Post Office Issue

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Posted By: Dave

So today I go to mail a package out of the post office.... insured and with delivery confirmation. The guy working the desk starts grilling me about what is in the package and I finally relent in telling him it was cards (after saying photos because of workers with sticky fingers).

He then proceeds to tell me that I've been wrong in insuring them for all these years, and that the post office does not insure photos or baseball cards shipped Priority... and that my previous 200+ transactions have been wrong.

I promptly took my cards away from this guy and left after a few choice words... but has anyone else ever heard this? I'm assuming I came across a guy and a manager who were in the wrong here but I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of this policy?

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Posted By: Eric

Going beyond what you've asked, I also wonder:

Does the Post Office reimburse you if you insure a package, for the value that you've stated and it doesn't get to it's destination?

Do you have to prove the value of the item if a package is lost and you need to make a claim (which you have to give the USPS 30 days before you can file a claim), and how would one go about proving the value?

Luckily this has never happened to me, but I've always wondered.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I thought it would be an ideal time to ask.

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Posted By: Mark T

employees should only ask if the package contains fragile, liquid, hazardous material. Other than that they have NO business knowing what you are shipping. Sounds strange to me.

I have a friend at post office who knows i ship cards, i have insured $6000 cards before and she has never said to me that the post office does not insure Baseball cards.

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Posted By: Eric

"employees should only ask if the package contains fragile, liquid, hazardous material"

And don't forget perishable!

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Posted By: Dave

Exactly. I couldn't believe the nerve of this guy grilling me as to what was in the package. It's never happened before so right there my radar was up.

I also once had a card lost in the mail that was sent to me and the guy claimed insurance on it so I'm at a loss here. Needless to say my confidence in the USPS is a little shaky this AM.

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Posted By: Eric

Hey Dave,

Do you have another post office close by that you can send packages from instead? I'd avoid that one like the plague.

For me, I won't ever send anything from the post offices in my town. I usually go over to the next town and send from there. Of course this is speaking from a highly populated area, were post offices are a dime a dozen.

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Posted By: Dave

Luckily I live in NYC and this is only the 2nd time I've used this post office. Just to let everyone (from the area) know it was the one across the street from the Garden.

I'm sure I will have no trouble shipping at my regular office. I just want to make sure if these things are lost in the mail that I'm covered. I don't want some knucklehead to come back at me with that response if I ever need to go make a claim.

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Posted By: Mark T

i did forget "perishable" Eric...I get that question every time i ship something, but i guess they have to ask.


Post office employees know that if they try and steal a package not only will they get fired but its a Federal crime.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Dave- I had a baseball card lost in the mail recently, put a claim in, and was reimbursed for it. It was under $100, and I admit it took forever to get my check, but they did not question that it was a baseball card.

One thing I found as a regular at the post office is not every clerk knows the rules, and each of them interprets the rules differently. The clerk whom you encountered was likely wrong to tell you baseball cards can't be insured.

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Posted By: Jason Duncan

My next door neighbor is my postmaster. I have sent thousands of packages with only one lost insured priority package. I was reimbursed within 3 months for $1500. This guy has no clue what he is talking about. He needs to brush up on his service skills.

Jason

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

The guy asking you what was in the package is a red flag. That should never happen. I believe it's only when shipping out of the country that you have to declare contents.

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Posted By: keyway

I have never had a problem getting paid for insured, lost items by the post office. Ship cards insured all the time. Especially to be graded at high dollar insurance. Never had a problem. The guy must have been having a bad day and took it out on you. Frank

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Posted By: Alan U

Did his name tag by chance say "Cliff Clavin"

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Posted By: Dave F

Depends on value-

My thought is if you had to put a claim in on a $10k card you might encounter some problems. But, I see Jason did so with a $1500 card...but it does look like it would take forever...3-6 months to get your money back?


I can't remember which one (or maybe both) because I hardly ever use them, but I thought FedEx or UPS one or the other would NOT insure cards. Just funny because that's the way it seems most the big auction houses go. I wonder why their preference is for the private carriers?

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Posted By: raymond g.

When you file a submission with SGC or the like, the submission form dictates an amount for POSTAGE + INSURANCE. It seems to me if the USPS didn't insure cards, why the heck would SGC have such requirements on the form. I am sure SGC would know the rules!

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Posted By: Dave

Thanks everyone. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't losing my mind with this because I do ship a lot of cards insured... but I now understand the meaning of going "postal."

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Posted By: Dave

No Cliff but I did manage to find a picture of the guy on the internet... avoid him if you come across him:

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Posted By: Eric

Peter is right.

Only if you ship outside the country do you actually have to "declare" the contents of the package when shipping via USPS or any other carrier for that matter.

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Barry,

Define "forever"! I'm seriously curious as to how long it took them.

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Posted By: Mark T

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Posted By: Dave

He and Kramer are due for a recycling trip soon I hope. I'm gonna leave my empties in front of the place.

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Posted By: Dave

I have some knowledge in this area ( I've worked in claims in the PO before). The clerk is right to ask what is in a package when buying insurance. The reason is to see if it is something insurable and if it is packed properly. The 2nd issue is you lied to the clerk saying it's photos. He was just warning you that the pics are only insured for replacement value not actual value. Of course, vintage photos that you bought or sold and can prove are insurable, but he's just trying to stop the mother sending grandma pics of the kids and waisting her money insuring them for $300 when the PO only pays replacement value(Film and Developeing $20)

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Posted By: Dave

I don't think that's why. I was told NO insurance on photos. So even if I had gone into detail and had a baby photo of Jesus in there it wouldn't have been considered for insurance.

After that I revealed they were cards (which technically ARE photos on cardboard). So there was no issue of "lying" here. Still the answer was "NO".

They were properly packed... etc. They just didn't consider them items that were insurable. Period.

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Posted By: S Gross

I think we're agruing "photos of apples and photos of oranges."

There's a big difference in Mom insuring a family photo of L'il Binky's fisrt steps to Grandma, and Auction House XX insuring an original Bain photo of Ruth to a collector.

Mom could never prove value, Auction House XX could (as could the original poster).

As far as postal employees go, I've delt with some of the nicest and some of the biggest see you next Tuesdays in my life.


Although not a die-hart, one of my favs:

Newman: "I'll handle this, Violet. Why don't you take your three hour break?"

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Posted By: Gary Passamonte

Basically anything is mailable and insurable if it meets hazmat requirements and is packaged properly. If an insured package is lost in the mail, the person filing a claim must produce the original insured mailing receipt and proof of value of the contents of the package. If a package is damaged in handling, the requirements are the same except the damaged article must be surrendered to the Post Office when the claim is filed unless the damaged item repairable. In this case the Post Office will only pay to repair the damaged item.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Spoken by a true postmaster

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Posted By: richie

Quick question insurance at post office. If i mail a card that is insured for $1000. What type of proof would i have of the value of that card. I know you have to show what card is worth. How is it possible to do that if you do not hve proof of the value of the card. Thanks

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Posted By: Jeff S.

I've far as I'm concerned, you're paying a fee for their insurance - you should be able to ship an empty box and still have it insured for X-amount. Who cares what's inside - they're making money on that service without a doubt.

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Posted By: Gary Passamonte

Richie,

You would prove value by producing a sales receipt or voucher for the card. Another option would be showing documentation showing recent sale prices for the same card in the same condition.

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Posted By: Mark T

I asked my friend a few questions regarding what happened. She has been at post office for 25 years. She tells me USPS will insure ANYTHING except checks. The worker at the post office you dealt with is 100% wrong in asking what is in your package.

Another thing she says is you need to supply proof of value to get a claim from USPS, meaning if you sell a card on Ebay for $500 and try to insure it for $1,000 and it gets lost you will only get $500.


Also, post office employees who are caught stealing mail will get fired and face a federal crime. There is a certain prison just for this act.

She tells me the best way to send expensive cards is Registered mail. Which i already knew.

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Posted By: Dave

A few tips on insurance. If you sell something on ebay a card or anything and insure it. The PO will want to see proof of money transfer ( print out paypal record or copy of check or money order, always make copy before cashing). Some items are only insurable with registered mail. Gift cards and gift certificates fall into that group.

Another thing always check express over regular mail when insuring high values (2000 and up) I recently sent a cane valued at 4ooo and it was $20 cheaper express and arrived the next day.
Hope this helps

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Posted By: Dave

Shipped the cards out this AM... insured priority at another PO. Clerk was great, didn't ask me what was in them beyond the standard inquiry.

We even talked about the Pudge/Farns trade for a couple minutes.


I do usually send registered if over 1K but these didn't fall in that category.

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Posted By: Tony Galovich

The biggest problem is every post office does things differently.
I deal with 2 post offices & each interprets the rules their own way
Even though all post offices are supposed to follow one policy
So basically you spend your money & take your chances

Do you ship via Fedex?
I hear the max you can insure cards is $500
BUT they will allow you to insure for $50K if you like
not that you will ever collect $50K
Nice scam they are running

Here is a new one from the USPS
I shipped a $100 gift certificate & insured it for it's full value
Then they tell me if it's lost I can only collect 15% of it's insured value
What's up with That?

Insuring things is A Joke
Send with Delivery Confirmation or Registered mail is best

I have a guy who ships me $3K of silver bullion with delivery confirmation only
Nothing lost yet!!

It seems insuring a items tells the carrier something Valuable is Inside

I've sent cash thru the mail via 1st class literally 100's of times in my lifetime (small amounts of course)
Never lost one letter yet

Spend your $$$ & take your chances

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Posted By: D. Bergin

I remember reading a real horror story in the Non-Sports publication "The Wrapper" years ago. A dealer shipped out over 10K worth of high end cards (might have been even more but I'm not sure) to a client through FedEx. Insurance was paid for and the package was lost. FedEx came back and told them they were out of luck. Too bad. We don't insure collectibles like this for over $500 even though we collected the insurance charge from you.

I don't know if this is still the case but it makes you want to take a plane flight and deliver a package by hand sometimes.