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Uncategorized Friday, May 11th 2012 at 4:11 pm

USPS To Ban Mailing Lithium Batteries Overseas, Tablets and Phones By Extension

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It’s about to get a lot harder to mail most tech gadgets overseas. Starting May 16, the USPS is banning the overseas shipping of all kinds of lithium-ion batteries. The reason for this is that lithium-ion batteries, when fully charged or improperly stored, can burst into flames, which isn’t good. The ban doesn’t sound too bad when you put it that way, but when you realize that tablets, smartphones, laptops, portable gaming devices, and MP3 players frequently use lithium-ion batteries, it starts to sound a little more intense.

According to Fast Company, the precautions aren’t completely unwarranted; lithium-ion batteries have been implicated in at least two fatal cargo plane crashes since 2006. That said, it’s only the USPS that is issuing the ban, so if you really need to send an iPad to France or something, you can still use FedEx, UPS, or DHL, but you’ll probably have to pay a little more.

If you want to send a gadget with a lithium-ion battery to a soldier posted overseas, however, things are about to become impossibly hard considering the USPS is the only service that is allowed to ship to Army Post Office and Fleet Post Office mailboxes. The only workaround in this case would be to find a civilian address near a base, and use that as the shipping destination. Of course, if you do that, the cost of the package is going to skyrocket, and getting the package from there to the solider could prove to be a pain as well.

Come January 2013, the USPS may reconsider and change the ban to allow the shipment of certain kinds of properly installed lithium-ion batteries overseas to APO and FPO locations, but for the rest of the year, the ban will stand as-is. So, if you need to mail a smartphone, an iPad, or a video camera overseas for some reason, it’s best to do it now before things get complicated or expensive.

If you’re curious, here’s a USPS provided list of gadgets that generally contain lithium-ion batteries:

  • Video cameras
  • Walkie talkies (two-way radio)
  • GPS devices
  • Radio-controlled toys
  • Cameras
  • Scanners
  • Cell phones
  • MP3 players
  • Bluetooth headsets
  • Smartphones
  • Laptop computers
  • Electronic shavers
  • Power drills
  • Tablets
  • Portable DVD players
  • Electronic measuring equipment

(via CNET)

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  • http://www.zoealexanderuk.com/ Zoe Alexander

    Wow! That’s going to hurt a few businesses in the IT field. Not heard yet of any restrictions being imposed by the UK Royal Mail so far but it will be interesting to see how this rolls out.  Of course the couriers will have an opportunity to raise charges for “dangerous” goods! Thanks for the update.  I guess it applies to entry into the US too via the normal postal channels?

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

    And in the mean time people will use FedEX I assume…and it’ll be one more nail in the UPS’s coffin.

  • http://profiles.google.com/coredumperror Robert Rollins

    Yeah, like Ben above me said, this is likely to just be another nail in the USPS’s coffin.  But I wasn’t aware that it’s not possible to use UPS or Fedex or the like to send mail to soldiers overseas.  That definitely sucks for them. :(

  • http://www.americanfinancesolutions.com/ credit card cash advance

    I joked at the time that Second Life takes 20 pounds and several decades off you.

  • watch them, you’ll see

    “…Come January 2013, the USPS may reconsider and change the ban to allow the shipment of certain kinds of properly installed lithium-ion batteries overseas to APO and FPO locations, but for the rest of the year, the ban will stand as-is. So, if you need to mail a smartphone, an iPad, or a video camera overseas for some reason, it’s best to do it now before things get complicated or expensive.”

    This is a way USPS can make some money, since people stopped mailing personal letters

  • One_iota

    Companies competing with the USPS aren’t doing them as much damage as they are doing to themselves. Increasing prices, threats of discontinuing Saturday delivery, now this. Soon the USPS will make their existence irrelevant.

  • Joebug1956

    So much for getting my new phone and iPad sent to me! I’m in Afghanistan and that is retarded! The only thing we have to do after work is play games, listen to music, or call our family back home (Using lithium batteries in all devices)! Thanks for taking away what little freedom we have over here while everyone back home takes advantage of the freedoms they have! 

  • Fabz_90

    hello, i am trying to send my ipad to china from australia and fedex require a MDSD Form…. does anyone know how i can get this form?

  • Sfwilliams1

    This is really messed up for us who have spouses overseas, I can’t even send my husband a lap top, Really REally f’@@@ked up, also can’t use FeDeX or UPS either they do not send APO.. how messed up is this shit!!

  • Sweetcremecorn

    How will they know if you have a lithium battery in you package or not? I may have let on in my tool kit when shipping and it is coming from APO. 

  • Mstrgnnr

    The ones that get screwed over the most are the military and deployed civilians. This means if you want anything you have to pay AFFES which love to sell outdated items at exorbitant prices. There is no choice now. That is if they actually have anything on the bare shelves. I wish someone could explain to me…they are planning on relooking it in 2013….why not do it NOW!!!!  The “If it fits it ships” boxes are a great idea. I see litteraly thousands of them come through here every day. I guess the post office just doesnt need the money.

  • Renochang

    Who do these assholes work for anyway?   UPS or Fed-Ex?  That’s what it looks like to me.

    So … domestic shipments of Lithium Ion batteries are … safer?    Duh!

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

     OOOOOK…?

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

     Must be nice being a union job like the USPS… :P

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/SPNN24D3K64MPLHE4LQWORXMGQ WayneR

    As if USPS can afford to turn away business in the state that it is in.  I guess the bankruptcy will come much sooner than expected.  eBay sellers are pissed about this!

  • Jill

    The reason APO/FPO cannot use FedEx and UPS is because the mail goes to a military center like in New York. From there, it is transported by the military to the overseas locations; not USPS/FedEx/UPS. In order to use the other carriers, we have to use an off base address. With that, the shipping cost goes up so much, it’s sometimes cheaper to buy on the local economy.

    The laptop battery I need is $25USD with free shipping on Amazon. But to buy it here in Germany will cost 100-150EUR (125-190USD).

  • Renochang

    WTF does that have to do with unions?

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

     Last I checked the UPS was a union job.  Safety rules like this, IMO, are a hallmark of union intervention.

    As much good as they’ve done in the past thy seem to be out to enforce stupid ideas like this nowadays.

    That is not to say they should be abolished, IMO, just reined in.

  • Jess

    They can’t ship them, but international passengers are still allowed to carry them on? Makes total sense to me…

  • radouane

    That’s all BS .. I think they did it because they don’t want to ensure things with lithium batteries (mostly expensive electronics) .. I sell electronics on eBay an I noticed that the business got hurt …

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1139806631 Mark A Guerra

    osha form 174 It’s a material safety data sheet

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1139806631 Mark A Guerra

    call me crazy but why not just ensure that the batteries are dead prior to shipping

  • BS Meter

    so we are all carrying around a ticking time bomb…. ” lithium-ion batteries, when fully charged or improperly stored, can burst into flames”. So the devices being sold to us are unsafe, OMG, my purse might burst into flames! We can’t ship products with lithium-ion batteries in a box on a plane, but I can carry them on in my carry on baggage. Somebody do the common sense check on this PLEASE!!!
    I like to see the reports about the “two fatal cargo plane crashes since 2006″ where the lithium ion batteries are implicated. How did they determine it was the batteries after the plane crashed?

  • rushaan

    Can i have a PS3 Shipped to me to India ? Via USPS