How's this?
Posted on 10/25/2005 6:59:09 AM PDT by SheLion
ALBANY, N.Y. - The world's largest shipping carrier, UPS Inc., will stop delivering cigarettes to individuals in the United States under an agreement announced Monday with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
The agreement is the latest in federal and state efforts to combat the sale of under-taxed cigarette and to fight underage smoking. Most under-taxed or untaxed cigarettes are sold by Indian tribes, where the taxation of sales to non-Indians is disputed.
Monday's agreement leaves only the U.S. Postal Service among major carriers to continue to deliver cigarettes to individuals, Spitzer said. He called that practice "an embarrassment." Spitzer continues to negotiate with Federal Express, but they are thought to handle a small amount of the trade, said Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette.
Despite a new policy adopted by the Postal Service in September to refuse delivery of illegal products, the federal service allows employees to accept packages suspected of containing under-taxed cigarettes, Spitzer said.
"Internet cigarette traffickers are increasingly using the federal mail system to distribute their wares," Spitzer said. He said the Postal Service "clearly" has the authority to refuse to deliver cigarettes to individual smokers. "It is an embarrassment that major private companies have stopped carrying contraband cigarettes, but the federal government continues to accept them," said Spitzer, a Democrat running for governor. "Congress needs to step in and stop this practice immediately."
The Postal Service can't stop delivery even if it suspects a package clearly marked as coming from a retailer contains untaxed cigarettes, said Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan.
"There could be souvenirs in the package. We don't know because we can't see inside the package," he said.
Instead, the Postal Service will watch for packages if advised by law enforcement agencies. They also will alert law enforcement agencies when the service is shipping those packages, he said.
"It's up to law enforcement agencies to enforce the law," McKiernan said.
He said private companies have contracts with firms that regularly use their services which identifies materials being shipped. The Postal Service doesn't.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's illegal," said Audrey Silk of New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment and a Libertarian Party candidate for New York City mayor. "They are exploiting children ... when you employ `for the children' you can get the public to do anything."
Earlier this year, DHL banned cigarette deliveries to individuals nationwide and the nation's largest credit card companies stopped processing payments for cigarette sales.
Spitzer said Internet and mail-order cigarette retailers violate federal, state and local laws governing taxes and underage smoking. Sales to minors also violate federal wire fraud and mail fraud laws, he said.
The agreement with Spitzer matches a nationwide policy at UPS aimed at avoiding the difficulty of complying with a "patchwork" of different state laws enacted in 28 states since 2003, said Steve Holmes, spokesman for the global company based in Atlanta. He said he had no estimate of how much business would be lost.
"Regardless of that issue, we believe it's a prudent business decision and we want to do what's right, of course, by the laws, but we want to do right by our customers and we want to do right by our communities as well," he said.
Violations of the UPS policy would eventually result in suspension of service, according to the agreement.
States lose more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue from Internet tobacco sales, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Enforcement, however, has been difficult, even though in many states, including New York, the Internet sale of tobacco products is illegal.
What concerns me is that the Postal Service says they'll alert officials about packages they suspect and leave it up to them to enforce. So you could have a package delivered to you and law enforcement right behind it ready to arrest you.
This has us all half nuts. It sure is mind boggling how "they" are trampling all over a legal product though. One would think they had better things to do with their time.
I wish you'd get a different pic-that one lone tube going the wrong way bugs the hell out of me. :D
Someone else told me the same thing. Sowwie! :)
How's this?
Now it's bent!
That's ok. I won't be getting out my digital camera just to take one picture. You can live with this, right? heh! :)
Living the outlaw life: Freeing your inner outlaw By Claire Wolfe
And, I own an F-350 and a 20' Haulmark. Count me in on the "contraband" transportation enterprise.
"Gangsters: Purple Gang members hide their faces from the camera in May 1929 after they were arrested on charges of providing protection to Detroit narcotics dealers. Over the years gang members were accused of hijacking, bootlegging, extortion, kidnaping and murder."
[And to think, all they wanted was a legal drink...LOL!!]
On the Net:
Attorney General's Office: http://www.oag.state.ny.us
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: http://www.atf.gov
UPS: http://www.ups.com
What kind of negotiation has taken place, or are our new Federal "agreements" now just made up as we go along? What documents are supposed to substantiate this new policy, since this announcement has already been released to the national press? Are we to believe UPS has based this change upon a handshake agreement with Spitzer? One more minor detail, how can this agreement be reconciled with our Constitution?
Of course UPS hasn't been able to deliver cigarettes to Illinois, as far as I know, for about a year now. The list of states requiring delivery via "USPS Priority Mail" grows longer every time I order cigarettes. Looks like the states are running D.C. right now...... Garnet Dawn
This is pure crap.
Harassment. Discrimination. Invasion of privacy.
WHY do we smokers keep right on taking it again and again?!
I doubt that. since almost all of UPS business comes from deliveries of goods purchased in one state, delivered to another state - what will they have left if this decision extends to every product under the sun? just business to business deliveries? they will be about 1/10th their size if that happens.
"Samson Milde Shag is very close to Marlboro Mediums but it's a little pricey. I stuff my own for about $1.80 a pack."
Thanks for the tip. I really should quit smoking. I think I'll order the gadgets and makings anyway one of these days. They could come in handy in lots of situations.
I wonder why nobody has pinged Randall Flag to this thread yet? SheLion, is he your husband? He is a big promoter of stuff your owns here.
Never.
It is a tremendous source of taxes revenue. Users get addicted, then pay a ton of taxes to maintain the habit. Its more likely that meth will become legal before tobbaco is made illegal.
SheLion's the one who turned me onto RYO.
There you are! lol
Do you happen to know of anything besides Samson Milde Shag that resembles Marlboros? Joe says it is kind of pricey. You may have posted about this in the past, but I have forgotten what you said.
Well, I never really liked Marlboros, but my Wife smoked Marlboro lights and she switched to the Farmer's Gold light when I started rolling my own. I smoke the full flavor Farmer's Gold.
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