USPS bans lithium batteries

Published June 13, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Kaleb Snay
35th Fighter Wing public affairs

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- Servicemembers and civilians may experience difficulty mailing electronics containing lithium batteries at Misawa Air Base, Japan because of a recent restriction to international commercial carriers.

As of May 16, 2012, many items containing lithium batteries such as laptops, iPads, iPods, Kindles, cellular phones and more are no longer being mailed to and from overseas United States Postal Service stations.

There has been several safety problems involved with lithium batteries overheating in airlines, said Master Sgt. David Braun, 35th Communications Squadron post master. This is a problem because the USPS uses commercial carriers. If there are lithium batteries on board, it could put customers safety in danger.

There are many other ways to ship items containing lithium batteries for example cargo carriers like FedEx, UPS inc. or an off-base establishment typically accept mailing lithium batteries because there are no safety issues, said Braun.

For more information about the lithium battery restriction, call the base post office at 226-3492.