Recently, legislation entitled “Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act,” was passed by Congress that prevents shippers/mailers from using the U.S. Postal Service® to send tobacco related products. Specifically, the U.S. Postal Service can no longer be used to ship any package containing smokeless tobacco or cigarettes.
Cigarettes, including roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco are considered “nonmailable” matter, unless the shipment falls within certain exceptions. For instance, cigars are not prohibited and may still be shipped and mailed without impact from PACT. Other exceptions to this law include:
- Alaska/Hawaii: Shipment entirely within Alaska or Hawaii.
- Business/Regulatory Purposes: Shipments transmitted between verified and authorized tobacco industry businesses for business purposes, or between such businesses and federal or state agencies or regulatory purposes.
- Certain Individuals: Infrequent, lightweight shipments mailed by age-verified adult individuals.
- Consumer Testing/Public Health: Shipments of cigarettes sent by verified and authorized manufacturers to verified adult smokers age 21 and over for consumer testing purposed, and shipments sent by federal agencies to consumers for public health purposes.
Learn more about the PACT Act from the USPS site.
