USPS to ban overseas shipments of electronics with lithium ion batteries

User Comments: 43

1. May 12, 2012 1:58 AM
   

   captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

   That's not awful at all its not like they are drafted Iv felt the same way for a while. I love the troops but you all volunteered suck it up. I do not know why people are doubting the validity of the story, if they weren't such a danger they sure as hell wouldn't want to lose out on all that $$.

   Well, this thread has gone AWOL of the topic. In truth, our troops do have a legitimate gripe about being asked to fight the second war in Iraq. George Bush didn't finish the 1st Iraq war, Saddam Hussein tried to have him killed, and his mental defective son Wubba, decided he was going to avenge the affair. The only person in the George W, Bush administration with any sense was Colin Powell, and he bailed right after they couldn't find "weapons of mass destruction". (Probably from sheer embarrassment). Cheyney and Rumsfield declared the war, George W, Bush is, was, and always will be, a meat puppet.

   I suppose "political correctness" prevented it, but Saddam's "retreating" army torched every oil well in Kuwait on the way back home. Thank God I wasn't the commander, I would have refused their "surrender" killed every one to the last man, then nuked Baghdad. But, I have issues, so pay me no mind.....

   Reply
2. May 12, 2012 2:20 AM
   madboyv1, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   I'm not sure if this counts or anything, but back in 2007 when there was a big recall on Lithium batteries for laptops, I remember coming across a Macbook Pro that had a failed battery which FUSED itself to a desk with one of those laminate finishes, had to take the entire desk out with the laptop and luckily did not have to twist Apple's arm very hard for a replacement. If that had been paper (cardboard) or styrofoam, I'm sure there would have been a fire.

   Again, I don't know if such a catastrophic failure has anything to do with this, but it has been something I've come across personally, so I can see some validity to why they'd do it, but at the same time question why of all times they're doing it.

   This might be an interesting read about how the FAA has tested fire fighting for lithium batteries. If anything it shows a serious concern/consideration for these kinds of batteries: [link]

   Reply
3. May 12, 2012 2:51 AM
   

   captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

   I'm not sure if this counts or anything, but back in 2007 when there was a big recall on Lithium batteries for laptops, I remember coming across a Macbook Pro that had a failed battery which FUSED itself to a desk with one of those laminate finishes, had to take the entire desk out with the laptop and luckily did not have to twist Apple's arm very hard for a replacement. If that had been paper (cardboard) or styrofoam, I'm sure there would have been a fire.

   Again, I don't know if such a catastrophic failure has anything to do with this, but it has been something I've come across personally, so I can see some validity to why they'd do it, but at the same time question why of all times they're doing it.

   There were many stories like yours during that period. One that was comical was published by PC World mag, had a laptop in a gun rack, destroying a pickup truck. It was comical due to the juxtaposition of the redneck out hunting with a laptop in the gun rack. Sort of like a "what's wrong with this picture" scenario.

   In any event USPS had 5 years to make this decision, since the danger of fire stories are mostly from that period. I though they had cured the problem, and our post office, a day late, and a dollar short, just read the memo last week, and decided to do something about it.

   Reply
4. May 12, 2012 2:55 AM
   

   cliffordcooley, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   I do think the troops being brought home because they can't get their rechargeable batteries is a bit flimsy.

   Next time I reply, maybe I should type out a five page report to make sure my words are not taken out of context.

   Our troops should have been brought home when the war was considered to be over. But now that we are still lingering around a decade later, the issues of sending things in the mail are effecting our troops. But since I don't understand why we are still lingering around, for me there is confusion as to why we now see an issue with sending them mail instead of bringing them home. There are downfalls to sending items with batteries other than sending to our troops. I do see an issue with sending items in the mail, never once was I suggesting otherwise.

   On the flip side, I doubt we ever have to worry about anyone waging war on us again. Not because they are afraid of us but because they don't want us moving in with them for the next three decades.

   Reply
5. May 12, 2012 3:05 AM
   1 person liked this |
   

   captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

   I do think the troops being brought home because they can't get their rechargeable batteries is a bit flimsy.

   Next time I reply, maybe I should type out a five page report to make sure my words are not taken out of context.

   You'll do no such thing. Someone could probably take words out of context from an encyclopedia size volume. Why would you think only 5 pages would stop me from making sport of that? :p

   On the flip side, I doubt we ever have to worry about anyone waging war on us again. Not because they are afraid of us but because they don't want us moving in with them for the next three decades.

   Well Clifford, that's both silly and non sequitur. Nobody since Japan has actually declared war on us. Al Queada is a terrorist organization, with no sovereign territory. Hence, any "declaration of war" by them is moot. They simply don't have the authority. What they have is the delusion they have the authority....

   The reality is much more like we're normally being accused of, which would be, "American Imperialist Pig Dogs". We have a massive defense industry. What fun would it be if we weren't allowed to summarily blow up a third world country with its products?

   That's like having a cell phone, and nobody to call with it.

   Reply
6. May 12, 2012 8:36 AM
   Nima304 said:

   We can travel with lithium ion batteries but can't ship them? That's a bit weird. Also, 2 plane crashes in six years doesn't seem like that much to provoke such a ban.

   Reply
7. May 12, 2012 2:08 PM
   Guest said:

   they need to give more detail. which types of batteries are bringing down the aircraft. all google comes up with is a safety issue of these batteries having a potential to explode. how are enabled to say explode on a cargo plane?

   Reply
8. May 12, 2012 4:44 PM
   

   cliffordcooley, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   Well Clifford, that's both silly and non sequitur. Nobody since Japan has actually declared war on us. Al Queada is a terrorist organization, with no sovereign territory. Hence, any "declaration of war" by them is moot. They simply don't have the authority. What they have is the delusion they have the authority....

   Tell that to who ever declared "We Are At War". It was declared a war and will never be seen differently.

   I'm out of this thread because this is definitely off topic. But for you to make a silly comment while calling my comment silly is going a bit far.

   Reply
9. May 12, 2012 6:14 PM
   

   captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

   Tell that to who ever declared "We Are At War". It was declared a war and will never be seen differently.

   I'm out of this thread because this is definitely off topic. But for you to make a silly comment while calling my comment silly is going a bit far.

   No Clifford I'm commenting because of this:

   On the flip side, I doubt we ever have to worry about anyone waging war on us again. Not because they are afraid of us but because they don't want us moving in with them for the next three decades.

   Iraq or Afghanistan never actually were at war with us. Were were the aggressors. You just have the logic inverted. I see your point. But, those countries didn't actually "declare war on us". They were harboring terrorists. In the case of Iraq, They never "declared war" on us. They invaded Kuwait".

   I guess my point was this, your post was ironic. In the fact that,the countries we've "invited ourselves to stay in for decades", didn't make that choice, we did.

   If you listen to all the Jihhadist bullshit, every country in the middle east is at war with the US, (save for Israel), every day, every month, every year, of every decade. My point is this, wars are started by nations, not bands of hoodlums in turbans. So, we're just at a semantic impasse, nothing serious, and nothing more.

   The use of "war", as either a noun or verb, breaks into several subtexts. It could be "sabre rattling", it could be a propaganda slogan, or it could be a formal declaration by a sovereign nation, and that is the most accurate definition.

   If you think about it, politics and time have eroded "we're at war with Afghanistan", to, "the war IN Afghanistan".

   "Modern warfare" with places like China or Pakistan would be utterly futile in the first place. Why, you ask? You simply couldn't kill enough people in either country to get your grievance solved , without pissing off everybody else on the planet.

   And this is why the US failed in Vietnam, no matter how many Viet Cong or NVA regulars we killed, China kept pumping more bodies and weapons into North Vietnam. We "invited ourselves to stay" for a couple of decades in South Vietnam, after the French, as is typical of them, failed to protect their own interests. Which were, guarding the Michelin rubber plantations.

   Reply
10. May 12, 2012 7:04 PM
    Tygerstrike said:

    All I see is suposition. I see no reports or heavy duty studies to confirm that Lithium batteries do anything at any altitude. As many have posted above, they will let you fly with your MP3 player your smartphone or your tablet, but wont ship overseas. I STILL say this is the USPS doing whatever they can to justify increasing their profits. I have seen Lithium batteries completly misshaped. Utterly deformed. Swollen to almost bursting. I deal with every single item on the USPS list at some point in my week at work. And I have NEVER seen anything that would leave me to believe their claims.

    Im more inclined to agree that the problem is shoddy maintenece. Especially overseas where regulatory agencies can be bought off with very little effort. All this smells like a smokescreen. An easy justification. Blame it on electronic devices that are shipped. Nevermind the fact that most ppl who are going to fly are going to have their personal electronics fully charged before they get on the plane. So they have something to do. That means fully charged devices arent exploding or melting while they are at the same altitude as the product being shipped in the belly of the plane. It just doesnt add up.

    1 + 1 isnt equalling 2. Its equaling fish.....

    Reply
11. May 13, 2012 2:08 AM
    Guest said:

    There Doing it for another reason I own a cell phone store I buy phones then sell em on ebay this month I have lost all the phones in transit WTF 15 of them ? I think they were stolen no other way as soon they get to a specific center its gone hmmm good think I put insurance on them but theres always problems with buyers sigh just recently I ive lost all of them normally its like 1 or 3 a month but this has gone tooo far ....

    Reply
12. May 13, 2012 1:34 PM
    Guest said:

    This is very stupid. If these batteries were such a risk they would be banned from being used period.

    Only time these batteries are a risk is if you puncture, overheat or overcharge one.

    Reply
13. May 14, 2012 3:45 AM
    Guest said:

    There goes cheap shipping/imports.... how can USPS be the only one banning this? UPS, Fedex etc must be rejoicing and suddenly reviewing their shipping price for this

    Reply
14. May 18, 2012 8:24 AM
    Guest said:

    Yeah, but how fast do you think they will go out of business if they ignore the safety regulation, that was written by the International Civil Aviation Organization - NOT the post office, and smuggle these dangerous goods onto the passenger aircraft in violation of our international treaties, and the passenger airplane explodes, killing 3 or 4 hundred innocent people? Have you really thought your position through?

    Reply
15. May 18, 2012 8:29 AM
    Guest said:

    Tygerstrike, you are completely clueless when you say " I STILL say this is the USPS doing whatever they can to justify increasing their profits. " First of all, the rule was written by the International Civil Aviation Organization, not USPS. USPS is simply complying with the rule. How in the world you think USPS can increase its profits by refusing to carry mail is beyond my understanding.

    Reply
16. May 20, 2012 8:38 AM
    Guest said:

    Tygerstrike: Are you really unaware of the hazards of lithium batteries. Just go to YouTube and watch some of the videos of the things exploding and burning. Maybe you would put YOUR kids on an airplane carrying unknown numbers of them in its cargo hold, but I am not putting MINE on that plane. Fortunately, more people agree with me than with you so the damn things can't go in the hold - if you want to bring one on a passenger plane you have to carry it on so you will know if its burning.

    Reply
17. December 5, 2012 12:52 PM
    Guest said:

    On 11/9 USPS announced that the Lithium Ion Ban would be lifted on 11/15/12. Here is link to a page with all relevent info:

    [link]

    Reply
18. December 5, 2012 3:51 PM
    

    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    IMO, not only should they ban the shipment of LiO batteries anywhere in the 3rd world, but all electronic devices as well. Weight the issue for yourself. Are the batteries more likely to be used for A: mobile devices to allow women to attend classes online, or B: improvised explosive devices?

    Oh, and we should also go back to working on the neutron bomb.

    Reply

Recently commented stories