[NTLK] Followup on international eMate shipment

[Dan]

You do understand it correctly.  The clerk was overzealous in his denial
of the package.  Li-ion batteries are another story but NiMh aren't a
problem, nor are NiCad or alkaline batteries.  I suspect is a new guy,
or someone that, as you said, assume that every laptop now has Li-ion.

I agree it is strange that they don't want to ship Li-ion yet allow them
on flights in all devices.  And if they had a one of the samsung phones
that burst into flames when charging (which many people plug in on the
flight)?  :0  Yet they don't want to ship them in a uncharged state.
Yep I smell government bureaucracy here.

I would be logging a complaint with the post office.

-Dan

On 4/27/2017 8:09 PM, NewtonTalk wrote:

> 
> If I understand http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_026.htm correctly,
> this restriction applies to batteries that contain liquids. This document
> explicitly states in section 348.22 (Mailable Corrosives)
> that common household dry-cell batteries such as sizes AA, AAA, C, D, etc.
> are generally not regulated as hazardous materials and are therefore
> mailable. This is exactly what the eMate battery consists of: Four common
> household dry-cell AA size batteries. There seems to be some special
> regulation for Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries in sea transportation, but
> this wouldn't apply in my case since I sent (or better tried to send) the
> eMate by air mail. 
> 
> I am aware that shipping companies like DHL, UPS, FedEx etc. will transport
> even devices containing Lithium-Ion batteries without any hassle. But at
> least in Germany they charge so much for international shipping that hardly
> anybody interested in Newton or eMate hardware would be willing to shell out
> so much money.
> 
> Obviously, 850 passengers sitting in an all-economy class Airbus A380, each
> equipped with at least one device containing a Li-Ion battery, is perfectly
> safe. But four innocent standard AA size Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries in
> the luggage compartment of the same A380 are so incredibly dangerous that
> they cannot be tolerated? Hard to believe. Especially considering the fact
> that I have been sending rebuilt batteries and devices containing rebuilt
> batteries to the US since the year 2000, using land, sea and air
> transportation. What a strange world.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Frank