Grand Rapids MI — With the holiday season fast approaching many gifts and presents will be traveling through the postal mail stream. Did you know that many household items can’t be mailed? Keeping the mail safe is a top priority at the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Service wants to help you get that gift or present to the intended recipient without delay.
Hazardous materials come in a wide variety of forms and can be chemical, biological, radioactive, or a combination. The Postal Service's™ definition of hazardous materials includes many common household and consumer products. They may not be dangerous on your shelf at home, but they can become a hazard when shaken or when the temperature or pressure changes such as when in transportation (i.e. trucks or airplanes) or exposed to weather.
Some common hazardous materials include:
- Beauty products (i.e. Perfumes, Nail polish)
- Flea collars or flea sprays
- Aerosols
- Cleaning supplies (i.e. Bleach
- Pool chemicals
- Paints
- Matches
- Batteries
- Fuels or gasoline
- Airbags
- Dry ice
- Mercury thermometers
- Items previously containing fuel
- Glues
- Fireworks
You can avoid delays in your shipments by following these simple guidelines
- Don’t put mail over 13 oz. in a blue collection box, Post Office lobby drop, Self-Service Kiosk drop, or any other unattended location.
- Don’t send alcohol. Alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, or liquor) are not considered hazardous, but by law cannot go in the mail. If you’re reusing a box displaying their alcohol brands, all logos and labels need to be covered up.
- And, in most cases, don’t send prescription drugs, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, or handguns. Prescription medications can only be mailed by registered practitioners or dispensers. Similar laws apply to over-the-counter medications. With few exceptions, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco shipments cannot be mailed.
Some items may require special handling. Visit https://www.usps.com/ship/can-you-ship-it.htm to find out more information about mailing safely.
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For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.
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