A Fond du Lac business has taken a stance against a proposal that would increase the price of batteries.
U.S. Rep. Tom Petri visited FEDCO Electronics, 1363 Capital Drive, on Monday afternoon to voice his opposition to the proposal.
If passed, the new rules would tack on additional costs for anyone who ships batteries within U.S. borders and beyond, said Steve Victor, FEDCO president and chief executive officer.
FEDCO has been a local family-owned company for 35 years, producing and packaging lithium and lithium-ion batteries and battery packs, Victor said. The firm ships about 8,000 domestic packages annually. Another 1,100 packages go overseas.
In January, the U.S Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Material Substance Administration proposed regulations that would require all batteries to be shipped as dangerous goods. Victor said the proposal stems from battery-related fire and smoke incidents that have occurred in transit in the past few years.
Victor said dangerous substances cost more to ship due to additional packaging, handling and training. FEDCO currently handles about 200 dangerous-class shipments every year.
Anyone who uses overnight air delivery would see the biggest price spike — about $65 extra for domestic mail and $100 for international mail, he said. It costs about $25 now for overnight air delivery.
Consumers who buy their batteries in the store probably won't notice an increase, nor would anyone who ships batteries by ground delivery. But if their favorite store doesn't have the battery they need — and the customer wants it by the next day — they'll have to dig deeper in their wallets.
Companies like FEDCO can't absorb those expenses and will have to pass most or all of the additional cost on to consumers. Victor said that may translate to lost business.
More than 25 percent of FEDCO's clients are from Europe because they like the quality of American-made products. But they can't justify spending more, he said.
"(Our European customers) have said, 'If we have to pay $100 more to ship it, forget it. We'll go to China,'" he said.
Victor said batteries are already regulated to a degree, but China has found a loophole to get around U.S. customs and shipping requirements. Any foreign merchant can ship batteries to the United States without identifying what's in the package, or they can mark the shipment as a gift with no value.
"The only way this could be stopped is if a package broke open and a (customs agent) saw it," he said.
Victor said the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Substance Administration may make a decision on the proposed changes in late summer.
We provide cheap laptop batteries: apple laptop batteries HP laptop batteries Sony laptop battery