US Postal Service Plans to Ban Shipment of Vaping Products

Recently, the U.S. Congress passed the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, which prohibits the United States Postal Service (USPS) from shipping vaping products.
 
It is understood that the three main parcel delivery providers in the United States are UPS, FedEx, and USPS. Among them, UPS and FedEx are private companies and giants in both air and ground logistics. USPS is the U.S. Postal Service, and its delivery network far exceeds that of any other company. Together, these three companies currently account for about 75% of the parcel delivery market.

Due to the risks associated with transporting vaping products, USPS will ban the shipment of all forms of vaping products through the domestic U.S. logistics network starting April 5, 2021, including imports and exports. Shipments merely transiting through the United States will not be affected (for example, parcels shipped from China to Canada via the U.S.), and applications and projects in which the United States is neither the origin nor the destination will still be allowed.

FedEx has announced that, starting May 1, 2021, vaping products will be added to its prohibited items list. DHL has also included vaping products on its list of shipments it will not accept.

Because of changes to the prohibited items policies of USPS and FedEx, UPS sales representatives may receive requests from sellers of vaping products to begin using UPS for shipping. In light of these upcoming policy changes, UPS has stated that its representatives should not provide services to such sellers, even on a temporary basis.