Where is my hhg shipment?

When you are ordered on PCS, you are also authorized to ship your household goods (HHG) at government expense. The government authorizes you a weight limit based on your rank and family status. You are also authorized to ship unaccompanied baggage in conjunction with your orders. The unaccompanied baggage can be delivered separately when you report to your new station and before you find a new house.

Unaccompanied baggage is generally limited to 2,000 pounds, but there may be lower limits in some cases such as certain overseas locations, unaccompanied tours, etc. This 2,000 pounds is part of your weight limit, but you normally use unaccompanied baggage to include clothing, electronics, etc., that you do not want to haul with you when you travel.

Arranging Household Goods Shipments

As soon as you are alerted to your upcoming PCS move, you can start getting your house and family ready. Clean up and get rid of junk. Hold a yard sale or take serviceable items you no longer need to a thrift shop or donate them to charity. Get important family records together in one place. You can even check your weight allowances and estimate the weight of your household goods before you start to set up your move.

If you are going overseas, you should begin to plan what items you will take in your unaccompanied baggage or in your household goods shipment, and what might need to go into long-term storage. Remember, in overseas areas, the electric current may be different, and houses are generally much smaller than U.S. standards and cannot handle large furniture.

Most likely, you will set up your move online using your service's personnel website. There is also quite a bit of information on MilitaryOneSource.mil to assist you in planning your move. As soon as you have your PCS orders, you should go to the Defense Personal Property System (DPS) portal to set up your account and plan your move.

You may ship personal property anytime after you receive your official orders/authorization. Begin planning early to increase the chances of having your personal property moved on the date you want. Pack dates are usually a day or two before the actual pickup date of your shipment. Pack dates can and do vary. To ensure a smooth move, the travel office coordinates the pack dates with you during the pre-move survey process. Delaying the call or visit can create hardships for everyone.

Shipping or Storing Your Vehicle

If you are ordered on a PCS move from or between overseas locations; you are on a ship that changes homeport; or when specific conditions, such as time or physical constrictions, are met within the continental U.S., the government may ship your privately owned vehicle (POV) for you. If you have more vehicles than you and your dependents can drive between PCS locations, you may have to transport your extra vehicle yourself and bear any extra costs.

Generally, motorcycles or dirt bikes can be shipped either as a separate privately owned vehicle shipment or in your HHG shipment. However, some countries do not allow the importation of motorcycles or dirt bikes.

You may also be eligible for government storage of your POV at a storage facility if you have overseas PCS orders and either the local laws prevent shipment of your vehicle or the vehicle would require extensive modification to be allowed into the country. This is handled through your transportation office

Shipping Firearms

When shipping firearms within or to the continental U.S., you must comply with local and/or state laws as well as Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulations. For shipments to overseas countries, you must abide by the laws of the host country. When returning firearms from overseas to the U.S., you must identify your firearms on your individual customs declarations and obtain ATF Form 6, Part II and ATF Form 6A. These forms are required to bring firearms into the U.S. The forms are available on the ATF website, and the process period may be as long as six weeks.

Arrival and Delivery of Household Goods Shipments

It is your responsibility to contact the transportation service provider (TSP) as soon as you arrive at your new duty station. Let the provider know how you can be contacted by phone, mobile phone and email. If you already have new quarters, the provider will help arrange delivery of your personal property shipments. Otherwise, it will arrange for temporary storage until you have permanent housing.

Make certain that you, or someone who can act in your name, is available at your new home on delivery day. If the TSP arrives and cannot deliver the shipment, you may be charged for the attempted delivery and any additional storage that may result.

Claims Process

If something of yours is damaged, lost, or destroyed during the move, you are eligible for full replacement value protection on DoD-sponsored household goods and unaccompanied baggage shipments. With this protection, the TSP will either repair or pay to repair damaged items and pay the full replacement cost for items that are lost or destroyed.

Providing prompt notice of loss or damage is an essential part of the process. The TSP's delivery crew will provide you with a form to note any loss or damage you discover at the time of delivery. You will complete and sign this at the time of your delivery, and a copy will be sent back to the TSP's claims office.

If loss or damage is discovered after the delivery crew departs, you must notify the TSP within 75 days of delivery in order to retain your right to full replacement value protection.

Other Items

There are other regulations regarding shipment of more uncommon items such as boats, boat trailers, mobile homes, pets, alcoholic beverages, etc. You should check with your transportation office to answer any questions you may have regarding these shipments.

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• Enter your Order Number. (Government transferees: Please use the Government Number box to enter your Government Issued Tracking Number; i.e., GBL, Virtual GBL, Transportation Service Order).
• Enter the first five (5) letters of the shipper's last name.
• Click on the SHIPMENT INFO button to proceed.

WIESBADEN, Germany -- When your household goods and/or unaccompanied baggage are shipped from one duty station to the next, they are shipped through the Defense Personal Property System (DPS) and covered by the Full Replacement Value (FRV) Move Program. In a nutshell, Defense Personal Property System is the way your Household Goods and Unaccompanied Baggage are moved and the Full Replacement Value Move Program covers your lost or damaged personal property for its full replacement cost, or the cost of repair, whichever is less. How does it work?

PRE-MOVE

It all starts with the beginning to end handling of your HHG and/or Unaccompanied Baggage shipments in the DPS, an internet based program designed to facilitate PCS moves for the Military Community. Every time you ship personal property through the U.S. Government you are provided a user id and password to log into DPS by your local transportation office. You can access the Defense Personal Property System at www.move.mil. Your shipment is then arranged in DPS and your shipment is assigned a Transportation Service Provider (TSP).

PICK UP

The TSP packs and picks up your personal property and ships it to your new duty station. During this process you can track your shipment(s) through the DPS. Prior to the TSP picking up your shipment, you should take pictures of everything you own. This will help you to substantiate a claim if any of your items are lost, damaged, or stolen during your move. You should consider making a list of all your high value property and electronics prior to your move (i.e. silverware, crystal, figurines, furs, objects of art, electronics, collectable items, etc.) When the TPS's employees have finished packing your property, they will present you with an inventory, and perhaps a High Value Inventory (HVI), for you to sign. Make sure that both the inventory and (HVI) are correct before you sign. You should be given a copy of the signed inventory and HVI. Keep these documents with you for the day of delivery.

DELIVERY

On the day of delivery of your Household Goods or Unaccompanied Baggage, use the inventory that was created at the time of pick up to make sure every line item of the inventory has been delivered. The best way to do this is to check off each line item on the inventory as it is brought into your quarters. Have the civilian phone number of the local transportation quality control inspector and the civilian phone number of your local claims office with you, in case any issues or disputes arise with the movers. Obtain these numbers from the local transportation and claims office before the delivery date. If you notice that something being delivered is broken, write this down on the inventory after checking it off.

After everything has been delivered, a TSP employee will bring you a number of different papers to sign. The most important document is the Notice of Loss or Damage. The Notice of Loss or Damage is a two sided document and is usually denoted as a DD Form 1840/R, 1850/1851 or U.Q-3/U.Q-4. One side is the Notice of Loss or Damage at time of delivery and the other is the Notice of Loss or Damage after delivery. Do not sign the Notice of Loss or Damage until you have reviewed the inventory you were checking off to see if there are any inventory line items that are not checked off and if there is any damage you noticed during the delivery.

If there are items checked off or noted as damaged, write each and every one of these on the Notice of Loss or Damage before you sign. The TSP employee will then give you a copy of the Notice of Loss or Damage. The TSP employee may also give you a High Value Inventory that was created at the time of delivery for you to sign to show that the items on the HVI were delivered to you. Do not sign the HVI unless theTSP's employees have unpacked all the HVI items and you have confirmed their presence and condition! If you sign the HVI without doing this, you may not be able to claim for the loss or damage of these high value items. Do not dispose of any items you wish to claim for without prior approval from the TSP or Army Claims Office.

WITHIN 75 DAYS OF DELIVERY

After your property has been delivered, you should go through all of your property to annotate any additional missing or damaged item that you did not list on the Notice of Loss or Damage at the time of delivery. If there is any additional loss or damage you have 75 DAYS from the date of delivery to give Notice of Loss or Damage to the TSP of this additional loss or damage. Notice of Loss or Damage can be given through DPS or Certified Mail but it is highly encouraged to give this notice through DPS. Please contact your servicing Army Claims Office if you have questions about DPS. Failure to give notice of loss or damage within 75 days could lead to your claim being denied.

To give notice through DPS, log on at the www.move.mil and enter each item, with the inventory number and type of damage or "missing" into the DPS. Add the items that you had given Notice of Loss or Damage on at the time of delivery also, so you can be double sure proper Notice of Loss or Damage was given and to have the DPS screen already filled out for when you submit your claim. When you are done, make sure that the screen reflects that your Notice of Loss or Damage shows "submitted."

If you miss the 75 day deadline, still enter your lost or damaged items into the DPS, or contact your local Army Claims Office for assistance immediately. There are limited extensions of the 75 day notice period for TDY, hospitalization and deployment that occurred during the notice period.

WITHIN 9 MONTHS OF DELIVERY

You have 9 months from the day of delivery to file your claim in the DPS against the TSP. To file, you log into DPS and create the claim by following the directions, i.e., list any and all items you wish to file a claim. Once you are done, make sure that the screen reflects that your claim shows "submitted." After you submit your claim with the TSP in DPS, the TSP has 30 days to settle, partially settle, or deny your claim. After 30 days, or if you have not settled your claim in full with the TSP, you may transfer your entire claim, or the unsettled portions, to the Army Claims Office and you have vested your right for Full Replacement Value. In settling with the TSP, they must offer you the full replacement value of your items or the cost of repair, whichever is less.

If you have damaged items, such as furniture, which may be repairable, the TSP is responsible for hiring a repair company, at their expense, to provide an estimate of the cost of repair. If the TSP is offering you repair costs, you may accept the cost of repair or request that the repair firm hired by the TSP to repair the item(s). If the repair firm does not do a satisfactory repair, then your claim for this item has not been settled and you may require the TSP to have a satisfactory repair completed or transfer this part of your claim to the Army Claims Office. TSP s are not permitted to offer "Loss of Value," "Cosmetic Loss," or "Diminution in Value" under the Full Replacement Value Program. TSPs are only permitted to offer full replacement value or cost of repair, whichever is less under the Full Replacement Value Program. If you are offered "Loss of Value," "Cosmetic Loss," or "Diminution in Value" by a TSP, decline the offer and transfer your claim to the Army Claims Office.

If the TSP denies all or part of your claim due to "failure to meet the 75 day Notice of Loss or Damage period," "failure to file your claim within 9 months," or really any other reason; transfer your claim to the Army Claims Office. The Army Claims Office may determine that you are in fact entitled to some form of compensation for your loss.

TRANSFERRING YOUR CLAIM TO THE ARMY CLAIMS SERVICE

If the TSP has not responded to your claim within 30 days of filing or if you have not settled your claim in full with the TSP, you should transfer your entire claim, or the unsettled portions, to the Army Claims Office. You can transfer your claim in two ways. One is to go to your local Army Claims Office. The other is to log in to PCLAIMS, the Army Internet based claims filing program. PCLAIMS can be found at https://www.jagcnet.army.mil/PClaims. In PCLAIMS, you will be directed to select the Army Claims Office to which you want your claim filed. Pick the office closest to where you live. Simultaneously, you should contact the respective Army Claims Office and inform them that you filed/transferred your claim. At the present time, the DPS has a "Transfer Claim" tab. This "Transfer Claim" tab DOES NOT transfer your claim to an Army Claims Office. This tab only notifies the TSP that negotiations have ended and you will be transferring the claim so you must provide the local Army Claims Office with the documents. You can upload all claim and supporting documents onto PCLAIMS when filing your claim.

FILING A CLAIMS AFTER NINE MONTHS