Originally Posted by
BobG
UPS requires a "dangerous goods contract" to ship any lithium battery over 300 Watt Hours. In other words, you can't just drop it off at the UPS store. It has to be packaged by a certified hazmat shipper with the computer software to generate the shipping papers ...
+1 I remember calling UPS or FedEx once trying to ship a battery and the guy on the phone said "Yeah I can ship that" and I said "No you can't, I thank you for your willingness to help but this is a Hazmat and it can't be shipped by normal means I need the Hazmat department for that" Someone without the morale scruples and love for my FedEx/UPS drivers (they are generally quite friendly and good folks at least the ones I have seen regularly, I am sure there are jerks) would have just said yeah get me a label and I will toss it in a box and hopefully nothing happens but if it does it could be quite catastrophic. They make it really hard to get it shipped. I got certified by both companies and still had issues getting batteries out. I remember calling back after they sent it back for the third time and I asked what was wrong I followed your protocols to the T and she said "I don't know but we can't take it" I was fuming so I called the company I was trying to ship to and explained the situation and they said that is fine just properly dispose of it and we will figure it out. \
Someone needs to work on a safe and efficient way to ship batteries that isn't such a major hassle but also is not as dangerous to people. It would make life so much easier.