Senator McHugh bill would stop mail-order cigarettes at USPS
Rep. John McHugh has again introduced legislation that would outlaw the mailing of tobacco products through the US Postal Service.
If passed, the bill, H.R. 2932, would amend Title 39 of the United States Code, restricting the USPS from delivering certain tobacco products. The bill provides that cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own-tobacco are nonmailable matter, would not be carried or delivered by mail and would be disposed of as the Postal Service directs. It also imposes a penalty of USD 100,000 for each violation.
The bill, known as the Do Not Mail Tobacco Bill, is designed to protect children and has received strong endorsements from health groups and small-business organizations such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society and the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
All three major shipping companies — DHL, FedEx and UPS — have stopped shipping cigarettes nationwide and, as a result, all Internet tobacco vendors are using the USPS to make their deliveries. In addition, in January 2006, Philip Morris USA reached an agreement with a coalition of 37 attorneys general aimed at combating the sale of the company’s cigarettes over the Internet and through the mail. And, in March 2005, the attorneys general also announced that the major credit card companies had all agreed to stop processing credit card payments for the Internet retailers.
Matt Lavoie, press secretary to McHugh, said that McHugh had planned to attach the bill to postal reform legislation that was passed last year during conference negotiations but was unable to because a conference never took place. As a result, the bill never passed.
Other senators have introduced similar bills over the years, but they also never passed.
The USPS has said it has continued to ship cigarettes because, under postal law, packages are sealed against inspection unless there is probable cause.
