Is It Illegal to Mail Cigarettes to a Family Member

Gifts in the Mail service: What's Legal and Illegal?

Thanks to the pandemic, you're probably changing your holiday souvenir-giving plans.

Your family gathering may exist smaller than usual, but you still desire to give gifts to family members and friends who won't be in that location. So you're realizing that you lot'll need to postal service the gifts or take them picked up for delivery.

If y'all're smart, y'all've also fabricated plans to practise information technology as shortly equally possible. The U.S. Postal service and private delivery companies like FedEx say they anticipate record parcel volume this holiday season and are urging people to human action quickly.

Only in your haste, it might exist wise to call back about whether the things you lot intend to ship are actually legal. Most of the items we typically give as presents are obviously legal to ship – clothing, toys, books, etc. But there are some commodities that are less plainly legal and may be subject to restrictions.

Let'due south take a look at some of them.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

Take liquor, for example. Information technology might be tradition that you always give Uncle Charlie a canteen of his dearest Quondam Sawbones for Christmas, but don't recollect you tin can just bundle up a well-cushioned bottle of his option booze and ship it. The Postal service won't ship booze — menses. FedEx and UPS will ship liquor, but just from licensed distributors or manufacturers.

Liquor aircraft beyond state lines is governed by a maze of country and local laws, which besides come into play when you lot're thinking of mailing booze. It'due south much easier to ship liquor in-state, then if Uncle Charlie is in another country the best option is to order Sometime Sawbones online from a liquor store near him and have them or a service like Drizly deliver it.

Firearms are restricted in many ways. If there's a gun you envision as the perfect souvenir for your cousin Clive, information technology may not be as elementary as but sticking it in the mail to him. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the sender and receiver of a firearm must generally be a Federal Firearms Licensee, so yous would have to accommodate the delivery through them. ATF does provide an exception, notwithstanding, for long guns (rifles and shotguns). If yous're a non-licensee, you tin send a long gun (unloaded, of course) to another person in your state or to a licensee in another state. ATF also says that handguns cannot be put in the mail service. They must be transported by common carrier.

Thinking of sending a box of fancy French cigarettes to the unrepentant smoker in the family? Forget it. Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are restricted items and can only exist mailed in limited circumstances. Cigars, on the other manus, are not restricted. Go figure.

Living Creatures

Desire to send a cute rabbit to Aunt Eleanor for Christmas? Don't even remember about it. Neither the Postal Service nor any commercial delivery service will handle pets or any warm-blooded mammals except in express circumstances.

Simply if you lot'd like to transport fish, amphibians, reptiles, or even bees, you're in luck.

Of course, restrictions apply, and so let's look at a couple of them.

If, for instance, you'd like to ship a small, common cold-blooded creature via the Post, yous can do so. Only it must non require whatever nutrient, water, or attending during its transport or create "obnoxious odors."

Or permit's say you'd like to requite nature-loving Grandad Chuck the gift of bees. The Postal service and UPS both allow ground shipment of bees, subject field to their packaging requirements and prominent disclosure almost the contents, but if air transport is required, the Postal service says it can only exist a queen honeybee with up to eight attendant honeybees. We don't know why, but it certainly smacks of regal influence.

Or perhaps you'd bask nothing more than sending a snake (non-poisonous, of grade) to delight your strange but lovable niece, Elvira. If so, be forewarned: Information technology'due south hard. Neither the Mail nor UPS will touch snakes of whatsoever kind. FedEx is the merely carrier that will transport snakes, merely they require a "live reptile certification" that can only exist obtained after you complete a series of tests. But take centre! There are third-party ophidian shippers like this one who accept already passed FedEx's test and would exist happy to give you lot a quote.

And, Finally, a Few More Things

• Perfume is another touchy article for the mail. There are two types of perfume – alcohol-based and oil-based – and the Mail will non send alcohol-based perfume internationally or mailed domestically using air transportation. Within the U.S., the Postal Service will ship either kind via ground transport. UPS and FedEx consider perfume "dangerous goods" and will send information technology nether a contract or if special measures are taken.
• The U.Southward. Postal Service is the only visitor that ships cremated remains, but y'all must follow their strict rules. You must utilize USPS's Priority Mail service Express and its Cremated Remains Kit to ensure secure packaging.
• It'due south legally risky for individuals to send medicine or drugs through the mail. Medicines are controlled substances and are strictly regulated; prescription medications can but be mailed past distributors who are registered with the Drug Enforcement Assistants. Meanwhile, mailers and shippers alike must know the contents of the parcel and treat them accordingly.
• Fifty-fifty though cannabis has go legal in many states, it's however confronting the law to mail it – even inside a state where it's legal. Why? Because pot is still illegal at the federal level and the Postal Service is a federal entity. Private carriers won't transport pot, either.

If you're not certain about the legality of aircraft the gift yous have in mind, information technology might be a good idea to bank check the rules that accept been set by the Mail service and the private carriers:

• U.S. Postal Service
• FedEx
• UPS

Happy gifting!

Related Resources:

• What'southward the Punishment for Mailing Explosives? (FindLaw's Blotter)
• Are 'Postal service-Guild Brides' Illegal? (FindLaw'due south Law and Daily Life)
• Is It a Criminal offense to Mail White Powder Even Though It's Harmless? (FindLaw's Blotter)
• Is It Illegal to Postal service Poop? (FindLaw'due south Legally Weird)

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Source: https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/gifts-in-the-mail-whats-legal-and-illegal/

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