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law stops smoke from being sent to deployed troops?

vegassparkyvegassparky Posts: 365 ✭
in General Discussion
from what i was just told from my mailman, the post office will not send tobacco products to deployed troops any more. i guess it was some law that took effect june 29. someone tell me the mailman is wrong. it is an attemp to stop underage smokers from ordering cigerretes online. anybody shed some light on this?

Comments

  • sightunseensightunseen Posts: 2,130 ✭✭
    Doesn't sound like it computes, because members of the service are of legal age (if there are exceptions, then it must be a very minor percentage). I am aware that the post office won't ship cigarettes in the US anymore because of the reason you stated. From what I understand, cigars are exempt from this rule.
  • stephen_hannibalstephen_hannibal Posts: 4,317 ✭
    Uhhh that makes no sense. You have to be 18 to enlist i.e. not underage.
  • interpiminterpim Posts: 146
    the new law is for cigarettes only, cigars are exempt. and military members can be under 18 but must have parents permission
  • vegassparkyvegassparky Posts: 365 ✭
    my friend said there is a story on verizon.net news. he read all tobacco products are being stopped. im gonna go read it
  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402 ✭
    From NY Daily News )http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/10/2010-08-10_new_law_prevents_mailing_cigarettes_to_us_troops_overseas_in_iraq_and_afghanista.html

    U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are not getting cigarettes being mailed to them by friends and family because of a new law meant to curb smuggling and underage sales through the mail, according to The Associated Press.

    A law went into effect June 29 that mandates that all packages with tobacco be sent through a specific type of U.S. Postal Service shipping that requires a signature for delivery. Even then, that type of shipping does not deliver to many military addresses abroad.

    It has left friends and family, who want to send care packages to their loved ones, fuming.

    "I would hope they change it," military wife April Woods said of the policy.

    Woods, 26, said she would frequently mail her husband, a soldier stationed in Afghanistan, snacks, pictures, drink mixes and Marlboros.

    She said her husband doesn't have easy access to stores on the bases and doesn't carry around much cash while stationed abroad.

    "It's just ridiculous that they take so much away from our soldiers," Woods added.

    The law was passed to prevent minors from buying cigarettes through the mail and to curb trafficking by requiring a signature.

    UPS and FedEx currently prohibit consumer-to-consumer shipping of tobacco, so the only option for families sending care packages is the U.S. Postal Service.

    Lynn Becker, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl, who championed the bill, said the effect on the soldiers was unintentional. She said the senator is looking for an alternative way to ensure troops receive tobacco products.

    Meanwhile, Susan Baldwin, the mother of two sailors in the Navy — one of whom is overseas — is frustrated she cannot send her son coffee and his favorite brand of menthol smokes.

    "My kids are my life," said Baldwin, of Fairview, Tenn. "It breaks my heart that the two things he's asking for, I can't give him one of them."


    Seems Congress can't get anything right these days; you'd think they'd learn from the law of unintended consequences and just sit on their hands or recess.
  • vegassparkyvegassparky Posts: 365 ✭
    seems the mailman was telling the truth. kinda seems the post office isnt sending packages to some bases. because they need a signature to verify your legally 18.
  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402 ✭
    Meh; just tell them it's hobby supplies
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Looks like Congress/Senate is finally accomplishing what Hitler and Stalin were unable to do. I was born in a free country, I wish we could get it back!
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • One2gofstOne2gofst Posts: 583 ✭
    It's a good thing the govt. has our best interests at heart. Now we can stop our men and women from enjoying a legal product. Next we can sleep soundly at night knowing you can't get a cell phone without showing ID. How'd we ever get along taking care of ourselves?
  • Alex_SvensonAlex_Svenson Posts: 1,224 ✭✭✭
    The law does not include cigars. As usual, the media and as it sounds, the people actually trying to enforce the law have not read it correctly. Cigars can be shipped via the mail. Be cautious reading articles of people reporting on the law and always read the law itself. There is a lot of irresponsible journalism out there.
  • cholmes8310cholmes8310 Posts: 1,585
    Alex Svenson:
    The law does not include cigars. As usual, the media and as it sounds, the people actually trying to enforce the law have not read it correctly. Cigars can be shipped via the mail. Be cautious reading articles of people reporting on the law and always read the law itself. There is a lot of irresponsible journalism out there.
    same problem someone here had when they wanted to ship cigars and the box had to be repacked and the USPS flipped. That law only pertains to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Cigars are still exempt.
  • docbp87docbp87 Posts: 3,521 ✭
    And this kind of misinterpretation by morons in the media or at the post office is exactly why my shipments are always listed as art supplies.
  • bigbgballzbigbgballz Posts: 283 ✭
    If thats trie ,just another crap, if you can give your life at age of 18 you should be able to do anything a grown man can do,drink,smoke and what not,people in army should have and lots and lots of priviliges, gotta keep the moral high!
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    Alex Svenson:
    The law does not include cigars. As usual, the media and as it sounds, the people actually trying to enforce the law have not read it correctly. Cigars can be shipped via the mail. Be cautious reading articles of people reporting on the law and always read the law itself. There is a lot of irresponsible journalism out there.
    you can say that again
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    One2gofst:
    It's a good thing the govt. has our best interests at heart. Now we can stop our men and women from enjoying a legal product. Next we can sleep soundly at night knowing you can't get a cell phone without showing ID. How'd we ever get along taking care of ourselves?
    Sometimes I think all the government should do is make park benches. That's it, nothing else.
  • rossdavey2rossdavey2 Posts: 979
    Russ55:
    One2gofst:
    It's a good thing the govt. has our best interests at heart. Now we can stop our men and women from enjoying a legal product. Next we can sleep soundly at night knowing you can't get a cell phone without showing ID. How'd we ever get along taking care of ourselves?
    Sometimes I think all the government should do is make park benches. That's it, nothing else.
    I don't think they should even do that. At out local dog park the put the benches as far away from the shade as they could get. So its sit on the **** covered ground or bake in the 98-104 heat.
  • fla-gypsyfla-gypsy Posts: 3,023 ✭✭
    Yeah that is a good one, they cannot have tobacco if they are underage but they can carry lethal weapons and get blasted into smithereens. This is just another example of some liberal "Pleasure Police" Congressperson who thinks he/she is our nanny that needs to be booted from office with the rest of them. The lamestream media never gets anything right.
  • jship079jship079 Posts: 621 ✭
    Correct me if I am wrong but under the PACT (prevent all cigarette traffic) act that you guys are refering to does stop the sale of some cigerrellos, pipe tabbaco, and some flavored and machine made cigars nothing most of would smoke but it is certenly not just cigarettes.
  • ThewelderThewelder Posts: 682 ✭✭
    No no no no the law is only for cigarettes, Cigars are specifically left out of the law. It is only for RYO, cigarettes and smokeless. You can still send cigars
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    rossdavey2:
    Russ55:
    One2gofst:
    It's a good thing the govt. has our best interests at heart. Now we can stop our men and women from enjoying a legal product. Next we can sleep soundly at night knowing you can't get a cell phone without showing ID. How'd we ever get along taking care of ourselves?
    Sometimes I think all the government should do is make park benches. That's it, nothing else.
    I don't think they should even do that. At out local dog park the put the benches as far away from the shade as they could get. So its sit on the **** covered ground or bake in the 98-104 heat.
    Ha, that's terrible. They should have left the installation to a private contractor.
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