This year at the 2015 IPCPR in New Orleans when many retailers and manufacturers went to ship products via FedEx they were asked if the packages contained tobacco due to restrictions prohibiting the shipment of tobacco. It turns out this was a precursor for what was about to come.
The Cigar Authority has reached out to IPCPR and spoke with Matt Dogali via email where it has been confirmed that starting January 1st, 2016 that FedEx will no longer ship tobacco products. The reason stated for such a ban stems from a lawsuit in which the company was sued by the state of New York for $70 million dollars.
In addition, FedEx has been subject to penalties for breaking the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) and the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act. Despite these being cigarette related the company has decided to no longer accept shipments of all tobacco.
While many companies in the industry use UPS for their shipments, companies like My Father, Tatuaje and Illusione use FedEx to get their products to retail stores and most mail order companies do not use the service for retail to consumer.
