Law Prohibits Cigarette Shipments Via Mail (VIDEO)

Jane Park  

Dodging tobacco taxes by buying cigarettes through the mail is no longer an option for smokers. The federal act, called Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking – or PACT – went into effect Tuesday. It prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from mailing tobacco products.

     The PACT Act especially impacts tobacco vendors in the Seneca Indian Nation, which rely on mail orders to bring in most of the profit.

     Although a federal New York judge put the law on temporary hold for Seneca businesses, owners are already bracing for the impact.

     An employee from Red Nation Tobacco in Salamanca said the store was cleaning house and getting ready to close its doors Tuesday afternoon. The convenience store counted on mail orders for nearly 90 percent of its business.

     As of Tuesday, some online tobacco vendors also stopped taking mail orders.

     The U.S. Postal Service will lose about $30 million to $40 million from the new mailing regulations. But a spokesperson said the loss shouldn't result in increased postage rates for customers.

     “There's gonna be a learning curve with this for our employees and for our general public. But I think more of the intent is the commercial mailing of cigarettes that is really probably the greatest impact,” said USPS spokesperson Karen Mazurkiewicz.

     There are exceptions to the PACT Act for some shipments of tobacco, including business-to-business, and small transactions between individuals.

     Shipments entirely within Alaska and Hawaii are exempt, as well as shipments to APO/FPO/DPO addresses 10 ounces or lighter.