The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has joined other federal agencies to crack down on the sale and distribution of vaping products not authorized for U.S. sale by the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). The multi-agency federal crackdown has intensified under the Trump administration, despite President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to “save vaping.”
The USPS has terminated business-to-business (B2B) shipping privileges for major American vape distributor Demand Vape, and sent letters to other distributors threatening similar action if they use B2B services to ship any product not specifically authorized for U.S. sale by the FDA.
The CTP has authorized 39 “e-cigarette products,” but what that amounts to in reality is nine currently available vaping devices and one to six tobacco- or menthol-flavored refills for each. The agency has not authorized any open-system (refillable) products, bottled e-liquids, modern disposable vapes, or any product in flavors other than tobacco or menthol.
The Demand Vape ban, first reported by Reuters, was initiated after New York City legal officials contacted USPS with evidence of illegal shipments by the Buffalo, NY-based company. New York City has filed multiple lawsuits against Demand Vape and its related companies, accusing them (and other vape distributors) of mail and wire fraud, and violations of various New York City, New York State, and federal statutes.
Demand Vape told Reuters it is contesting the USPS decision.
Following the December 2020 passage of the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, the USPS banned residential U.S. Mail delivery of all vaping products, but some companies were granted permission to continue using USPS business-to-business (B2B) shipping services.
The 2020 law--commonly called the vape mail ban---also inserted all vaping products into the federal Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, imposing strict tax reporting requirements on online sellers. But the primary damage for online buyers and vape shops was caused by the mail ban.
Unlike the tobacco companies, which have developed their own private shipping networks to deliver products to retail stores, small vape businesses depended on postal delivery of the products their customers prefer. This became especially important as the major private delivery services---FedEx, UPS and DHL---also eliminated vape product shipping.
With the USPS now interpreting the 2020 law to mean that only FDA-authorized products can travel via its B2B service, vape shops will face further challenges in making popular products available for customers.
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Because of declining cigarette sales, state governments in the U.S. and countries around the world are looking to vapor products as a new source of tax revenue.
The legal age to buy e-cigarettes and other vaping products varies around the world. The United States recently changed the legal minimum sales age to 21.
A list of vaping product flavor bans and online sales bans in the United States, and sales and possession bans in other countries.
