Zippo not happy
This is from today's Bradford, Pennsylvania, paper. It is interesting how random the list of banned substances are by Homeland Security. Now lighters can't be in checked luggage (but gunpowder is still okay).
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Zippo official speak out about lighter ban
By TAMMARRAH MILES/Era Reporter
A national ban on lighters at airports and in airplanes stands to burn a significant hole right through Zippo Manufacturing Co.'s annual profits.
The Homeland Security Department announced Monday that lighters have been added to the list of items prohibited on airplanes, in airports or other secure areas as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act signed into law by President Bush in December.
As such, the Transportation Security Administration will ban all lighters from planes and airports, with enforcement of the rule to start April 14, according to the Associated Press.
"Although Zippo¨ Manufacturing Co. does not believe that lighters, in general, pose a hazard on aircraft, we do agree with the TSA that fueled lighters could pose a potential security risk if carried onto a commercial aircraft," according to a statement released by Zippo Tuesday.
"However, we strongly oppose the interpretation by the Department of Transportation that prohibits carrying lighters in checked luggage. In testing performed by Zippo engineers, as well as investigations done by the Lighter Association Inc., not a single bit of evidence points to lighters being hazardous in checked luggage. Specifically, we have not uncovered one instance in which lighters in checked luggage exploded, caught fire or otherwise posed a danger to the aircraft," the statement continues.
The Lighter Association, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group, wants the TSA to amend the ban to prohibit lighters in carry-on bags, but not in checked luggage scanned by the TSA and normally stored in the belly of the plane.
For a company like Zippo, which deals largely in gift and luxury collectible items, the loss of tourist sales could be extensive. The restriction will likely deter tourists from buying refillable lighters when they know they cannot take them aboard the aircraft. Zippo lighters typically run $15 to $20, and most disposable lighters --Êwhich can be purchased when needed and discarded at the airport --Êcan be purchased for about $1.
"The gift business, which may represent as much as 40 percent of our sales, will be negatively impacted, as will our tourist and duty-free market segments. Travelers often buy Zippo lighters as a remembrance of a great trip or location. In addition, Zippo collectors travel around the country attending "swap meets" and other events frequented by collectors. For many of these people, collecting is not just a hobby, it is a livelihood," the statement from Zippo goes on. "Loss of business in these combined areas could represent, on a long-term basis, as much as 20 to 30 percent of Zippo total sales."
A dollar figure for the 20 to 30 percent of total sales was not available Tuesday.
However, any Bradford resident knows the bi-annual Zippo/Case International Swap Meet brings collectors from around the world to Bradford to buy, sell, trade and just plain show off their wares. Collectors, distributors and artists from as far as China, Japan, Europe (Claudio Mazzi in Italy, for example), Asia (John Troha in Vietnam) and even Oceania (Paul Fleming in New Zealand) were at the 2004 Zippo/Case International Swap Meet last summer.
Pat Grandy, Zippo marketing and communications manager, said Tuesday night that most of the serious swap meet collectors ship their lighter collections ahead of time, and since the lighters then make their way to the U.S. by sea, the ban should not prohibit their transport. The same logic applies to shipments of lighters to distributors overseas, Grandy said, adding the ban would not have a great impact on international sales.
Adding insult to injury, however, DOT regulations permit such items as ammunition packaged in wooden or metal boxes, as well as aerosol cans, which could contain isobutene propellants, to be carried in checked luggage and considers these items to be non-hazardous, Zippo officials said.
"If the DOT considers gunpowder and isobutene to be non-hazardous, it should logically conclude, based on all the evidence available, that lighters are non-hazardous as well," the statement from Zippo said.
The American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) have developed stringent standards for lighter safety. Zippo lighters have passed both the ASTM-400 and ISO-9994 safety standards, officials reported.
As far as what, if any, steps Zippo will take to fight the ban and/or make up for the potential loss, Grandy said officials are "working on several option to address the issue."
Calls to Zippo general counsel C. Jeffrey Duke were not returned Tuesday night.
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Zippo official speak out about lighter ban
By TAMMARRAH MILES/Era Reporter
A national ban on lighters at airports and in airplanes stands to burn a significant hole right through Zippo Manufacturing Co.'s annual profits.
The Homeland Security Department announced Monday that lighters have been added to the list of items prohibited on airplanes, in airports or other secure areas as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act signed into law by President Bush in December.
As such, the Transportation Security Administration will ban all lighters from planes and airports, with enforcement of the rule to start April 14, according to the Associated Press.
"Although Zippo¨ Manufacturing Co. does not believe that lighters, in general, pose a hazard on aircraft, we do agree with the TSA that fueled lighters could pose a potential security risk if carried onto a commercial aircraft," according to a statement released by Zippo Tuesday.
"However, we strongly oppose the interpretation by the Department of Transportation that prohibits carrying lighters in checked luggage. In testing performed by Zippo engineers, as well as investigations done by the Lighter Association Inc., not a single bit of evidence points to lighters being hazardous in checked luggage. Specifically, we have not uncovered one instance in which lighters in checked luggage exploded, caught fire or otherwise posed a danger to the aircraft," the statement continues.
The Lighter Association, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group, wants the TSA to amend the ban to prohibit lighters in carry-on bags, but not in checked luggage scanned by the TSA and normally stored in the belly of the plane.
For a company like Zippo, which deals largely in gift and luxury collectible items, the loss of tourist sales could be extensive. The restriction will likely deter tourists from buying refillable lighters when they know they cannot take them aboard the aircraft. Zippo lighters typically run $15 to $20, and most disposable lighters --Êwhich can be purchased when needed and discarded at the airport --Êcan be purchased for about $1.
"The gift business, which may represent as much as 40 percent of our sales, will be negatively impacted, as will our tourist and duty-free market segments. Travelers often buy Zippo lighters as a remembrance of a great trip or location. In addition, Zippo collectors travel around the country attending "swap meets" and other events frequented by collectors. For many of these people, collecting is not just a hobby, it is a livelihood," the statement from Zippo goes on. "Loss of business in these combined areas could represent, on a long-term basis, as much as 20 to 30 percent of Zippo total sales."
A dollar figure for the 20 to 30 percent of total sales was not available Tuesday.
However, any Bradford resident knows the bi-annual Zippo/Case International Swap Meet brings collectors from around the world to Bradford to buy, sell, trade and just plain show off their wares. Collectors, distributors and artists from as far as China, Japan, Europe (Claudio Mazzi in Italy, for example), Asia (John Troha in Vietnam) and even Oceania (Paul Fleming in New Zealand) were at the 2004 Zippo/Case International Swap Meet last summer.
Pat Grandy, Zippo marketing and communications manager, said Tuesday night that most of the serious swap meet collectors ship their lighter collections ahead of time, and since the lighters then make their way to the U.S. by sea, the ban should not prohibit their transport. The same logic applies to shipments of lighters to distributors overseas, Grandy said, adding the ban would not have a great impact on international sales.
Adding insult to injury, however, DOT regulations permit such items as ammunition packaged in wooden or metal boxes, as well as aerosol cans, which could contain isobutene propellants, to be carried in checked luggage and considers these items to be non-hazardous, Zippo officials said.
"If the DOT considers gunpowder and isobutene to be non-hazardous, it should logically conclude, based on all the evidence available, that lighters are non-hazardous as well," the statement from Zippo said.
The American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) have developed stringent standards for lighter safety. Zippo lighters have passed both the ASTM-400 and ISO-9994 safety standards, officials reported.
As far as what, if any, steps Zippo will take to fight the ban and/or make up for the potential loss, Grandy said officials are "working on several option to address the issue."
Calls to Zippo general counsel C. Jeffrey Duke were not returned Tuesday night.
Comments
it's times like this that he should ask himself, "what would macgyver do?"
Why not work to develop an indetectable, "safe" lighter with a whole new market caused by this law change. It could be fueled by spent uranium or some other less dangerous material than hydrocarbons?
Since both the hydrocarbons and the lighters are often from Pennsylvania, maybe this is some conspiracy against all things Pennsylvanian?
Regarding the gunpowder comment, everyone knows that nitro based gunpowder is somewhat flammable, but not explosive, unless it is ignited while under compression. I would bet that the more explosive, and therefore dangerous, black powder is indeed restricted since it is much more flammable and is explosive with little or no compression. It can also be easier ignited in one's shoe, even without a zippo lighter.
So, are there detectors available to sniff out matches, butane, petro based fuels, burnt tobacco residue on fingers and clothes? That's right we can't use profiling so forget the burnt tobacco residue.
So is this just one more tactic of the anti smoking nazis to backdoor further discomfort for those who are yet to join their cause? Smokers are the new enemy and lighters the newest WMD's, all to keep us further diverted from the fact we can't find Bin Laden?
You got to admit, the bastards know how to keep our attention away from the real issues. We can't eliminate HIV, domestic poverty, violence against women and children, or aging, but we can protect ourselves from the wild eyed smokers (or is that red eyed)who we've turned into criminals.
And by the way, who are "Zippo" that they can have the purely human trait of happiness, or the void thereof?
Sorry, but I'm enjoying this too much. I don't know which is worse, the stupidity of the law and those who penned it, or my willingness to spend time writing about it????
Maybe, too, I should have prefaced this entry with my reason for posting it, to show some of the second and third order impacts some of our crazy rules have. A local economy that depends so heavily on the manufacture of a premium product will have a lot of problems if they are banned from airports and commercial flights.