US Vaping Association: Mail Shipping Ban on Vaping Products Will Force Small Retailers to Close

Blue Hole New Consumption reported on April 12 that, according to foreign media reports, the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (PACT) and the shipping issues it has triggered have forced many companies to halt all online sales in the United States, while some others will also be forced to shut down.

Chris Innes, owner of hightedvaping in Houston, Texas, announced that he will close his store due to the PACT Act and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) strict Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) requirements.

A vape specialty store in Los Angeles also said that after helping smokers change their smoking habits for eight years, it will close its specialty shop because of the PACT Act.

Securience, the parent company of Durasmooke, announced a merger with VapinDirect to preserve the business; Logic ended all online sales on March 16; and Baiyun Vaping said it ended all U.S. online sales on March 26.

Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said: “If the increased shipping costs were not enough, this law also places enormous burdens on small retailers, backed by the threat of imprisonment even for innocent mistakes. This is not a law intended to regulate mail-order sales of vaping products to adults, but an attempt to eliminate them.”

Effective March 28, 2021, recipients of all online purchases of vaping products are legally required to present identification and sign at delivery. The U.S. Postal Service ban on mailing vaping products will take effect on April 27, 2021. After that date, customers will no longer be able to receive vaping products through USPS delivery.

The PACT Act also stipulates that private shipping companies will no longer provide shipping services for vaping products, which is especially tough on e-commerce businesses. UPS spokesman Matthew O’Connor said in a statement: “Effective April 5, 2021, UPS will not ship vaping products to, from, or within the United States due to the increased complexity of shipping these products.”

FedEx stopped accepting vaping products as of March 1, 2021. DHL had previously banned shipments of all nicotine-containing products, and has now also stopped transporting all cannabis vaping products.