Posting batteries

littlethoughts

So I went to the post office today to ship a mobile phone accessory. They asked me if the item was electrical and if it contained batteries. I think specifically they were referring to "Lithium ion/polymer/metal/alloy batteries when not sent with, or contained in/connected to an electronic device, are prohibited."

I've never been asked about batteries before when posting items in the UK, so it might be worth being extra vigilant when posting guitar pedals, accessories etc when batteries are involved. Not sure what the eventual issues would be but might be important in case the goods are damaged and you want to claim on the insurance.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/prohibited-goods-UK

ICBM

I was just asked this at the Post Office today as well.

I've never sent pedals etc with batteries in anyway - it puts up the postage weight, and cost if you're unlucky and it takes it over a threshold to the next weight up. A lot of buyers will be using them on pedalboards, and if they don't open up the pedal to take the battery out it can then leak eventually. (The same applies to new pedals, in fact.) The ones who want to use batteries are obviously familiar with how to fit batteries so it shouldn't be an issue either .

There is certainly a real issue with lithium-ion type batteries catching fire. Several recent aircraft incidents including the Boeing 787 problems and at least one major cargo plane crash have been caused by them. Given how common they are in almost all portable electronics these days it's set to be a real problem for shipping companies. Not having them connected to the electronics doesn't necessarily help either.

littlethoughts

Yes It's slightly worrying, although the wording is the strangest part:

"when not sent with, or contained in/connected to an electronic device, are prohibited". So essentially as long as you aren't sending just batteries, you are fine. For example, when buying a digital camera with a rechargeable battery or whatever, it's fine. But not if you bought a replacement

Indeed, I always try and minimise weight by taking out batteries. But then, I never leave batteries in my pedals. Everything is done off a power supply, and if it weren't id be worried that I'd look inside a pedal for the first time in years and find a mess of battery acid...

boogieman

You can post batteries if they're in the sealed original packing.

Myranda

<work hat>

Lithium ion batteries are restricted items as power the IATA and ADR Dangerous Goods Regulations Class 9 if you must know (can't remember the UN number off the top of my head).

Trouble is few people know the mass of lithium inside and that's what the DGR are based on...

Brand new items shipping with batteries are unrestricted as are cells which aren't connected... but good luck shipping those without a proper DGR declatrion - and don't write one if you don't have the books, there's a 2 year prison sentance plus unlimited fine for false declarations.

Post office has probably had it's knuckles rapped for transporting stuff without valid declarations...

Of course I doubt very much that the peeps in the post office have any training at all in the DGR so it's safer to ensure they don't go to jail by just saying no to all such things...

Of course you could easily pop a can of M.E.K in a box and post that and they're unlikely to know it's extremely flammable and should be marked with a 3.1 sticker either...

</work hat>

Myranda

Here's this year's update (not the full details though they're online) http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/Lithium-Battery-Guidance-2013-V1.1.pdf

IATA is air, but if you write an IATA DG cert it'll be valid for any road based one unless it has to go through tunnels...

ICBM

Myranda said:

Brand new items shipping with batteries are unrestricted as are cells which aren't connected...

Ironically I'm pretty sure that the report into the Dubai 747 cargo crash said it was caused by a consignment of *new* lithium-ion batteries.

littlegreenman

I shipped a digital camera to Canada last Christmas (lithium-ion), fully declared on the manifest label. No probs at all.

EricTheWeary

I got asked about this last week at the post office as well. I was posting a pedal and thinking ' f$#@ I really can't be sure there is no battery in there.' Still, it arrived without blowing up.

bertie

I think there's an extra charge

EricTheWeary

bertie;85266" said:

I think there's an extra charge

8-}

digitalscream

I seem to recall an explosives expert saying that modern Li-Ion batteries were "essentially unexploded bombs", back when it was fashionable to talk about the TSA on all the security blogs. I suspect this may have something to do with it.

The problem that lies down that line of thinking is that the choices are:

- make all Li-Ion batteries illegal (thus crippling the consumer electronics industry)

- make it illegal to send Li-Ion batteries through the postal service (thus crippling the consumer electronics retail industry)

- come up with a totally non-sensical compromise which helps no-one

Guess which they picked.