mismatch on a confirmed ZIP is flagged as a problem. On the others it’s a warning, worded to match how sure the data is.
This is a snapshot of published data, not a live lookup. It can’t confirm that a specific box number exists. Only USPS or the recipient can. When a result is close, confirm it at the post office.
Everything runs in your browser. The address you paste is never sent, stored or logged, and the page loads no third-party scripts or fonts. The site’s security headers also tell your browser to block this page from sending data anywhere.
Military Address Check is an independent tool. It isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by USPS, the Department of Defense or the Military Postal Service Agency.