USPS Will Not Ship Li-ion Batteries Internationally Anymore

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
wiyosaya

wiyosaya

Distinguished
Apr 12, 2006
915
1
18,990
Come January 2013, it anticipates that customers will be able to mail specific quantities of lithium batteries internationally as long as they're probably installed in the personal electronic device they're intended to power.
Click to expand...
Um, I'm sure you mean "properly installed."
 
hellwig

hellwig

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
1,743
0
19,860
Funny, I always thought you were supposed to disconnect the battery from the device before shipping. I mailed my mother an old Canon point-and-shoot and the clerk made sure the battery was disconnected. Not because it was LI-ON (she didn't ask), but because if the device turned itself on and started making noise, it was likely to be destroyed on the tarmac by the bomb squad.

I think the hardest-hit here will be Apple product owners, with their non-removable LI-ON batteries. No more shipping your old 3GS to some company in India or China to get a few extra bucks. Although, I suppose there's always DHL.
 
A

aoneone

Guest
May 27, 2011
271
0
18,790
I predict one day that the show Mythbusters on the Discovery channel will test to see if Lithium-Ion based batteries in such devices 'really' do catch fire and/or explode in certain situations. Mark my words. >.
 
R

rosen380

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2011
422
0
18,780
There are billions of Li-Ion batteries in circulation-- how many burst into flames yearly? A couple, maybe?

I'm guessing that the airlines carry more Li-Ion batteries in any given day then USPS does in six months...
 
C

CoolBOBob1

Distinguished
Jul 17, 2009
45
0
18,540
[citation][nom]rosen380[/nom]There are billions of Li-Ion batteries in circulation-- how many burst into flames yearly? A couple, maybe? I'm guessing that the airlines carry more Li-Ion batteries in any given day then USPS does in six months...[/citation]

They are banning it temporarily, Li-ion batteries are more dangerous to an aircraft when they ship in bulk. When they are in devices they are less likely to start a chain reaction of Li-ion battery fires. They probably won't allow people to ship more than a couple per package or something of that sort.

One reason for concern was the loss of UPS aircraft to fire that spread very fast and had a massive amount of smoke. It was determined to have started with a shipment of Li-ion batteries.

Here's a link to the story from last year: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/3/report-faults-batteries-plane-crash/

 
R

rosen380

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2011
422
0
18,780
"when they ship in bulk"

In that case it should be a non-issue for most consumers since few individuals ship Li-Ions in bulk. If I am selling a single used GPS unit on eBay, is that an issue? Maybe if most things people ship internationally through USPS contain Li-Ion batteries, but I'm assuming it is a pretty small percentage of the packages.
 
halcyon

halcyon

Splendid
Dec 4, 2004
5,566
0
25,810
[citation][nom]kikireeki[/nom]What a stupid decision! It is like: Tom's hardware is banning every PC-related Article.[/citation]
I'm not sure I'm following your analogy there but I think I understand the sentiment that was its catalyst.
 
halcyon

halcyon

Splendid
Dec 4, 2004
5,566
0
25,810
[citation][nom]memadmax[/nom]What can brown turds do for you???.[/citation]
I'm not certain about your physiology but having "brown turds" is generally not seen as unhealthy. I'm no doctor. I'm not sure how important color actually is but it often is affected by what the subject ate. If the food didn't have large quantities of coloring in it it will often be excreted as a "brown turd". ...and turds are...

Oh, you meant UPS. :heink:
 
drwho1

drwho1

Distinguished
Jan 10, 2010
1,272
0
19,310
This is non issue for me, after all when I ship anything that I want to make sure that I know when or if arrived at its destination, I use Fed-Ex.

USPS tracking service is always been unreliable.
 
A

A Bad Day

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
2,256
0
19,790
[citation][nom]rosen380[/nom]There are billions of Li-Ion batteries in circulation-- how many burst into flames yearly? A couple, maybe? I'm guessing that the airlines carry more Li-Ion batteries in any given day then USPS does in six months...[/citation]

When one battery catches on fire in a cargo hold filled with several dozen tons of flammable objects ranging from paper to other electronics, then the poor pilot and copilot will get to soil their pants while trying to land a internally burning aircraft.

And those hundreds or thousands of people depending on the USPS will be disappointed when they learned that their mail delivery was toasted. Literally.
 
Darkerson

Darkerson

Distinguished
Oct 28, 2009
706
0
18,990
[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]This is non issue for me, after all when I ship anything that I want to make sure that I know when or if arrived at its destination, I use Fed-Ex.USPS tracking service is always been unreliable.[/citation]
Yeah, i found that out the hard way this past week. Decided to give them a shot and sent a PSU to Antec to be repaired/replaced. It had tracking, delivery confirmation and the whole nine yards. All I get now when I check on it is "Delivery Status Unavailable" and Antec hasnt been able to locate it either.

I guess it was a good thing I got the damn thing insured, although Im sure that will end up taking an eternity to get, if they did indeed lose it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom