UPS To Block Vape Deliveries
UPS has announced it is to stop the shipment of vape products in or out of the United States from April
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by Dave Cross
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Following the government’s ban announcement [link], the American Vaping Association said: “All orders of vaping products will be required to ship using an alternate, considerably more expensive service that verifies the recipient of a package is at least 21 years old. Furthermore, starting 90 days after enactment, all Internet and mail-order retailers will be required to file voluminous monthly reports with State, Native tribes, and local governments disclosing the identity, address, and product orders of all customer orders to their jurisdiction, as well as remit any excise taxes owed.”
The options for those alternative arrangements are getting shorter by the week. FedEx already has a block and USP’s announcement compounds problems for vapers across the States. It told Vaping 360: “Effective April 5, 2021, UPS will not transport vaping products to, from, or within the United States due to the increased complexity to ship those products.” [link]
UPS may have made the statement, but it has failed to revise its site as of the end of January, which still states it will accept shipments “containing Tobacco Products” from “shippers who are licensed and authorized to ship Tobacco Products pursuant to applicable laws”. Anybody who has experienced a sluggish delivery from UPS will be unsurprised by this delay.
The current antipathy towards tobacco harm reduction (THR) and THR products in the United States has unsettled companies, some of it having a direct impact on British vapers.
Many have spoken on the Planet of the Vapes forum about listing problems they have experienced on Amazon and eBay. Recently, at the end of 2020, we saw a swathe of international and home vendors have their PayPal accounts closed – and some individual vapers were hit too.
To date, apart from the restrictions placed posting lithium-ion batteries, UK vapers and vendors have not experienced problems shipping mods, atties and eliquids. UPS has been contacted for comment about the likelihood of the ban being extended to the United Kingdom but has not replied a time of publication.
Related:
- US Vapemail Ban – [link]
- Planet of the Vapes forum – [link]
- PayPal Problems Proliferate – [link]
- Payment Guidance Being Given to Businesses – [link]
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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