If you want to send alcohol to someone, you may be wondering if UPS scans packages for alcohol. This is a commonly asked question as people may wonder if their packages will be scanned to see if they contain any kind of alcohol during shipment.
This is a reasonable fear as there is a certain process that you must go through in order to ship alcohol through a mail carrier service. This is a bit complicated and requires a few more steps than many people assume.
There are also mail carrier services that are not legally able to ship alcohol, making this even more complicated. This is why it is a good idea to look into how to ship alcohol and whether or not mail carrier services will be checking for alcohol in packages.
Keep reading to find out whether or not UPS scans packages for alcohol when it receives them.
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Will UPS Scan My Package for Alcohol?
If you are trying to mail alcohol through UPS, the good news is that UPS is not legally allowed to scan your package for alcohol. This is not something that UPS has the legal ability to do unless it gets a warrant to actually scan your package.
This is done to protect your privacy as the sender of a package so that it cannot be scanned by any mail carrier service. UPS only has the right to do this if it gets a warrant for probable suspicion of what the package may contain.
This is extremely rare, however, so it is very unlikely that UPS would ever go to the extent of getting a warrant to scan your package. Because of this, UPS is generally a safe mail carrier service to use when you are shipping alcohol.
This is a tricky item to ship, so you will want to make sure that you go through this process in the correct way to avoid getting into trouble. Though UPS cannot scan your packages to check for alcohol, some issues can arise.
This includes issues, such as:
- The alcohol leaking
- The bottles breaking
- It being shipped to an illegal location
- It being sent to someone under 21
Though UPS is not going to scan packages to see if they contain alcohol, it is still best to go the legal route when shipping this item. This way, you can avoid any issues arising.
Can UPS Open Packages to See What’s Inside?
UPS is not legally able to open any kind of package unless it has a warrant from an actual judge. This is a law as UPS does not have the right to go sorting through people’s private mail even though it is a mail carrier service.
Because of this, you do not have to worry about UPS opening your packages to check for alcohol. It cannot do this without a warrant if it suspects that you are trying to ship something illegally.
Though, UPS will rarely, if ever, ask for a warrant to open your package as this will take a great deal of time to complete. In most cases, UPS will not bother to go to this extent unless it believes there is something being shipped illegally.
UPS also does not have the right to scan packages to see what is inside of them. It does scan packages as it ships them, but this is simply to let customers know where their packages are throughout the shipping process.
Is It Illegal to Ship Alcohol With UPS?
Though there is a legal process for shipping alcohol even with UPS, it is not illegal per se to ship your alcohol through UPS. You can still get away with secretly shipping alcohol through UPS, as UPS can legally ship alcohol.
Because of this, you would simply be going against UPS‘s policy about shipping alcohol if you do not show that the package contains alcohol. This is not illegal and will simply mean that you are going against UPS policies and may get into a little bit of travel.
This is much less concerning than shipping alcohol through A mail carrier service like USPS that does not have the legal ability to ship alcohol. If you were to do this, you would be breaking the law as US PS cannot send any kind of alcohol legally.
Does UPS Scan Mail for Alcohol?
If you have a package that contains alcohol, you can rest easy knowing that UPS does not scan any kind of mail for alcohol. It is not legally allowed to do this as that would disturb the privacy of the customer who is shipping the item.
This would be violating your privacy and would be an illegal act on the part of UPS. If UPS needs to scan or open your package for any reason, it has to get a warrant that is issued by a judge.