The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

edgas isusedat yournewpost, the employ- ee needs to obtain an Environmental Protection Agency waiver from Transportation to permit removal of the converter. The catalytic convertermay be removedno earlier than sevendays before the car is driven away. Sometimes, for a varietyof possible rea- sons, an employee’s car is unacceptable at post. If the post provides a formal state- ment saying that the car cannot be brought to post, then the Department of State will provide emergency storage for that car, free of charge. Some cars are stored locally in the Washington, D.C. area; others are stored at ELSO — the European Logistics Support Office in Antwerp. Please note that the Transportation entitlement is for one car only per employee. The stored car must be removed from emer- gency storage as soon as the posting is concluded. Q: When I am posted to Washington for long-term training of a year or more, what are my entitlements? A: If you are assigned to Washington for a year or more of training, you are entitled to choose whether youwant tobe assignedona“tem- porary” or “permanent” basis. If you are assignedon a temporary basis, you receive per diem, which as ofNovember 2002was $196perday—that includes $150 for lodg- ing, and $46 for meals and incidentals (called M&IE). Per diem is intended to cover the cost of renting living quarters, renting furniture and purchasing meals. Under thesecircumstances, theDepartment of State does not ship your car and youdo not have free access to your goods in stor- age. Theper diemalsodecreases over time. It starts at 100percent of the applicable per diemrate for the first 60days. For the next 60 days, it is 50 percent of the applicable per diemrate. And after the first 120 days, the employee receives 25 percent of the applicable per diem rate up to a year. Per diemis only authorized for up toone year. There is no per diem for family members while the employee is in training. Ontheotherhand,iftheemployeeelects to be transferred on a regular permanent change of station, then he or she does not receiveperdiem,butwillreceiveWashington locality pay. The department will ship the employee’s car from the current post of assignment to the training location. The employee is expected to take everythingout ofstorageforuseinhis/herresidence,which is either owned or rented. Q: What is a consumables shipment? A: If you are entitled to a consum- ables shipment, it will be stated in your travel orders (authorization). This shipment is used toprovide youwith food- stuffs and goods that are simply not avail- able at your new post. Consumables are only goods that are used up or consumed by people or pets. Items that getwornout, suchas tires or batteries, arenot considered consumables and should be sent with householdeffects. If goods are availablebut expensive, you may also receive a Cost of Living Allowance but no consumables shipment. For a two-year posting, the employee is entitled to send a maximum of 2,500 pounds. For a three-year posting, 3,750 poundsmay be sent. For a two-year post- ing, the employeemay order consumables through the first year. For a three-yearpost- ing, it is possible to order through the end of the second year. Often it is best not to order everything at once. Availability of goods changes andstorage spaceat your res- idence can be limited. Furthermore, if air conditioning is used to cool the storeroom and the source of electricity is unreliable, the resultant heat reduces the shelf life of foodstuffs. To purchase the goods, the employee can use a catalog (available at Transportation) fromstores such asGiant (alsoavailableonline) orHo-Ho (not avail- able online) to select goods. It is prudent to first establishwhat is and is not available at post. Through the Transportation Counselor (Room1248), anemployee can arrange for the goods tobe picked up at the vendor and packed for export to the new post. Be sure that the vendor allows our pack- ers to inventory the goods to be packed, thus establishing that they are packing what the employee actually ordered. Q: I am at a partially-furnished post (sometimes known as a “limited-shipment” post) and I am about to be posted to anoth- er partially-furnishedpost. Under what circumstances may I either put items into storage or retrieve them from storage? A: An employee serving at a post considered “partially-fur- nished” is allowed to bring themaximum of 7,200 pounds with himor her. Before moving to the next partially-furnished post, he or she may send goods back to storage. Let us say that 2,200 pounds are sent back to storage. This means that the employee has only 5,000 pounds at post that is to be sent on to the next partial- ly-furnished post. The employee may then take 2,200 pounds out of storage for sending to the newpost, oncemore bring- ing the weight of HHE at post up to the maximum 7,200 pounds. If youhave questions, youarewelcome to contact Mette Beecroft by e-mail: BeecroftMO@state.gov, or byphone: (202) 647-4028. Another good resource is Travel Regulations Chief Peggy Zabriskie, reachableby e-mail: ZabriskiePS@state.gov or phone: (202) 647-2987. ▫ JANUARY 2003 • AFSA NEWS 7 JOSH