Mailing Bear Spray caused USPS to evacuate

[Wise Old Owl]

5/31/2014

Officials say a bear repellent spray led to the evacuation of a post office in Northeast Philadelphia on Saturday.
According to investigators, workers at a post office on the 1900 block of Byberry Road found the spray around 11:40 a.m. after someone tried to mail it.
When the workers tried to throw the repellent out, it began to leak -- spreading fumes throughout the building.
The post office was evacuated after 16 people began to feel sick and nauseous.
Police officers and the fire department arrived at the post office and were able to clear the scene. Medics also treated everyone who fell sick. None of them were taken to the hospital.
Bear spray is considered a hazardous good and is therefore not allowed to be mailed. Investigators have not yet revealed the identity of the person who tried to mail the repellent.


This is a large mail sorting center for Philadelphia! Someone is going to get a visit....

[Old Hiker]

"Tried to throw it out". Why do I hear: "Hey. What's this do? " or "Hey. Watch this."

Hope no one was seriously ill.

[canoe]

"Tried to throw it out". Why do I hear: "Hey. What's this do? " or "Hey. Watch this."

Hope no one was seriously ill.

Thats funny... and probably true

[DavidNH]

probably some stupid ignorant hiker.

Just from curiosity.. is the perpetrator likely to spend some time in the clink, the slammer? or is this more a slap on wrist and a fine?

[Ricky&Jack]

i dont think anything would happen. it didnt say the customer threw it away. it says the workers tried to throw it out and it leaked/went off.

im pretty sure its not legal to "throw away" hazardous material. So im guessing it was the employees fault.

so the guy tried to mail it, but when asked what was int he package, he had to admit to it being a bear spray. therefore he never actually mailed it. he stopped it before it happened. the post office could/should have gave it back to the customer to take away. But the post office chose to keep it and "throw away". Im pretty sure its the post offices fault for it going off in the building and not the customer.

[rocketsocks]

probably some stupid ignorant hiker.

Just from curiosity.. is the perpetrator likely to spend some time in the clink, the slammer? or is this more a slap on wrist and a fine?

depends on how much press this gets, the maximums are likely super outrageously high.

[rocketsocks]

"Tried to throw it out". Why do I hear: "Hey. What's this do? " or "Hey. Watch this."

Hope no one was seriously ill.

was exactly my thought as well...or hey, I didn't want to work on Saturday anyway, got called in to cover...whats this...oops.

[MuddyWaters]

"Tried to throw it out". Why do I hear: "Hey. What's this do? " or "Hey. Watch this."

Hope no one was seriously ill.

My though exactly. Unless it was leaking before they touched it, they caused it to happen. I have a can in my closet, it has never "leaked" by itself.

All kinds of prohibited things get mailed all the time. Ive seen resupplies with fuel cannisters in them, bottles of alcohol, batteries, etc. And some of them werent even mine.

[Pedaling Fool]

To me, I can't make heads or tails out of what is said in the OP.

"Officials say a bear repellent spray led to the evacuation of a post office in Northeast Philadelphia on Saturday.
According to investigators, workers at a post office on the 1900 block of Byberry Road found the spray around 11:40 a.m. after someone tried to mail it.
When the workers tried to throw the repellent out, it began to leak -- spreading fumes throughout the building.
The post office was evacuated after 16 people began to feel sick and nauseous.
Police officers and the fire department arrived at the post office and were able to clear the scene. Medics also treated everyone who fell sick. None of them were taken to the hospital.
Bear spray is considered a hazardous good and is therefore not allowed to be mailed. Investigators have not yet revealed the identity of the person who tried to mail the repellent."

The ways it's written up I can come up with several scenarios.

Isn't it true that most journalists have college degrees

Maybe they need to give them some courses on sentence structure

[Siarl]

I worked for the USPS for ten years and I can't begin to explain what gets sent through the mail. Baby chicks, lizards, bees, dead animals being mailed to a taxidermist (those were the worst. I used to gag until I learned to hold my breath when I had to walk through that section), even saw someone expressing a pizza in the pizza box (by the time it passed through my station, it was the consistency of cement because I could hear it hitting the sides of the box). Blood products (we had to begin wearing gloves at that point). It's also not great to send hazardous materials since unless the letters and parcels are local, everything is sent using domestic airlines.

[Ricky&Jack]

we used to order baby chicks all the time. A box of 30 chicks about 8 times per year. Never had a problem with them being USPS since the box said "live chicks" and had a small view screen.


But when we ordered out pythons, we had to use UPS or DHL to have those delievered.

[Wise Old Owl]

Remember when the Human Head fell out of the box years ago sent between two doctors... that went national AP

[Old Hiker]

Just looking at a quick search in amazon dot com, it appears that bear spray canisters have a plastic loop around the trigger mechanism that keeps it from firing inadvertently.

OK, for the other side: maybe the hiker was trying to mail a partially used canister to someone.

Heads, blood, chicks, pythons............... glad I'm a 6th grade Science teacher instead of a Postal worker.

Oh, wait............ cow eyeballs, squid, frogs, worms, Science Fair projects........... never mind.

[Siarl]

I worked at the San Francisco International Airport facility and I used to feel so sorry for those chicks. The airline baggage hold may be pressurized but it certainly isn't heated. I would open the curtain on the baggage cart and the chill would emanate from the luggage and then there would be the chicks on top all huddled together so close to one another that there were sometimes one or two that would get smothered. A few times they would get out of the box if the top was damaged or had snagged on something. We wouldn't know which box it actually came from so it would get handed over to the SPCA.

[maptester]

A few years ago I mailed my bear spray to our lodging near Yellowstone National Park. You have to follow the USPS regs: ORM-D (Other Regulated Material) material. The spray manufacturer had a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on the product that had to accompany the spray. No problem if you pack it correctly, especially since you can not pack it on checked luggage.

[Pedaling Fool]

Remember when the Human Head fell out of the box years ago sent between two doctors... that went national AP

No.........

[handlebar]

So, how does one get bear spray from one place to another?

[Ricky&Jack]

buy at stores and carry it.... Or order it from an approved online vendor. And they deliver it with UPS/Fedex or a specialized carrier.

You need a "HAZMAT" certificate to transport, I believe. And the USPS doesnt normally do HAZMAT.

[Wise Old Owl]

honest donno... Turns out several have mailed it anyway