The correct question is not how many batteries are being shipped, but how many "cells" are in the battery. The average person does not know what a "cell" is, nor does the average postal clerk.
For instance, how many of you know that your 12 volt car battery has 6 cells? Being youth challenged, I can remember when car batteries were not sealed, were 6 volts, and periodically you had to open the 3 little caps, look to see if there was sufficient water inside, and if not, add water (should have been de-ionized water). Each of those little caps opened into a single cell, so a 6 volt car battery had 3 cells. Your 12 volt car battery has 6 cells.
So, how many cells are in the typical 11.1 volt lithium laptop battery? 3 cells, well technically 6 cells arranged in a series-parallel configuration. How many people know that? I would bet, not many. That is why the instructions call for saying that it is a LAPTOP battery because presumably the postal clerks know that lithium laptop batteries can not be shipped by air. I doubt that many know exactly why, nor do they need to. The rule is clear. Lithium laptop batteries can not be shipped by Priority Mail to Zone 5 and higher because they can not be shipped by air.
When the rare postal clerk has asked me how many cells are in the battery, I say "more than one". If the conversation happens to go this far, the clerk tells me that it can't go by air.
Shipping perfume has another whole set of rules based on volume.
@SadieBelle wrote:
I guess I'm not understanding these shops. 2 out of 4 battery shops failed. One, who i deal with regularly and fully expected her to reject my package, accepted it by asking if it was just the one battery in the box by itself and that made it ok. The next shop said "as long as it's not super fragile." and shook the package a little.
On my last one, the clerk went looking for the information and said it states that it can only be sent if it is inside the laptop and the whole thing is being sent.
How is it these are getting failed so frequently??
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008