Hazard Fee when shipping powder?

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mardanlin

New member
I bought a fairly large amount of powder from PowderValley and I noticed they charged me a hazard shipping fee, it was like $25 or something. I went to buy a single 1lb bottle of some new powder to try it out and saw I had to pay the same $25 fee, essentially doubling the price of my powder.

Is there a distributor that doesn't charge this fee or is it pretty standard? If so I guess I'll just wait until I need a bigger order.
 
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tangolima

New member
They used to waive the fee when you buy 32 lb of powder or more. They may not have that any more.

Group buy is the way to lessen the cost of shipping and hazard fee. It is getting difficult to do even that lately, as their choice of in-stock powder is very limited.

-TL
 
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A pause for the COZ

New member
You have to pay the juice. The shipping companies dont really need to charge this fee.
Since they all do, They keep collecting it. Free money is free money.

When you order on line you have to do the math.
PV is usually cheaper than local, No tax up front. And your time and gas.
Just order and it shows up.
Order enough so that after the shipping and Hazmat its still cheaper than local.

If I want to try a pound or two, I ususally add that to my Primer orders.
Pretty sure they only charge you one hazmat per box sent.
 
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k4swb

New member
I bought a fairly large amount of powder from PowderValley and I noticed they charged me a hazard shipping fee, it was like $25 or something. I went to buy a single 1lb bottle of some new powder to try it out and saw I had to pay the same $25 fee, essentially doubling the price of my powder.

Is there a distributor that doesn't charge this fee or is it pretty standard? If so I guess I'll just wait until I need a bigger order.
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Powder Valley has to pay this fee to whichever shipper it uses because the shipper charges them.

Stupid shipping rule!

You can't expect PV to lose $25.00 on the sale through no fault of their own.

If you feel like complaining, complain to UPS/Fedex.
 
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mardanlin

New member
K4swb, I definitely ain't complaining, I was just curious if everyone charged this fee. I don't know anyone who doesn't save $25 if they can, especially if they only need a single 1lb bottle of powder. As I said, I can always just wait until I need a larger order. I'm not sure what caused to you believe I was fussing, but there you have it.
 
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Roughedge

New member
When did you buy a large amount from PV? every time I check they are out of almost everything. I've been waiting for Unique and Varget for months and I would like to try the CFE pistol but thier never in stock.
 
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Swampman1

New member
Everybody I know of charges the Hazmat fee on powder and primers
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Well....sort of. My LGS sells powder and primers, "seemingly" without a HM fee. What I can only assume they do is average out the hazmat fee of a particular shipment, over the entire shipment. That way each person doesn't see the $27.50 fee attached to a purchase of 1K primers for example. Only a small part of the HM fee is included. So this way, I don't have to buy 5K primers and 8 lbs of powder online to justify the fee. If I recall, the IMR 4198 that I use for .223 sells for about $27 per 1 lb container + tax.
 
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A pause for the COZ

New member
Yea I checked today. The powder issue sure is getting bad.
When the scare hit I jumped on Primers hard. Thinking they would be the last to come back.
Ooops I was wrong. Can get primers its the powder thats hard to get.

Whats got me grabbing my wallet is no Surplus powder.
Man I shoot lots and lots of WC844. I have not seen even a kernel of that stuff available for at least two years. I am down to the last 1/2 of my last 8 pound jug.
I am going to cry 1st because I will have to buy H335 at retail. Then I will cry again because most likely there wont even be that available.
 
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schill32

New member
extra charge

yep the call it a hazmat charge from just buying primers or powder or combined up to 50#
 
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jag2

New member
PV is the only place I have bought both primers and powder, and you can fill up the box with anything you want. (up to weight restriction) I know Midway catches a lot of flak because their powder ships from someplace else and you will get stuck with 2 hazmat fees. Don't know about any others.
A couple of years ago there was a thread that discussed that the hazmat fee was set to expire in 2014 but I haven't seen anything about it since. If Unclenick sees this maybe he will remember it, I know he contributed to it. Seems like it was fairly well documented but I don't think the fee was ever a law, maybe required by the DOT. Unless one of the major shippers put some effort into stopping it I doubt anything will happen.

found the thread here http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=454832&highlight=hazmat+fee
 
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mardanlin

New member
Yes as others have said, you can get powder and primers in one shipment and only pay the fee once, that's how it worked for me. And I ordered my supplies around mid November. They were out of Varget then as well so I got some H335 instead. They were also out of H1000 but other than that they had all my IMR and some other ones. They also only had large rifle magnum primers.
 
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David Bachelder

New member
HazMat fees are not required by DOT or any other government organization.

The carriers charge the HazMat fees due to added shipping costs. More expensive boxes, more warning stickers, more paper work ..... it all equals more time and time is money.

If you want to complain call FedEx and UPS. That's whose getting the money.
 
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jag2

New member
David, check the link I posted and then read the link in Unclenicks post. It is a letter from a director at the DOT and seems to cover the subject, I think. It's in government english which isn't always the same english I speak.
 
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thallub

New member
QUOTE]HazMat fees are not required by DOT or any other government organization.[/QUOTE]

Bingo!!!


David, check the link I posted and then read the link in Unclenicks post. It is a letter from a director at the DOT and seems to cover the subject, I think.
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Yep, the letter from Mr. Edward T. Mazzullo, DOT, has this:

Q: May UPS set additional conditions or assess a hazmat fee for shipments of "Smokeless powder for small arms, 4.1, NA3 178, I?"


As a common carrier, UPS may set its own conditions or requirements for transporting hazardous materials, so long as those conditions or requirements do not prevent compliance with the HMR, and it may assess a fee for the transportation of hazardous materials. These fees are neither mandated nor regulated by PHMSA.
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BTW: Mr. Sanborn of MDM Industries, who asked the questions of DOT, got into hot water after his Black Mag3 plant blew up and killed a few folks. The company is no more.
 
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k4swb

New member
K4swb, I definitely ain't complaining, I was just curious if everyone charged this fee. I don't know anyone who doesn't save $25 if they can, especially if they only need a single 1lb bottle of powder. As I said, I can always just wait until I need a larger order. I'm not sure what caused to you believe I was fussing, but there you have it.
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I was just trying to make sure the blame went where it was deserved and not with Powder Valley and other merchants.
 
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David Bachelder

New member
jag2

I'm not so good with the lingo now days. I used to understand it because I am in the business of explosives. I used to have HazMat training annually, and I did a little HazMat shipping myself, I always hated it because it was a pain in thee *##. I thank the man above that I don't have to do that anymore.

I read but I'm not sure I understood. Is the letter saying DOT requires the HazMat fee and not just the carrier? I know the carrier can charge for the extra work involved in HazMat but I was always under the impression DOT did not actually require it and further they did not profit from the fee collected.

I guess there is where I get confused. At one time I had to have a product of mine evaluated by and independent lab and submitted to DOT for Classification. DOT did not charge me for this service, however the independent lab charged me plenty. I had the opportunity to speak with DOT several times during this process. I was told they can not charge for their services .... ever. DOT is supported by our tax dollars alone.

This was my understanding.
 
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