Omnibus Vape Mail Ban

There is a lot of drama between the United States Congress and President Trump regarding Covid-19 aid right now. They are still arguing and legislating about the size of stimulus checks. However, they have all agreed on one bill already - the Omnibus Stimulus bill. The bill was supposed to focus on alleviating the economic impact of Covid-19. However, there were many riders, or unrelated provisions, tacked onto the bill.

One of the riders was a set of rules similar to S1253 - The Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act. In short, what S1253 proposed was harsher restrictions on shipment of vape products. USPS would no longer be allowed to ship vape products after 120 days.

Vape products would be regulated regardless of whether or not they contain nicotine. Due to that note, the rider appears to affect electronic vaping devices as well as CBD vaping devices as well.

USPS has 120 days to determine the exact regulations regarding the shipment of vapes. However, there are some restrictions defined in the Omnibus Stimulus itself. Aside from banning vape mail from the USPS, online vape retailers have a lot more paperwork they have to keep track of.

Online retailers must:

• Register with the U.S. Attorney General
• Register with federal government and tobacco tax administrators of each state they sell products in
• Collect all necessary taxes (local and federal) and add tax stamps to all products sold
• Report a list of transactions in each state to each state’s tax administrator, including the customers, their addresses, and the products they purchased
• Use a commercially available database to verify customer age
• Use a shipping service that collects an adult signature on delivery
• Maintain a 5 year record for any delivery that was interrupted because the package carrier believed the customer was violating the PACT (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking) Act

USPS has generally been the cheapest option for online retailers. Fedex has also announced it will eliminate shipping of vapor products beginning March 2021, so it appears other retailers may refuse to carry vape mail as well - if for no other reason, it would require a lot more checking than they would.

Generally will switch to other carriers that aren’t Fedex or USPS, but that will hurt sales. Post-PMTA and after Covid, there are less brick and mortar stores, which people should not be visiting during Covid anyways. Vapers in remote areas may not be even serviced by other carriers who deem those areas too unprofitable to service. (USPS is legally required to deliver mail to all parts of the US, even remote areas.) Lastly, other carrier services will cost more.

Sadly, bills like this were bound to happen. Governments will regulate, and with the sheer amount of newsworthy things happening in both the government and for individuals, it is unsurprising that very few people outside of vapers will even notice this rider.

References:

Call to Action - Keep Vape Mail Legal - Reject S. 1253

Trump Signs Budget Bill with Vape Mail Ban Included