What Types Of Items Is A Person Not Allowed To Ship? By A Nutt At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

People ship items all over the world, retail and specialty stores now have the ability to take orders over the phone or online and ship their wares worldwide. There are some things that can’t be shipped via one of the common carriers, many are common sense, but a few may come as a surprise.

Anything considered Toxic or Infectious

This encompasses a pretty wide array of chemicals and fluids including poisons, bodily fluids, pesticides and noxious gasses. The reasons behind not being able to ship these items is fairly obvious – having any contact with any of them can cause physical illness or in some cases death. No shipping company is willing to put the lives or health of their employees at risk by allowing the shipment of toxic materials.

Explosives or Volatile Materials

No carrier would be any more willing to handle explosives than they would toxic materials. This can include simple fireworks and gun ammunition, flares, dynamite, hand grenades, etc. Explosives can do just that – explode, which depending upon the strength, can do serious damage to all people and property within close proximity to the area causing injury or even death. Even if the package doesn’t explode, many of the chemicals involved in manufacturing explosive are caustic and if they come in contact with the skin or are breathed in can cause a myriad of health problems.

Corrosive Agents

Acids, some cleaners, lye, bleach, drain cleaners, etc. Any and all of these agents can do damage if touched, breathed in or ingested. If not properly packaged many corrosives can eat their way right through the outer layers of the packing material and cause injury to anyone or anything that they come in contact with.

Illegal Drugs

This should be a no-brainer really, illegal drugs are, as the name implies, illegal – to possess, use and ship. Many people have tried and gotten away with shipping illegal drugs in one fashion or another, whether it was hidden inside something inside the package or just simply slipped through the cracks, but attempting to ship illegal drugs is certainly a very bad idea. If you attempt to ship illegal drugs and you get caught, there will be very serious consequences – most likely including a long stay in the penitentiary.

Body Parts or Human Remains

Human remains do not keep well, which makes them a less than wonderful candidate for common carrier shipping. Remains are similar to any other meat and will begin to decompose rapidly outside of a refrigerated setting, so if a loved one passes away while on a trip out of state, don’t think that you’ll be able to use the USPS to send them back home for a proper burial.

Cold Hard Cash

You can’t ship money through the mail or any other type of courier for the simple reason that it’s impossible to accurately insure. If the postal service allowed you to ship and insure cash every scam artist under the sun would be insuring empty packages for one thousand, ten thousand or one million dollars and say that the package was loaded with crisp one hundred dollar bills and expecting that the carrier hand them the money when the package turned up missing.

Any Accelerant or Flammable Material

You can’t ship gasoline, kerosene, turpentine, paint strippers or other types of solvents. Any of these chemicals are quick to ignite in the presence of extreme heat or open flame. Having them travel on a rough road in the back of a one hundred and fifty degree enclosed trailer is most certainly a recipe for disaster, as is throwing it around in a one hundred and fifty degree warehouse. If these chemicals do catch fire, the fire will spread quickly and could be very difficult to put out, possibly causing innumerable injuries and quite a bit of property damage.

Individual common carriers and freight companies may have a list of additional items that they refuse to ship, including prescription drugs, certain medical supplies, some food stuffs and many types of weapons. So if you are considering shipping an item and are unclear as to whether or not there would be cause for concern with that item, it’s best to contact the carrier you plan on using to find out for sure.

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