The short answer
The JBLM transportation office is the Personal Property Processing Office, or PPPO, on Lewis Main. It is the counter you talk to about shipping your household goods. Its local number is 253-477-5446, and it is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with a lunch closure, and Thursday afternoons only.
Behind that counter sits JPPSO Northwest, the regional office that actually books your mover (253-967-5093). You do not deal with it directly. Most of your move happens online in the Defense Personal Property System, DPS, and the counter is for the steps that need a person: a first move, a separation or retirement move, and anything that goes wrong.
One trap to know before you dial: the number the garrison lists first, 520-706-8613, is the Army’s nationwide personal property call center in Arizona, not an office at JBLM. It can help. It is not local.
Updated September 4, 2026. Phone numbers, hours and the booking steps were checked against the JBLM garrison directory and Military OneSource on that date. The building conflict noted below is real and unresolved in the official sources; call before you drive.
Three offices with one job, and which one you need
Three different organizations touch a JBLM move, and their names get used interchangeably on the base’s own pages. Only the first one needs to be in your phone.
| Office | What it does | Do you deal with it? |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Property Processing Office (PPPO), Lewis Main. Also called the transportation office, the household goods office, or TMO by the Air Force side. | Counseling, entitlement questions, orders validation, reviewing your DPS shipment request and submitting it for booking, approving a personally procured move, storage counseling, claims help, and inbound delivery requests. | Yes. This is the counter. |
| JPPSO Northwest, the Joint Personal Property Shipping Office at JBLM. | The regional back office. It acquires the mover, manages storage and does quality assurance. The garrison’s own wording: customers start the shipment in DPS and do their counseling through the installation’s PPPO. | Rarely. Its number rings if the PPPO escalates you. |
| Personal Property Activity (PPA), Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. | The Department-level owner of the whole program since May 1, 2026. It runs the 833-MIL-MOVE call center and ppa.mil, and directs the five Army JPPSOs including Northwest. | Only through its call center, and only if the local office cannot fix something. |
Where it is, how to reach it, and when it is open
The official sources disagree on the building, and this page will not pretend otherwise. The garrison’s Logistics Readiness Center page and Military OneSource both put the customer counter at Building 2150, 2150 Liggett Avenue, next to Waller Hall. The garrison’s JPPSO Northwest page lists Building 9501, 9501 Rainier Drive, in the logistics area. The likeliest reading is that the counter stayed near Waller Hall while the regional office moved. Call 253-477-5446 and ask where to walk in for household goods counseling before you make the trip.
| What | Detail | Where the detail comes from |
|---|---|---|
| PPPO counter address | Building 2150, 2150 Liggett Avenue, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA 98433-9500 | Garrison Logistics Readiness Center page; Military OneSource |
| JPPSO Northwest address | Building 9501, 9501 Rainier Drive, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA 98433 | Garrison JPPSO Northwest page |
| PPPO phone | 253-477-5446 (DSN 677-5446) | Garrison Logistics Readiness Center page |
| JPPSO Northwest phone | 253-967-5093; toll-free 800-521-9959 | Garrison JPPSO Northwest page; Reassignments page |
| Army personal property call center | 520-706-8613, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Nationwide, not JBLM. | Military OneSource Army moving page |
| PPA call center | 833-MIL-MOVE (833-645-6683), 24 hours a day through September 15, 2026, then weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central | Military OneSource customer-service contacts |
| PPPO email | usarmy.jblm.404-afsb.list.afsbnjblm-itd-pppo-lewis@army.mil | Garrison Logistics Readiness Center page |
| JPPSO Northwest email | usarmy.jblm.usamc.mbx.jppsonw-cs@mail.mil | Garrison JPPSO Northwest page |
Hours
| Office | Hours |
|---|---|
| PPPO counter (Building 2150) | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. Thursday: 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. only. Closed weekends and federal holidays. |
| JPPSO Northwest (as listed on its own page) | Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Call center 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. |
Thursday mornings are the one that catches people. Finance closes all day Thursday and the ID card office opens late that morning too, so plan any in-person errand at Waller Hall for another day.
JPPSO Northwest and the Personal Property Processing Office Building 2150, 2150 Liggett Avenue (counter) · Building 9501, 9501 Rainier Drive (regional office), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA 98433. Open in Google Maps
The pin is Google’s own listing for the office; the addresses above are the garrison’s.
How to book an outbound move from JBLM in 2026
The system of record in 2026 is DPS, the Defense Personal Property System at move.mil. The MilMove portal that came with the HomeSafe contract is not what JBLM uses for household goods; MilMove is the planned long-term replacement for DPS, and the PPPO will tell you when that changes. The sequence below is the Military OneSource process as of September 2026, with the JBLM office marked where it actually enters.
| Step | Where it happens | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Get your orders | Reassignment Processing Center, Building 2140 (Waller Hall), 253-967-5441 | Orders come from the Military Personnel Division, not the transportation office. Read the paragraphs on dependents, vehicles and the report date; an amendment changes your entitlements. |
| 2. Verify the orders | PPPO, by phone or email | Name, grade, duty station, dependents and report date must match before anything is scheduled. |
| 3. Log in to DPS | Online | CAC or user ID and password. The first login runs a shipment wizard: estimated weight, rooms, special items. DPS is down for maintenance every Friday from 7:00 p.m. to Saturday 5:00 a.m. Central. |
| 4. Counseling | Online in DPS, or in person at the PPPO | Self-counseling online is the default. First-time movers, and anyone separating or retiring, must contact the PPPO before scheduling anything in DPS. Special cases, such as a NTS storage lot or an overseas shipment, are also counseled in person. |
| 5. Submit the shipment request | DPS | The PPPO reviews your DPS application and submits it for routing. You do not visit for this step. |
| 6. Mover assigned | JPPSO Northwest, under the PPA | A transportation service provider, TSP, is assigned within a few business days. Expect its first call within five to seven business days. If three calendar days pass after the award with no contact, call the TSP, then the PPPO. The official wording is ‘Don’t wait.’ |
| 7. Pre-move survey | Your residence, in person or virtual | Schedule it at least two weeks before the move date. You must be present. |
| 8. Pack and pickup | Your residence | Pickup lands inside a seven-day spread window you agreed to. The dates cannot change without your approval. If the mover pushes a change you did not agree to, contact the PPPO immediately. |
| 9. Delivery | Destination | Be there a day before delivery or the shipment goes into storage in transit, SIT. Delivery out of storage is requested in DPS. |
Steps that need the JBLM office in person: step 4 if you are a first-time mover, separating or retiring, or have a special shipment. Everything else is DPS, the phone, or the mover. Several older guides describe bringing a signed DD Form 1299 and orders to the office to finish counseling. Current Military OneSource guidance has the PPPO review your DPS submission without a visit; ask when you call whether JBLM still wants the orders uploaded or emailed.
When to book, and what peak season does to the calendar
Contact the office the day your orders are in hand. That is the official advice, and in 2026 it is not a platitude. Peak season runs from May 15 to September 30, DPS booking for the 2026 season opened on March 20, a month earlier than in prior years, and Military OneSource warns of four to six week scheduling delays in the summer surge. The department is also adding movers through an open season that ran from July 20 to August 7, 2026, which tells you how tight capacity was.
| Lead time | Applies to | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| Immediately on receiving orders | Contacting the PPPO and opening DPS | Personal Property Activity, May 2026 |
| At least 8 weeks before the pickup you want | Household goods counseling for most stateside moves | Common practice cited by commercial guides. Not confirmed as a Joint Travel Regulations requirement. |
| 4 to 6 weeks of possible delay | Summer scheduling, May through August | Military OneSource Army moving page |
| 60 to 90 days ahead; 120 or more for Europe in summer | Vehicle Processing Center appointment for an overseas car shipment | Third-party PCS guides |
| 90 to 120 days ahead | Patriot Express passenger and pet reservations for overseas moves | Military OneSource FAQ |
| 2 weeks before the move date | The pre-move survey | Military OneSource quick-reference guide, February 2026 |
Flexibility is the lever you control. The office and the Personal Property Activity both say the same thing: give a range of acceptable dates rather than one, and book before April if you can. In peak season, shipments up to 10,000 pounds are containerized; outside it, the threshold is 3,000 pounds.
What the office handles, move by move
| Move type | The rule in one line | Where to go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| HHG, a government move | The government books a mover to pack, ship and unpack, up to a weight allowance set by your grade and dependents. | Weight table by grade is in the JBLM PPM calculator. |
| PPM, a personally procured move (the old DITY) | You move it yourself and are paid 100 percent of the Government Constructed Cost, GCC, on certified weight tickets. Paperwork is due within 45 days of the planned move start. The profit portion is taxable. | Estimate it in the calculator. |
| Partial PPM | A government move for most of it and a personal vehicle for some of it, paid on the weight you carried. | Counseled with the main shipment. |
| NTS, non-temporary storage | Authorized for overseas or unaccompanied tours with restricted shipments, and for separating or retiring members waiting on a home. Hand the office new orders when a tour is extended, or the storage stops being free. | In-person counseling. |
| UB, unaccompanied baggage | Overseas moves only. A small, fast shipment of what you need on arrival. Limits vary by grade and quarters; the office quotes yours. | Ask at counseling. |
| POV, your vehicle | Stateside, you drive it and are paid mileage. Overseas orders ship one vehicle at government expense through PCSmyPOV. The Vehicle Processing Center, VPC, that serves JBLM is the Seattle VPC in Algona, Washington, about 30 miles north; confirm the address on pcsmypov.com before you drive there. | Does the military ship your car? |
Arriving at JBLM: delivery, storage and claims
The same PPPO handles inbound moves; the housing directory lists it as the household goods and inbound transportation office. The rules that matter on arrival are about clocks.
| Clock | Rule | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Be at the destination a day or more before the delivery date, or the shipment goes into storage in transit. Request delivery out of storage in DPS; it can take days or weeks depending on availability. | Current |
| Storage in transit (SIT) | 90 days at government expense. An extension of up to 90 more must be requested in writing on DD Form 1857 before the first 90 expire. After that, storage is on you. | Current |
| Notice of loss or damage | 180 days from delivery. | Pickups on or after May 15, 2020 |
| Full replacement value claim | 12 months from delivery. Older shipments picked up before May 15, 2026 keep the 9-month window. After the window, depreciated value only, up to 2 years. | Pickups on or after May 15, 2026 |
| Inconvenience claim | For a missed pickup or a missed required delivery date. The mover must acknowledge within 5 business days and pay within 30 calendar days. Dependents are paid at 75 percent of the meals rate. | Pickups on or after May 15, 2026 |
| Customer survey | Complete it within 7 days of delivery. The office reads these. | Current |
File claims in DPS for household goods, unaccompanied baggage and non-temporary storage. If the mover stalls for 30 days or refuses, the claim can transfer to the Army’s Center for Personnel Claims Support at Fort Knox within 2 years. One Washington-specific line from Military OneSource: certain firearms and parts cannot be imported into the state, so get a legal review before a shipment that includes them.
Why the process looks different from what your last sponsor described
If your last move was in 2024 or early 2025, you may have used the HomeSafe Alliance portal under the Global Household Goods Contract, GHC. That contract was terminated for cause on June 18, 2025, every new shipment reverted to the legacy tender-of-service system run through local offices like the JBLM PPPO, and HomeSafe’s operations had ceased entirely by April 2026. The Personal Property Activity at Scott Air Force Base became the permanent owner of the program on May 1, 2026.
Practical consequences for a 2026 JBLM move: your mover is a tender-of-service company assigned through DPS by JPPSO Northwest, not HomeSafe. Anyone with an unresolved claim from a 2024 or 2025 HomeSafe move should call 833-MIL-MOVE; the Personal Property Activity cannot compel HomeSafe to pay, and the fallback is the Military Claims Office at depreciated value. One more date to plan around: discretionary PCS budgets are cut 10 percent in the fiscal year that starts October 1, 2026, with deeper cuts in the following years.
Driving or flying to the next station: what it pays
A question the counter gets constantly, so here it is with the arithmetic. The per diem rate is the same whether you drive, fly or take a bus. Driving pays more in total because it earns more travel days, and because mileage is paid on top.
- Per diem is flat. PCS travel per diem for the member is the standard CONUS rate per authorized travel day, $178 for the federal fiscal year that runs through September 30, 2026. No lodging receipts. Mode of travel does not change the rate. New rates take effect October 1, 2026; check before a fall move.
- Driving buys travel days. Authorized days are the official distance divided by 350 miles, with a remainder over 50 miles adding a day. Days beyond that are leave.
- Driving also pays MALT. Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation is $0.235 per official mile per authorized vehicle for travel starting July 1, 2026 or later, up to two vehicles. Flying pays no mileage.
- Flying pays about one day. The government usually buys the ticket. You get per diem for the travel day on the itinerary plus local transport to and from the airport.
- Dependents multiply it. A spouse or child 12 and older earns 75 percent of the member’s rate, a child under 12 earns 50 percent, on every authorized travel day.
An illustration, member only, JBLM to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, roughly 2,800 miles by the official distance table:
| Mode | Travel days | Per diem | MALT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drive one car | 8 | 8 × $178 = $1,424 | 2,800 × $0.235 = $658 | about $2,080 |
| Fly | 1 | 1 × $178 = $178 | none | about $180 |
The honest caveat: those eight days of per diem and mileage are meant to cover fuel, lodging and meals for eight days on the road. The margin is real but smaller than the headline, and a single member flying gets there in a day with nothing out of pocket. A family driving two cars is a different calculation, and the calculator does it with your numbers.
Offices people confuse with the transportation office
| Office | What it actually does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Military Personnel Division (MPD), Waller Hall | ID cards and DEERS, passports, in- and out-processing, reassignments. | Building 2140, 2140 Liggett Avenue; 253-477-4282; Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. |
| Reassignment Processing Center | Publishes your PCS orders, runs levy briefings, handles family travel paperwork. | Building 2140; 253-967-5441; Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. |
| Army Military Pay Office (finance) | Travel vouchers, DLA, the PPM settlement. Money, not bookings. | Building 4174, 4174 Kaufman Avenue; 520-706-8650; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; closed Thursday. |
| Finance, McChord Field | Air Force pay and travel. | 100 Colonel Joe Jackson Boulevard, JBLM WA 98438; 253-982-3945; weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
| Housing Services Office | Off-post referral, the mandatory inbound housing briefing for O-5 and below, lease-termination help on the way out. | Building 5038, 5038 Pendleton Avenue; 253-967-3581 option 1; Tuesday to Thursday only, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. |
| Commercial Vehicle Inspection Point, Thorne Lane | Inspects trucks entering the base. It is not where you ship a car, despite the POV in its name. | Weekdays 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. |
| Lewis Main Visitor Control Center | Passes for the mover’s crew and for family without a DoD ID. | 5901 41st Division Drive; 253-967-4794; daily 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. |
Frequently asked questions
The Personal Property Processing Office on Lewis Main is 253-477-5446. JPPSO Northwest, the regional office behind it, is 253-967-5093 or toll-free 800-521-9959. The 520-706-8613 number the garrison lists first is the Army’s nationwide personal property call center, not a JBLM office. For 24-hour help during peak season through September 15, 2026, call 833-MIL-MOVE.
The counter at Building 2150 is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 to 3:00 p.m., and Thursday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. only. It is closed on weekends and federal holidays. The JPPSO Northwest page lists its own hours as Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
No. The Personal Property Processing Office is the counter you talk to for counseling, questions and problems. JPPSO Northwest is the regional office that books the mover and manages storage. You start your shipment in DPS and do your counseling through the PPPO; JPPSO Northwest works behind it.
Usually not. Most members self-counsel online in DPS and the office reviews the request without a visit. You must contact the office before scheduling anything if this is your first move, if you are separating or retiring, or if your shipment has a special element such as non-temporary storage or an overseas move.
Contact the office as soon as your orders are in hand and open DPS the same week. Commercial guides cite eight weeks before the pickup you want as the minimum for a stateside move. In peak season, May 15 to September 30, Military OneSource warns of four to six week delays, so give a range of acceptable dates and book before April if you can.
Wait three calendar days after the award, then call the mover. If you still hear nothing, call the PPPO at 253-477-5446 immediately. The official guidance is not to wait. The mover’s first contact is expected within five to seven business days of assignment.
File an inconvenience claim with the mover. It must acknowledge the claim within 5 business days and pay within 30 calendar days. For pickups on or after May 15, 2026, dependents are reimbursed at 75 percent of the meals rate. If the mover stalls, the PPPO helps you escalate.
The daily per diem rate is the same in every mode, $178 a day for the federal fiscal year through September 30, 2026. Driving pays more in total because you earn per diem for every authorized travel day, one per 350 miles, and mileage of $0.235 per mile per vehicle on top for travel starting July 1, 2026 or later. Flying earns about one day and no mileage.
No. In 2026 the system of record is DPS at move.mil. The HomeSafe Alliance contract was terminated for cause on June 18, 2025, and its operations ceased by April 2026. MilMove is the planned long-term replacement for DPS; the PPPO will say when that applies to JBLM moves.
Give notice of loss or damage within 180 days of delivery, then file the full replacement value claim within 12 months of delivery for shipments picked up on or after May 15, 2026. Shipments picked up before that date keep the older 9-month window. After the window closes, only depreciated value is paid, for up to 2 years.
Acronyms on this page
The short version of each term used above. Every one links to its full entry in the military moving acronyms dictionary, which defines 74 terms from PCS to VA home loan.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| PCS | Permanent Change of Station, the official move to your next duty station. |
| PPPO | Personal Property Processing Office, the installation counter for household goods. The JBLM transportation office. |
| JPPSO | Joint Personal Property Shipping Office, the regional office that books the mover. At JBLM it is JPPSO Northwest. |
| TMO | Transportation Management Office, the Air Force name for the same counter. |
| DPS | Defense Personal Property System at move.mil, where the shipment is requested and tracked. MilMove is its planned replacement. |
| TSP | Transportation Service Provider, the moving company assigned to your shipment. |
| HHG | Household Goods, what the government ships up to your weight allowance. |
| PPM | Personally Procured Move. You move it, the government pays you. Formerly DITY. |
| GCC | Government Constructed Cost, what the government would have paid a mover; a PPM pays 100 percent of it. |
| NTS | Non-Temporary Storage, long-term storage of household goods for an overseas or unaccompanied tour. |
| UB | Unaccompanied Baggage, the small fast shipment on an overseas move. |
| SIT | Storage in Transit, temporary storage at origin or destination, 90 days at government expense. |
| POV | Privately Owned Vehicle, your car. |
| VPC | Vehicle Processing Center, where a government-shipped car is dropped off or collected. |
| PCSmyPOV | The Department of Defense program and website for shipping a vehicle overseas. |
| GHC | Global Household Goods Contract, the HomeSafe Alliance contract terminated in June 2025. |
| MALT | Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation, the per-mile payment for driving yourself. |
| DLA | Dislocation Allowance, the one-time payment toward setting up the new household. |
| MPD | Military Personnel Division, the Waller Hall office that issues orders and ID cards. |
PPA, the Personal Property Activity, is the Department-level office at Scott Air Force Base that has owned the program since May 1, 2026. It is new enough that it is not yet in the dictionary.
Sources and data notes
- JPPSO Northwest address, phones, email and hours: the JPPSO Northwest page on the JBLM garrison site.
- PPPO address, phone, email and hours: the Logistics Readiness Center page on the garrison site and Military OneSource, JBLM household goods.
- The Army call center number and summer delays: Military OneSource, Army PCS moving support.
- Booking steps, counseling rules, the seven-day spread, claims and inconvenience-claim windows, peak season dates: Military OneSource, preparing to move; Military OneSource PCS moving FAQs; Military OneSource moving claims guide; Military OneSource DPS page; and the personal property quick-reference guide dated February 6, 2026.
- Personal Property Activity, its call center and the JPPSO structure: Army.mil, June 18, 2026; Military OneSource customer-service contacts; MilitarySpot, May 28, 2026.
- HomeSafe termination and wind-down: KBR press release, June 20, 2025; Stars and Stripes, January 23, 2026; KBR quarterly report, July 2026; WRDW, July 20, 2026.
- DPS versus MilMove in 2026 and the March 20 booking date: Military.com, April 20, 2026 and PCS Copilot, May 30, 2026.
- Per diem, travel days and MALT: Federal Register, FY2026 CONUS per diem; U.S. Army 2026 PCS Travel Help Sheet; the Defense Travel Management Office mileage-rate table.
- Other offices: the JBLM garrison directory, the Reassignment Processing Center page and the Housing Services Office page.
- Vehicle Processing Center: the Seattle VPC in Algona appears on current third-party VPC lists; the official list at pcsmypov.com should be checked before travel.
- Where two official pages disagree, this page shows both and says so. Where a figure cannot be sourced, it is left out rather than guessed. Rates change every January and can change mid-year; confirm the rate in effect on your departure date with the PPPO.