Following reports of hoverboard fires around the country, the U.S. Postal Service will only ship the recreational gizmos by ground transportation, slower than other services.
Hoverboards are skateboards without wheels, first depicted in the films Back To The Future Part II and Back To The Future Part III. In real life, they are self-balancing scooters with wheels at each end of the board.
On Wednesday, December 16, 2015, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a stern warning about hoverboards, and said it is investigating the problem “to find the root cause of the fire hazard, how much of a risk it might present, and to provide consumers with answers as soon as possible.”
“Every consumer who is riding a hoverboard, who purchased one to give as a gift during the holidays, or who is thinking about buying one deserves to know if there is a safety defect.”
Later in the day, the USPS announced the restrictions:
Out of an abundance of caution and in line with major retailers and the airline industry, the Postal Service is limiting the domestic shipping of mailable motorized balance boards, or hover boards, that contain lithium batteries.
Effective immediately and until further notice, USPS will ship hover boards using only Standard Post/Parcel Select. This product travels on ground transportation, due to the potential safety hazards of lithium batteries.
Also effective immediately, mailable motorized balance boards, or hover boards, will not be sent in international mail shipments, and are also prohibited in shipments to or from APO, FPO, and DPO destinations.
The Postal Service has long-time established rules and regulations regarding the mailing of lithium batteries both domestically and internationally.
USPS rules and regulations pertaining to lithium batteries can be found at the following links:
- For Domestic Mail: http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_026.htm
- For International Mail: http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c6_004.htm
Note: these rules do not yet include the limitations and prohibitions on hover boards.
