They absolutely know. You have to pay a hazmat fee on the gunpoweder/ammo, for example, and when you're shipping boxes out of a gun parts retailer, guess what? Those boxes contain gun parts. The PR flunky is either lying or totally misinformed - I'm guessing the latter.

You can go to the UPS store and ship an unmarked package there. So how would they know?

Well, I guess they'd have to ask. But the point is that they are very much aware that they currently ship large quantities of guns, gun parts, and ammunition to unlicensed people (legally) every single day.

I've shipped handloaded ammo to a buddy. You absolutely have to declare what's in the box, and the box must be marked "ORM-D" on multiple sides. Oh, and you goto the UPS depot, not some retail outlet.

I've had lots of non serial numbered/non ffl parts shipped to me via usps, FedEx, and ups.

This guy is completely full of crap.

Though, what he's talking about is more specific than ammo - which they probably already know all the local laws on.

While I see your point, I can still believe that UPS is erring on the side of caution while they try to figure out all the legislation involved in being a courier for this type of thing.

So they’re happy to ship me 80% AR15 lowers, along with the jig used to cut the fire control pockets. Plus all the other parts to build the AR15.

But not a machine that can cut the fire control pockets for me?