Petty Officer Philip Shelton is taking a look at the selection of furniture at the Home Store on Naval Air Facility Atsugi. (Jim Schulz / S&S)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — That 55-inch, wide-screen television for sale in the Army and Air Force Exchange Service catalog can be yours.
And AAFES will ship it to you.
AAFES officials announced last week that the organization will ship any item — regardless of size or weight — in its catalog or Web site store to exchanges in the Pacific and Europe through a new trans-shipment program.
The program is available at all main AAFES stores at Air Force and Army bases in the Pacific.
Consumers may have to wait up to 12 weeks for their order, but shipping is free, Army Sgt. 1st Class Amanda Glenn, a company spokeswoman, said from the company’s Okinawa headquarters.
“We’re trying to get more things the customers are asking for,” she said.
Until recently, AAFES shipped catalog orders for bulky items such as a treadmill, sofa or television only to homes in the continental United States.
Those items are marked “for CONUS delivery only” in the AAFES catalog and Web site (AAFES.com).
Under the trans-shipment program, overseas customers can order those items at AAFES outlets on base or the post exchange customer service counter.
A store representative will help them fill out and submit an order form, said Anna Iosefo, sales and merchandise manager for AAFES’ main store at Yokota.
The merchandise is shipped through AAFES’ normal distribution channels.
“We ensure everything’s arrived intact,” Iosefo said, adding that customers do not have to pay for items until they arrive.
“We do ask for a good-faith down payment [for some items] at customer service. If it doesn’t meet their needs or they don’t want it, they don’t have to take it. If they do, then they pay for it at the store.”
The trans-shipment service is already available at some AAFES exchanges in the Pacific, including Yokota.
Customers most frequently order “exercise equipment, air-conditioning units, larger things that just don’t fit in the post office box,” Iosefo said.
