More than 400 vapor companies have urged FedEx to reverse a policy prohibiting shipping and receiving vaping products. The American Vaping Association (AVA) sent a letter to FedEx insisting that the delivery ban will prevent consumers from obtaining vapor devices and e-cigarettes they’ve used to stop smoking.
FedEx’s current rules, following the changes to the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, prevent shipping vaping products from business to business or directly to vapers.
“We rely on companies like FedEx to stock our store shelves and meet customer demand,” the letter reads. “Without the option to order vaping products at wholesale or ship their products to consumers, vape stores have seen their shipping options skyrocket in cost or evaporate entirely. If consumers are not able to access or afford these reduced-risk alternatives to cigarettes, they will be forced to turn back to combustible tobacco, which is far more dangerous and will have life-long consequences on their health.”
FedEx is doing a great disservice to American small businesses and consumers. They are playing right into the hands of Big Tobacco, which directly benefits from policies that make it more expensive for adult smokers to switch.
“FedEx is doing a great disservice to American small businesses and consumers,” said Greg Conley, president of the AVA. “They are playing right into the hands of Big Tobacco, which directly benefits from policies that make it more expensive for adult smokers to switch. Not only are vaping products legal and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but they are saving lives by keeping people off combustible cigarettes.”