# United Parcel Service (UPS) — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation **Citation:** 05-0223 **Type / status:** guidance / guidance **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** Not stated **Published:** 2005-11-30 05-0223 response to United Parcel Service (UPS) concerning 175.26. ## Document text <<>> of Transportatior J.S. Departmen 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590 Pipeline and Administration Hazardous Materials Safety NOV 30 2005 Mr. Samuel S. Elkind Ref No. 05-0223 Cried Pare service Uds Manager 55 Glenlake Parkway, N.E. Atlanta, GA 30328 Dear Mr. Elkind: This responds to your September 9, 2005 letter concerning design changes planned for UPS drop boxes in the United States. Specifically, you ask whether your design changes for the hazardous materials warning statement for your drop boxes comply with § 175.26(d)(1) of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CPR Parts 171-180). According to your letter and the August 30, 2005 meeting with this Office to discuss UPS's preliminary design changes, you are planning to redesign your hazardous materials warning statement on your U.S. drop boxes, specifically to be located on the front of the package receiving chute. You do not plan to remove the statement currently posted within the supply box; however, you are planning to add a new warning statement to the exterior of your drop boxes. Upon review of your enclosed life-size mock-ups of your proposed design changes, it is the opinion of this Office that your proposed design changes for your warning statement on your drop boxes do comply with § 175.26(d)(1) requirements. I hope this answers your inquiry. Sincerely, press 175.26 (d) 050223 <<>> Boothe SEP 1 2 2005 $175.26(d) Notification of HM/Air 55 Glenlake Parkway, N.E. 85-0223 ups Atlanta, GA 30328 September 9, 2005 VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR Mr. John Gale Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Office of Hazardous Materials Standards U.S. Department of Transportation 400 Seventh Street, SW Washington, DC 20590 Re: 49 CFR 175.26 - UPS Drop Box Design Dear Mr. Gale: for UPS's drop boxes within the U.S. As we stated in that meeting, UPS wishes to Thank you for meeting with us on August 30, 2005 to discuss the design changes planned receive written confirmation from your office that contemplated design changes will satisfy the requirement of 49 CFR 175.26(d), governing the required hazardous materials warning; or of any design changes required to satisfy that regulation. UPS has currently located the statement required by 49 CFR 175.26(d) prominently inside the supply cabinet of the drop box, reasoning that when a user selects supplies, he or she will immediately see the hazardous materials warning. Recent communications with one FAA inspector suggest that this location may not be universally viewed as satisfactory. Our plan is to take advantage of a redesign initiated for commercial reasons to add a hazardous materials warning statement to the front of the package receiving chute. While we do not plan to remove the statement posted within the supply cabinet, we no longer intend to inspect for and maintain that older warning. Therefore, we will be relying on the planned exterior statement, applied over the next year as we reconfigure these drop boxes, to satisfy the conditions in 49 CFR 175.26(d)(1). Very similar to the current statement, the hazardous materials warning for this redesign will read as follows: NOTICE: Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods, including Other Regulated Materials (ORM-D), are NOT ACCEPTED at this UPS Drop Box. One concern with the standard of prominence identified in §175.26(d)(1) is that, by its nature, it is subjective. Therefore, we wish to establish definitively that, in the view of our office, the design change selected in our project satisfies the requirements o 175.26(d)(1). To facilitate that confirmation, we are delivering to you for evaluatic life-size mock-ups of the proposed changes. Because our designs are confidential <<>> Mr. John Gale Page 2 another for drop boxes typically located outdoors. Revised decals will be applied to both As you will see, there are two distinct designs, one for drop boxes stationed indoors, and types of drop boxes, with the following features: Indoors Type: • Statement is positioned on a clearly visible portion of package receiving chute. • Chute decal dimensions are approximately 11.5" high × 23" wide • Type face for critical text is white, on background of dark brown. . Relevant type size - 4mm (upper case letters) Outdoors Type: • Statement is positioned on a clearly visible portion of package receiving chute, below the handle used to open the chute. • Chute decal dimensions are approximately 7.25" high × 23.25" wide • Type face for critical text is white, on background of dark brown. • Relevant type size - 4mm (upper case letters) Our replacement project will affect all UPS drop boxes across the country, approximately 40,000, and is being undertaken at considerable but commercially justifiable expense. However, we obviously do not wish to repeat the exercise because of interpretive disagreements related to the hazardous materials warning. We would be grateful to receive your written interpretation of the compliance of our design plan with the applicable regulation; or of specific design changes required to bring the design into compliance. If you have any questions, you may reach me at (404) 828- 7368 or by e-mail at selkind@ups.com. Sincerely, Samuel S. Elkind Corporate Regulated Goods Manager Enclosures ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa` - SHA-256: `68c0db2bf50f14ca18c366ea73ef7e32be4dee00e229e02257f86aa69f7ae30b` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z - Exported: 2026-08-22T04:03:52.010Z - Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-05-0223` ### Source metadata ```json { "materialSubtype": "interpretation", "interpretationArea": "hazardous_materials", "representation": "full_text_from_official_pdf", "companies": [ "United Parcel Service (UPS)" ], "individuals": [ "Mr. Samuel S. 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