^^^^ 'wet' ?? IDT li=ions are wet batteries (like car batteries are)
1 800 ASK USPS-
THE BROCHURE: 'The safety of the Mail is Everyone's Responsibilty-Notice 128 Sept 2012
It states that it is the responsibility of the 'mailer' to do:
RULES and regs are one thing enforcement another.
The Mailer--
"Knowing the physical characteristics of the hazardous materials they wish to mail" ( the old ignorance is no excuse clause)
paraphrased- the mailer must follow the standards of USPS DMM 601.10 & also those for international Mail.
more-- "Ensuring that all Postal Service regs. are followed regarding the packaging,markings, labeling, and declaration of hazardous materials placed in the mail"
and then it gives some sources as this brochure is not nearly big enough to contain all the regs.
The last part shows all the danger stickers- that are required and Class 9- is Misc Haz. materials and that must include lithium batts.
The big poster on the wall of all POs I use has lithium batteries clearly on it as banned items.
I went to the Pearland Tx LightHound store and talked to the manager- they send out and receive(all from China) all their lithium batts by USPS-
all HongKong post or EMS becomes USPS once here-I did notice that all the batts on the shelves at LH were each inside a extremely thing plastic bags and NOT sealed-
The POs I use had no info to add on this -One said none- no how -no way- and the others said as above- ONLY if inside the intended devices- Fine starts at 250$ so cell phone with batt OK batt alone NO-
I see some are offering batteries with a charger only if they will fit inside- is that the intended device?? grey area--
my opinion on that means nothing-
Others have found very cheap plastic boxes to ship them inside - same as the chargers= maybe a loop hole-- maybe not. All the brochures at the PO say no to lithium batts by themselves. I can't say that the 99cent flashlight trick works or if it just never got opened-
IIRC the ban began after those Jumbo Jets (now flying again) got grounded to work on the Lithiums they used. IIRC there are like 93 of them on each jet.
These rules must never be enforced as its near impossible to find a China seller on Fleabay that does NOT use USPS- while I am forced to go with Fed EX and its not as cheap- for $5.15 I can print a small flat rate USPS box label for shipping from my mailbox- you can put up to a max on 70 pounds in one (WTH?)- Even just one batttery with Fed Ex is more than $7usd.
I cant compete with these other sellers-
the irony: if a seller is shipping a laser from China we should NOT ask for batteries to be purchased and sent along--also-& I have suggested that USA laser buyers should ask for any free batteries to NOT be included. ( not missing much --90% of them are crap anyway)BUT once in the USA battery buyers must purchase SOMETHING to ship the battery(s) in like a laser- wth?>
what I do know/
If when asked ( & they ask every time) if the box contains lithium batteries and you are truthful --they will not ship it. and maybe even if they are inside intended devices- so do you lie when asked? Is it worth the risk?
I just heard from a China 26650 seller that an order for 4 pcs 26650 had the packaging AND the contents damaged before reaching the buyer ( USA) and that it was returned to seller- what? if they saw it was damaged how did they NOT see that the batts were lithiums?? AND since Regs ban shipping them HOW the hell were they sent back to China= confusing.
The ebay China seller is trying again and I will let you know if the batts reach the buyer. (not me BTW)
I had a fed ex shipment of batts arrive to my buyer opened and empty-
working now with Fed Ex for a remedy- 16 $ in batts and 8$ in shipping gone. How does an open padded envelope thats empty & open get even put on the truck ?? They said they looked for them and had no luck- AND a Fed EX shipment dropped in a Fed EX(after hours) box was never received- . FED EX is very lucky that I do not have many other options or I would never use them again ever- never--
hak