[pct-l] stove confusion

[Lance Marshall]

Bill,

You are correct that canisters may be mailed through the US Post Office
provided that it is sent via ground mail and is marked ORM-D (Other
Regulated Material - Domestic).

 

THE 4 ounce limit bantered about for the last couple of years is a
Department of Transportation (DOT) limit which applies to private carriers
such as UPS, FedEx, Reddaway Trucking, etc.  The US Postal Service is
governed by a different section of the Federal Code and is not subject to
DOT rules.

 

Here's the story about the 4 ounce 'revelation'.

 

            Loss of HazMat Exemption Raising Shipping Costs for Small Fuel
Canisters 

As published in OIA Web News 8/12/2009 

Retailers may want to bulk up their orders of 4-fluid-ounce
isobutane/propane fuel canisters in the wake of a recent Department of
Transportation (DOT) decision that raises the cost of small shipments
dramatically. They may want to reassess their online sales of the popular
canisters for the same reason. 

Shipping some isobutane/propane fuel canisters direct to consumers has
gotten much more expensive after DOT concluded the industry is not complying
with the agency's 2002 interpretation of hazmat regulations. In an October,
2002 interpretation letter to a manager at Cascade Design's Mountain Safety
Research (MSR), DOT said that "a mixture of liquefied compressed gases in a
container of not more than four (4) fluid ounces capacity" could be exempted
from hazardous material packaging and labeling requirements except when
shipped by air, in part because the small canisters qualified as a "consumer
commodity." This allowed fuel shipped in such containers to be reclassified
as "other regulated material -domestic," or OSM-D, which in turn allowed
FedEx, UPS and other carriers to waive hazmat fees. 

When a consumer tried to ship a canister containing 4 fluid ounces of gas to
Alaska by air earlier this year, however, a DOT inspector measured the
canister and found it could accommodate 6 fluid ounces. Manufacturers say
they've been shipping 4 fluid ounces of gas in containers of at least 6
fluid ounces to allow room for the gas to expand, but DOT has determined the
larger canisters are not OSM-D compliant. 

DOT has since inspected several manufacturers and retailers and ordered them
to start labeling the canisters as a hazardous material. That will add
$22.50 in hazmat fees to every case of 4-fluid-ounce MSR IsoPro canisters
shipped through FedEx or UPS, according to Cascade Designs. That's the same
fee the small package delivery services charge the company for a case of
8-fluid-ounce IsoPro canisters, which never had ORM-D status. 

Manufacturers are now working with Outdoor Industry Association to persuade
DOT to reexamine their interpretation. In the meantime, dealers ordering
cases of canisters containing 4-ounces of fuel instead of 8-ounces to avoid
hazmat fees, need to reconsider how they do business. Cascade Designs said
it may make sense for their dealers to up the size of their orders to ensure
the smaller canisters travel by freight. That's because Cascade Design's
freight providers charge a single hazmat fee whether a shipment contains a
single canister or several cases of fuel, said a Cascade Designs
spokesperson. 

There is a silver lining here for brick-and-mortar retailers as consumers
buying canisters online will now incur the hazmat fees. In many instances,
it will be less expensive for them to buy those canisters from local stores
that have been able to spread the hazmat fee across larger shipments. REI
has already stopped shipping butane fuel canisters direct to consumers and
is urging customers to instead buy them at its stores.

 

Hope this is useful.