Soon after the Galaxy Note 7 recall was confirmed the handset was banned by airlines across the globe. Passengers were asked to power it down and keep it off as long as they were on the plane. Samsung suspended sales of the handset and over the past couple of weeks it has been involved in the massive exercise of replacing all existing Galaxy Note 7 units with new, safe units. It now has a huge pile of unsafe Galaxy Note 7 units on its hands which need to be shipped back. Logistics companies are unlikely to take the cargo as it is so the company has had to go the extra mile. It has obtained a special hazardous materials permit from the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to ship 137,000 unopened Galaxy Note 7 units back from retail locations across the country.
Defective units will be shipped back to Samsung in a “quantity-limited, thermally insulated outer package designed to contain fire or smoke.” The permit doesn't allow Samsung to send these devices back on an airplane so it may have to rely on a cargo ship, other acceptable forms of transport include rail and truck. “PHMSA will coordinate enforcement activities with CPSC [Consumer Product Safety Commission] to ensure the recalled devices are appropriately handled based on the regulations and any Special Permit(s) issued,” the agency said in a statement.
Samsung declined to comment on how it's going to ship defective units back and its carrier and retail partners in the United States also declined to comment on how these units will be sent back from their locations across the country.
