PACT Act Pushing Many Vape Shops to Close
- News This Week Retail Shop talk
- March 14, 2021
- 4 minutes read
The Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (PACT) and the shipping problems it created has forced many companies to end all US online sales and many others have been forced out of business. Chris Innes, owner of Elevated Vaping in Houston, Texas, announced that he would closing his shop due to the PACT Act and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) stringent premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) requirements.
The Vape Spot in Los Angeles also announced they would be closing their store due to the PACT Act after 8 years helping smokers make the switch. Securience, parent to DuraSmoke, announced a merger with VapinDirect in order to stay in business. Logic will end all online sales on March 16. White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes said it would end all online US sales on March 26. Vapewild and Vistavape also announced that they would be closing up shop.
“If the increase in shipping costs wasn’t enough, the bill also imposes huge paperwork burdens on small retailers, and backs it up with threats of imprisonment for even innocent mistakes,” said Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association. “This is not a law designed to regulate the mail-order sale of vaping products to adults; it’s an attempt to eliminate it.”
Effective March 28th, 2021, recipients of all vaping product(s) purchased online will be required, by law, to present ID and sign for their delivery. The USPS mail ban on vaping products will go into effect on April 27th, 2021. After this date, customers will no longer be able to receive vaping products by way of USPS delivery.
PACT Act regulations are stringent for online merchants that private shipping companies also will no longer deliver vapor products. “Effective April 5, 2021, UPS will not transport vaping products to, from or within the United States due to the increased complexity to ship those products,” said UPS spokesperson Matthew O’Connor in a statement.
Fedex began no longer accepting vapor products for delivery on March 1, 2021. DHL had already previously banned all shipments of nicotine-containing products and has now also ended all cannabis vapor product shipments.
If the PACT Act or PMTAs are forcing your shop to close, email timothy@vaporvoice.net and tell us about it.