Business offers free postage for military Valentine cards

The Costa Mesa Courtyards Mail Boxes Etc. is now offering free

first-class postage for 34-cent Valentine cards and letters to U.S.

military service personnel stationed overseas or to veterans in

hospitals.

It’s all part of Operation Sealed With A Kiss that runs through Feb.

14 at participating Mail Boxes Etc. locations to “help boost morale of

U.S. troops and military veterans,� said Phil Gustavson, a Mail Boxes

Etc. franchisee in Costa Mesa.

Eligible mail must be addressed to a specific U.S. serviceman or woman

at an assigned address or a specific veteran residing in a VA hospital

and must have a return address.

The U.S. Department suggests individuals that don’t know a specific

service member show their support and honor by visiting a VA hospital or

nursing home, or volunteering in the local community to make up for the

service members who would normally volunteer.

Mail Boxes Etc. was established in 1980 and is the world’s largest

franchiser of retail postal and business services with nearly 4,500

independently owned and operated stores in more than 30 countries.