U.S. Post Office Bars Shipment Abroad Of Gadgets With Lithium Batteries: No Laptops, iPads For Troops Overseas

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is banning international shipments of electronics with lithium batteries such as smartphones, laptops and iPads, citing the risk of fire.

Beginning Wednesday, consumers may no longer make the shipments, including to army and diplomatic post offices. That means friends and family will have to use more expensive private companies such as UPS and FedEx to ship electronics to U.S. troops based abroad.

The Postal Service cited discussion by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Universal Postal Union. They issue semi-binding guidelines for global trade.

Officials expect that U.S. consumers can resume shipments in most cases after Jan. 1, once the agency develops a new policy "consistent with international standards."

Lithium batteries are believed to have caused at least two fires on cargo planes since 2006.

Also on HuffPost:

From our partners

Comments

[sanjagtl]

12:14 PM on 05/20/2012

If the military wants these items, ship them via THEIR planes. Last I knew they still had some. Problem solved.

[Alu Zeros]

02:10 PM on 06/10/2012

Go f yourself - us veteran

[sanjagtl]

11:15 PM on 06/10/2012

Wow thats harsh words from a vet. In this world if you want something you need to find a way to get it. Don't expect it to be handed to you. If the military has planes available why not ship these items through them??? Makes sense cuz what else do those planes carry??

[strangetimes]

07:09 PM on 05/14/2012

Being a overseas veteran, they are much better off using ups or fed ex. Using the post office usually results in your package arriving after you rotate home.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

11:58 AM on 05/14/2012

I like how this story brings out the conspiracy nuts.

"It is Obama trying to stifle business, maaaaan!" "No, it is the evil republicans trying to destroy the post office."

Yeah, exactly, kids. Forget that restrictions on shipping Li-ion batteries that have existed for years. This is a new attempt at government control. Just like bans on shipping li-ion batteries in checked baggage were an attempt to destroy the airline industry. Just ignore that the ban is temporary while the USPS can develop guidelines and practices for shipping that meet international standards (yeah, kids, the US does not rule the world; there are other nations out there).

Seriously. It only makes sense.

[splashy]

02:02 PM on 05/14/2012

I know. It's temporary, there were two fires, and it's about safety.

[nomorestupidstuff]

04:38 PM on 05/14/2012

That would be like telling everybody you can't drive a car anymore because for the first time since 2006, there were two car accidents! Give me a break. More regulation and government control over the American people that we don't need and that doesn't help anything! The article fails to say how these two incidents came to be. It could have been any number of things. This is no reason by any stretch to halt shipping any electronics over seas! Other carriers do it & continue to do it all the time! From the time products started being shipped with batteries over seas to now, these two incidents are an almost negligible percentage compared to how many successful/non-incident deliveries that have been made! Truely, stupidity at its best!

[lensman3]

11:09 AM on 05/14/2012

This will just force the batteries to go by some way-like fedex. (Assume you can send Li batteries using them).

[Tanker10a]

08:50 AM on 05/14/2012

They cannot be serious?!

[splashy]

03:53 PM on 05/14/2012

Two fires led to this, it's only temporary, for safety reasons they are changing what they do.

[Liam Skye]

08:55 AM on 05/17/2012

Do you not consider airplane crashes serious?

[Post31]

04:51 AM on 05/14/2012

Dear post office,
Just die already.

[JWerner]

07:20 AM on 05/14/2012

Dear Republicans,

Just go away already, and stop hurting this country.

[Post31]

01:55 PM on 05/15/2012

You said it. Now who's a republican? I am a super liberal that wakes up every morning to a bowl of weed and porn. But I'm also a realist and realize the need for the pony express is no longer here. 

[splashy]

03:14 PM on 05/14/2012

Why? You want to make it so that rural people can't get any mail or packages? You DO know that many rural people are right wingers, and if they find out that Republicans want the Postal Service to die, they will turn to the Democrats, who DON'T want it to die?

[Post31]

01:54 PM on 05/15/2012

Who cares they don't read anyways. Plus what they do read they don't believe. 

[ThinkinPerson]

02:49 AM on 05/14/2012

What is happening with our postal service is the biggest stealth privatization in history! This is lack one bad joke! Someone is trying to sink this ship on purpose! First, trying to compete with FedEx and UPS, the Postal Service overspent, made changes that pushed up its debt. Now, that worked perfectly for those that want to destroy the PS! Its so in debt - oh big bad scary debt that we have no problem running up for Tanks for Our Cities. Its simple ridiculous! Now this - to PISS off the Military??? My god, we have got to wake up, this very, very, very important service of having accurate, trustworthy, affordable mail is very important.

How about we Ban Carriers having to Carry All those ADS - let me guess - at a discount? And no one reads those!!!

How about instead, getting rid of of MAILERS now that we have the internet - or reduced rates for large businesses...NOT THE USPS!

[splashy]

03:19 PM on 05/14/2012

Actually, it's not that the Postal Service "overspent." It's that it was mandated by the Republicans to pay for health care 75 years in advance, for workers that aren't even born yet, and to do it in only 10 YEARS. No company/non-profit can do that. Read about it here:
http://www.apwu.org/news/burrus/2010/update12-2010-100721.htm

That being said, this is about there being two fires and a temporary ban until they can update their safety measures. They will go back to shipping these products once things are updated/changed.

[zigzag1]

01:12 AM on 05/14/2012

Using the much higher priced private companies is exactly what the Republicans are trying to force on us by destroying the US Post Office. Get ready folks, those companies contribute millions to those congress members

[splashy]

03:20 PM on 05/14/2012

The worst part is that the rural people will have to do without, which is ironic since so many of them vote Republican.

That being said, this is really about safety, is temporary, and the ban will be lifted once things are changed. There were two fires, prompting this temporary ban.

[Liam Skye]

08:36 AM on 05/17/2012

Yes, the American public has to either stop the privatistas or accept the fact that mailing anything is going to cost many, many times as much as it does right now. This is an example: use USPS or pay 5 times as much, remove the low cost USPS alternative and I can guarantee that the privatista price that is currently 5 times higher will become much, much higher still.

[Roci]

12:44 AM on 05/14/2012

I support not closing post offices, but whoever pulled this out of their "hat" right now has to be awarded a first class booby prize. And while we're at it, couldn't the other shipping companies lower their prices just a bit when they find out to whom it is these packages are being shipped?

[jsgaetano]

05:09 AM on 05/14/2012

What I find hilarious is how conservatives whine about "Smaller Gubment"... but when the government was going to close all these small town Red Welfare State post offices, all the Republifundies whined and cried. We should have told them to get all "Smaller Gubment" by replacing the post offices with UPS Stores. I'm a big fan of letting conservatives bear the brunt of the conservative's failed and fraud-based policies.

[Edbeason]

11:51 AM on 05/14/2012

I'm a big fan of letting conservatives bear the brunt of the conservative's failed and fraud-based policies.

I'm completely in agreement. It's the only way the millions of ignorants, uninformed, and misinformed will learn that the polices they support, because their families and communities do out of ignorance, and visceral reactions to everything not Republican, are not in their own best interests. Just like most of the policies they support that enriches their political leaders and the corporations that own them.

[ancientuno]

12:20 AM on 05/14/2012

And USPS wonders why it is going out of business.

[Cathy Coudriet]

12:29 AM on 05/14/2012

Can't go out of business without a change to the constitution.

[Rick Imperfekt Noggle]

12:54 AM on 05/14/2012

No doubt! All of this cuz of 2 fires in 6 years, wow!

[Liam Skye]

08:41 AM on 05/17/2012

You go ahead and put your kids on a plane with an unknown number of undeclared fully charged lithium batteries. My kids will not be on that flying bomb.

[MothballViking]

11:51 PM on 05/13/2012

"Post Office Bans Shipment Of iPads To Troops Overseas"

Am I the only one who thinks this headline is a tad bit misleading?

[Cathy Coudriet]

12:30 AM on 05/14/2012

No you are not the only one...
And it is only temporary until they come up with guidelines....

[splashy]

03:29 PM on 05/14/2012

Not just a tad, it's EXTREMELY misleading. They should have put the word "temporary" in it.

Of course, that wouldn't get as many comments. :-D

[mansterEZ]

11:35 PM on 05/13/2012

Lithium batteries can and do overheat in electronics devices that deploy them. I've seen a battery overheat to the point it literally burns through the plastic. I can only imagine what it would do under high pressure. UPS, FedEx and other worldwide carriers will have to use their own planes and not passenger aircraft. I wouldn't be surprised if their potential liability outweighed the risk of transport thus making it not cost-effective to accommodate this kind of business into a war zone.

[JWerner]

06:31 AM on 05/14/2012

Indeed. Having fires break out on a plane isn't exactly safe :P

It's a good move, because it's an unknown safety hazard. If a private airline company was endangering the lives of passengers in this way, you bet we'd hear about it.

[eltrip]

11:34 PM on 05/13/2012

It's an addition to the ever growing hazmat list. Nothing new. USPS has really no alternative unless they want to expand into the shipment of hazardous materials. UPS, FEDS, BAX Global, DHL and many more shippers specialize in this kind of logistics.

[JWerner]

06:32 AM on 05/14/2012

Precisely. USPS isn't equipped to handle that sort of thing, and don't have their own planes.

[splashy]

03:31 PM on 05/14/2012

It's only temporary.

[desousab]

10:55 PM on 05/13/2012

Why is there no risk of fire when we ship these things here from China by the tanker load?

[Clark Nova]

11:15 PM on 05/13/2012

Because the Chinese aren't as incompetent as the USPS?

[KSU Dem]

12:34 AM on 05/14/2012

The postal service doesn't own ships or planes, so I'm not sure there is any direct comparison. I do know that the manufacturers are very careful how they pack electronic items for shipment overseas, generally the batteries aren't carrying a charge, they put little plastic strips between the battery contacts and the electronic item they are in, and they use styrofoam cut outs to ensure the items are safe from being broken. On the other hand, postal customers toss used electronic items with charged batteries into boxes, add a little bubble-wrap, and think that they are shipping them safely. The postal service can't look into the boxes to verify the items are packed properly, so they have to assume that they may not be.

[JWerner]

06:34 AM on 05/14/2012

The USPS isn't incompetent. Quit spewing vile right-wing rhetoric about an organization mandated by the Constitution, a document you folks supposedly cherish.

[mansterEZ]

11:38 PM on 05/13/2012

There is but they don't tell us. This is only the first logical step to solve the problem before there's another fire aboard an aircraft. This is a GSE being responsible and forcing manufacturers to take the next logical safety step.

[cobrakai2002]

10:26 PM on 05/13/2012

I probably wouldn't ship a $500 ipad by throwing it in my mailbox and putting up the little red flag.

[KSU Dem]

12:35 AM on 05/14/2012

Most customers actually hand carry the items to the post office, so they must agree with you. Does a packaged iPad even fit into a mailbox?

[sanjagtl]

12:12 PM on 05/20/2012

It'd fit in a big mailbox if you had one