From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: UPS Shipping Surcharge for "Hazardous" Materials
Organization: Dixie Communications, The South's First Commercial Public Access Unix

wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) writes:

#Some time ago, there was extensive discussion on rec.guns and the firearms
#mailing list about UPS' recent $5 hazardous-shipment surcharge on
#packages of smokeless powder and primers (I believe those were the only
#two items). It was viewed as an underhanded anti-gun measure and there
#was resentment due to the way it specifically and adversely affected
#individuals and small dealers who would get small shipments via UPS.

#Well, I recently ran across a totally-non-gun-related instance of this
#same surcharge, in a catalog of electronic supplies, referring to the
#applicability of such a surcharge to a couple types of aerosol canned
#sprays. 


At the gunsmiths where I moonlight a bit, we just got a shipment from
Brownell and others.  There were hazardous shipment charges on primers,
some but not all smokeless powder (which is classified as a flammable solid), 
1,1,1 tricloroethane (totally  non-flammable and non-hazardous except
that it causes some eco-nazis to flap their arms sufficiently hard to
cause injury), and some but not all aerosol paint.  NOT charged was a
shipment of parkerizing salts (mostly phosphoric acid), nitro-blueing
salts (sodium and potassium nitrate), a gallon jug of hydrocloric
acid, a 1 gal can of acetone and some aerosol paint.

I've studied this situation carefully and have concluded that there is
no reason involved.  I now believe that a disgruntled computer programmer
installed a random number generator in the hazardous cargo designator
software that is designed to piss off enough customers that Fedex can
walk in and take all of UPS's ground deliveries.  No other
explaination fits.

John