Rite Aid Corporation — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

Page 1or sporation Washington, D.C. 20590 400 Seventh Street, S.W. JAN - 9 2007 Mr. Glenn A. Courtney Ref. No. 06-0254 Harrisburg, PA 17105 Dear Mr. Courtney: This responds to your November 1, 2006 letter concerning the applicability of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) to shipments of lighters. Specifically, you ask if the exception in §173.308(e)(2) for shipments of lighters by private carriage applies to Rite Aid's distribution of individual lighters by your fleet of According to your letter, Rite Aid operates eight distribution centers that service stores in several states. You ask if you may utilize the private carriage exception in §173.308(e) to Stores. You further state that some of your drivers are Rite Aid company drivers and transport lighters using Rite Aid-owned or-leased trailers for delivery directly to Rite Aid others are Dedicated Contract Providers that operate Rite Aid trailers owned or leased directly to Rite Aid stores. Exceptions for lighters transported by private motor carrier were included in a final rule published January 23, 2006 under Docket No. RSPA-2004-18795 (HM-237; 7. FR private motor carrier from all EMR requirements provided the lighter designs have been 3418). The final rule adopted a new §173.308(e) that excepts lighters transported by examined and successfully tested in accordance with applicable requirements and conform to the conditions established in §173.308(e)(2). The effective date of the amendments in the HM-237 final rule is January 1, 2007; however, voluntary compliance is authorized as of April 25, 2006. 173.308 060254#

Page 2It is the opinion of this Office that you are a private carrier for purposes of the HMR and may utilize the exception provided in §173.308(e)(2) for the highway transportation of lighters. I hope this answers your inquiry. Sincerely, REAL SA Office of Hazardous Materials Standards#

Page 3| RITE Boothe HAID 3173.308 Lighters • GENERAL OFFICE Frite Aid Corporation 0 Hunter Lan 06-0254 jamp Hill, PA 1701 • 1-800-RITE AID November 1, 2006 Edward Mazzullo USDOT / PHMSA (PHH-10) Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards 400 7h Street SW 20590-0001 Washington, DC Dear Edward Mazzullo, conversation with Cameron Satterthwaite at the Hazardous Materials Information Center. This correspondence shall serve as a follow-up to my Friday, October 13, 2006, telephone Specifically, I inquired as to CFR 49 Part 173.308 HM-237 (Lighters) and the Private Carriage exception (Part 173.308 (e) (2)). As a result of our conversation, Mr. Satterthwait: requested that I detail the question to you for guidance. On behalf of Rite Aid Corporation, I respectfully request that the Office of Hazardous Material Standards apply the Private Carriage Exception to Rite Aid's distribution of individual lighters. Rite Aid currently operates eight (8) distribution centers which service approximately 3,350 stores in twenty-seven (27) states and the District of Columbia. Rite Aid Distribution Centers pick individual lighters (in blister packs) into plastic totes which are loaded onto Rite Aid owned or leased trailers for delivery directly to Rite Aid Stores. The stores on average receive approximately eighteen (18) lighters per shipment with an average of 2.6.3 stops per route with a maximum deliveries topping at six (6) per trailer. Sorne of our facilities utilize Rite Aid company drivers to make the deliveries from our istribution centers to Rite Aid stores and thus we will utilize the Private Carriage Exceptic nd complete the requirements as outlined in that section when shipping lighters from thes facilities. Our other facilities utilize Dedicated Contract Providers for the tractor and driver labor to haul the loaded Rite Aid trailers (owned or leased) directly to Rite Aid stores. vehicle and that these outbound loads are on Rite Aid trailers and are exclusively bound for Rite Based upon the fact that these shipments are significantly fewer than 1,500 lighters in a single Aid locations, I request that the Private Carriage Exception be applied to these shipments as informed of the requirements of the exception and specifically on how to identify a package well. Just as we train our own company drivers, Rite Aid will ensure that our partner carriers are containing lighters ("LIGHTERS, excepted quantity").#

Page 4reference to the application of these regulations, please feel free to contact me directly at If you have any questions or need clarification on how our delivery operations function in (717)760-7865. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, ghah Dector, Outbound Transportation Rite Aid Corporation#