USPS requirements for shipping hazardous materials

USPS has adopted a new mailing standard to increase visibility of Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) within the Postal network. This standard requires mailers to provide additional  information about their hazmat producst, such as adding “Hazmat” markings on the labels and separating Hazmat labels  from non-hazmat labels when tendering at the Postal Office.. To comply with this rule, International Bridge has launched the new USPS mailing requirements for all hazardous materials.

HAZMAT is any good or substance considered by the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) as potentially posing a risk to public safety, health, or environment during transportation. To check if your item falls in this category, and ensure appropriate labelling & safety packaging, you can use the official USPS look up tool, found on this link.

Note that it is the mailers responsibility to fully ensure that all HAZMAT shipments are labelled, packaged, and handed to the carrier in accordance to USPS regulations. Failure to comply with these rules may lead to serious legal penalties. 

How do I declare HAZMAT via blue?

When creating a label for package containing HAZMAT:

• Select  Hazmat Extra Service
• Add the Extra Service Code (ESC) that defines the type of hazardous material within the shipment. USPS Reference table below:

ESC	Description
810	Air Eligible Ethanol Package - (authorized fragrance and hand sanitizer shipments)
811	Class 1 – Toy Propellant/Safety Fuse Package
812	Hazardous Materials Class 3 - Package  (Hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, ethanol base products, flammable liquids etc.)
813	Class 7 – Radioactive Materials Package  (e.g., smoke detectors, minerals, gun sights, etc.)
814	Class 8 – Corrosive Materials Package - Air Eligible Corrosive Materials (certain cleaning or tree/weed killing compounds, etc.)
815	Class 8 – Nonspillable Wet Battery Package - Sealed lead acid batteries
816	Class 9 - Lithium Battery Marked – Ground Only Package - New Individual or spare lithium batteries (marked UN3480 or UN3090)
817	Class 9 - Lithium Battery – Returns Package - Used electronic devices containing or packaged with lithium batteries (markings required)
818	Class 9 - Lithium batteries, marked package - New electronic devices packaged with lithium batteries (marked UN3481 or UN3091)
819	Class 9 – Dry Ice Package (limited to 5 lbs. if shipped via Air)
820	Class 9 – Lithium batteries, unmarked package - New electronic devices installed or packaged with lithium batteries (no marking)
821	Class 9 – Magnetized Materials Package
822	Division 4.1 – Mailable flammable solids and Safety Matches Package - Safety/strike on box matches, book matches, mailable flammable solids
823	Division 5.1 – Oxidizers Package - Hydrogen peroxide (8 to 20% concentration)
824	Division 5.2 – Organic Peroxides Package
825	Division 6.1 – Toxic Materials Package (with an LD50 of 50 mg/kg or less) - (pesticides, herbicides, etc.)
826	Division 6.2 Hazardous Materials - Biological Materials (e.g., lab test kits, authorized COVID test kit returns)
827	Excepted Quantity Provision Package (e.g., small volumes of flammable liquids, corrosive, toxic or environmentally hazardous materials - marking required)
828	Ground Only Hazardous Materials (For items that are not listed, but are restricted to surface only)
829	ID8000 Consumer Commodity Package - Air Eligible ID8000 Consumer Commodity (Non-flammable aerosols, Flammable combustible liquids, Toxic Substance, Miscellaneous hazardous materials)
830	Lighters Package - Authorized Lighters
831	LTD QTY Ground Package - Aerosols, spray disinfectants, spray paint, hair spray, propane, butane, cleaning products, etc. - Fragrances, nail polish, nail polish remover, solvents, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, ethanol base products, etc. - Other limited quantity surface materials (cosmetics, cleaning products, paints, etc.)
832	Small Quantity Provision Package (markings required)

When it comes to labeling standards, in addition to the DOT HAZMAT Warning labels, here are the USPS label changes required for Ground & Air eligible packages:

1. 1. Change in the service indicator, top left of label.
   2. Add “HAZMAT – Surface Transportation Only” below the return address.
   3. “HAZMAT” immediately after the words “USPS TRACKING #” that is directly above the tracking barcode.

blue API users will need to specify Hazmat Extra Service code in a new field called hazmat_contents_code in a label request containing “HazMat” as an Extra service. 

blue has another new API which will list all of the defined Hazmat Extra Service codes.

{{url}}//v1/hazmat_codes

For more details, please consult our API documentation.

If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please contact us via email, [e-mail].

Helpful resources:
Make Hazmat shipping safer for everyone, USPS

Hazmat search tool