US Postal Service Plans Ban on Shipping Vaping Products

Recently, the U.S. Congress passed the "Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act," which prohibits the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from shipping e-cigarette products.
 
Currently, the main domestic parcel delivery services in the U.S. are UPS, FedEx, and USPS. UPS and FedEx are private companies that dominate air and ground logistics. USPS has a delivery network that far exceeds any company. Together, these three companies account for about 75% of the parcel delivery market.

Due to the risks associated with transporting e-cigarette products, USPS will prohibit the transportation of any form of e-cigarette products (including imports and exports) within the U.S. logistics network starting April 5, 2021. Transport passing through the U.S. (e.g., packages from China to Canada that transit through the U.S.) will not be affected, and applications and projects not originating from or destined for the U.S. will be allowed.

FedEx announced that starting May 1, 2021, e-cigarette products will be added to the list of prohibited items for transport. DHL has also included e-cigarette products in its list of items not accepted for transport.

Due to changes in the prohibited items policies of USPS and FedEx, UPS sales representatives may receive requests from e-cigarette sellers to start using UPS for shipping. Based on the upcoming policy changes, UPS has stated that it should not provide services to these sellers, even temporarily.