Packed box
8 × 5 × 2 in
1.1 lb
Electronics
Can you ship a phone through USPS?
Yes, and for a working phone with the battery sealed inside it, USPS treats it about as plainly as any other small parcel. The fine print sits in Publication 52: a cell-count ceiling that a lone phone never approaches, and a much stricter path for a phone that is used, damaged or defective. Both are quoted below from USPS's own packaging instructions, read 2026-08-22.
USPS rules, quotedPublication 52, datedLive checkout rates
What USPS actually restricts
Not the phone itself — the condition it is in, and how many batteries are in the box.
What Publication 52 says about a phone's battery
USPS Packaging Instruction 9D, read 2026-08-22, opens on the permission rather than the restriction: “Lithium metal (nonrechargeable) cells and batteries and lithium-ion (rechargeable) cells and batteries are mailable domestically via air or surface transportation when they are installed in or packed with the equipment they are intended to operate if all the requirements in 349 and this packaging instruction are met.” Section 349.242, the part it points at, sets the ceiling for a device with the battery inside it: “Each lithium-ion cell must not exceed a watt-hour rating of 20 Wh, and batteries must not exceed a watt-hour rating of 100 Wh. Each mailpiece must contain no more than eight cells or two batteries.” A phone battery runs somewhere around 10 to 20 watt-hours, so a single device in a box never comes close to either number.
Marking is where most write-ups get it backwards. The DOT-approved lithium battery mark referencing UN3481 belongs on the address side of the package — but Packaging Instruction 9D excepts mailpieces carrying “no more than four lithium-ion cells or two lithium-ion batteries installed in the equipment they operate,” and one phone is one battery. By USPS’s own text a lone handset does not require the mark. SMKlog’s checkout still asks you to confirm the package will carry it before you pay, because the exception stops applying the moment a second device or a spare battery goes in the same box. Printing and applying the mark is on you, not on the label.
| Condition | How USPS moves it | What the box needs |
|---|---|---|
| New in original packaging, battery installed | Any domestic service, air or surface | Nothing extra for one handset — the UN3481 mark is required once a mailpiece holds more than two installed batteries |
| Used or pre-owned, battery installed | Surface transportation only, no air | Restricted Electronic Device and Surface Transportation Only, printed on the outer box |
| Damaged or defective, battery installed | Surface transportation only, no air | Same two lines, plus the device is screened at checkout |
| Swollen, punctured, or otherwise unsafe battery | Not mailable at any service level | N/A — the shipment is refused |
One wrinkle worth knowing before you write on the box: USPS prints the second line as “Surface Transportation Only” on its consumer restrictions page, while Publication 52’s lithium-ion instruction prints it as “Surface Mail Only.” Both are USPS’s own wording, read the same day. Either phrase carries the meaning a clerk is looking for; pick one and write it legibly.
A live USPS quote: Samsung Galaxy S24 in original box
Captured 2026-08-22 through the SMKlog calculator: “Samsung Galaxy S24 in original box”, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 to Miami, FL 33101.
Route
Berkeley Heights, NJ
to Miami, FL
Declared as
New in original box
Battery installed, powered off
| Carrier | Service | Price | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground | $11.73 | 4-5 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $11.74 | 2-3 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $13.32 | 4-5 business days |
| USPS | Priority Mail | $16.01 | 2-3 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $17.09 | 2-3 business days |
UPS Ground edged out USPS Ground Advantage by a single cent on this lane, and USPS still delivered a day sooner. That is close enough to call a tie; run your own ZIP pair, because a shorter route usually breaks in USPS's favor at this weight.
Where these rules come from
- USPS, Publication 52, Packaging Instruction 9D — domestic mailability of installed lithium batteries, the marking exception for two or fewer installed batteries, and the surface-only path for used devices. Read 2026-08-22.
- USPS, Publication 52, 349.242 — the 20 Wh per cell and 100 Wh per battery ceilings and the eight-cell, two-battery limit per mailpiece. Read 2026-08-22.
- USPS, Shipping Restrictions & HAZMAT — surface-transportation requirement and marking for pre-owned, damaged or defective devices. Read 2026-08-22.
USPS revises Publication 52 without notice. Check the source before shipping anything unusual, and treat the figures above as what was published on the date shown.
Common questions
Can you ship a phone through USPS?
Yes. USPS Publication 52 allows lithium metal and lithium-ion cells and batteries installed in the equipment they power, domestically, by air or surface transportation, once the standard consumer-electronics limits are met.
What limits apply to a phone's battery under USPS rules?
Each lithium-ion cell capped at 20 watt-hours and each battery at 100 watt-hours, with no more than eight cells or two batteries in one mailpiece. A single phone battery sits well under both figures, so this only becomes a factor if several devices ship in one box.
Does a used phone ship differently than a new one?
Yes. A pre-owned, damaged or defective device holding a lithium battery has to move by surface transportation only, which domestically means USPS Ground Advantage or its commercial Parcel Select equivalent, not an air-eligible service such as Priority Mail Express. The outer box needs the words Restricted Electronic Device and Surface Transportation Only, the wording USPS uses on its own restrictions page.
Does a new phone in its retail box need that same marking?
No. That marking applies to pre-owned, damaged or defective devices. A new phone in its retail box needs no extra text at all, and it does not need the UN3481 lithium battery mark either: Packaging Instruction 9D excepts a mailpiece holding no more than two lithium-ion batteries installed in the equipment they operate, and one handset is one battery. Put a second device or a spare battery in the same box and the mark is back on.
What is off the table entirely?
A phone with a swollen, punctured or otherwise damaged battery. USPS treats that as unmailable rather than restricted, and no service level or marking makes it acceptable.