Postal Insurance question

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Posted By: ramram

I know these questions keep coming up regularly but....

I went to mail an item today at the Post Office. I was mailing a vintage baseball image and wanted $200 insurance on it. The lady asked what was in it and then said unless it was shipped registered, the Post Office wouldn't cover it if something happened. I said "so all of these items I've been shipping over the years and paying insurance for would not of even been covered?". She said for items like old photos and cards the Postal insurance won't cover losses. They don't make it a practice of asking what is in the item being shipped (other than if it is fragile, liquid, perishable or potentially hazardous) and just accepts your money, but, if something happens it is not a covered item. In other words, they will gladly take your insurance money but will not cover the item if something happens (unless shipped registered mail...which is more costly, slow and a pain in the butt the way you have to wrap it up).

Do we have any Postal employees on the board that can enlighten me? What about UPS's policy? I know we have somebody on the board from UPS.

Rob M.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

priroity, insured, signature. the cheker i was dealing with asked what it was, and i said, " a baseball card." "We don't insure baseball cards--do we? (to the checker next to her).
'yes we do. they're--a commodity.' he answered.

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Posted By: Joe Jones

I had something damaged and couldnt get insurance money for it because they said USPS does not insure collectibles.

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Posted By: Josh

the policy has changed in the last couple of months, we send a ton of stuff through the post office, with a lot of it insured.
We've never had a problem getting money back for our claims. Generally, they pay because the package was lost, rather than damaged; but we certainly have received claim money on damaged packages as well.
Maybe their policy has changed recently. For our auction items, we send them either by USPS, UPS or Fed EX ground and I have received back claims from each of the three at various times.

Josh

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Posted By: T206Collector

I purchased a board with a bunch of T206 cards glued to it on ebay for about $200, if memory serves me. My hope was to remove the cards from the board with a good soaking. Fortunately, the seller put approximately $400 of insurance on it before he sent it to me. Well, the postal service actually tore the board -- Clark Griffith and Miller Huggins both torn in half. I brought the pieces of the cards to the post office with a copy of the insurance forms from the seller, and after filling out some forms, I made a claim for $100, which I felt was the amount I was perhaps damaged by this. Well, about a month later I got a check in the mail for $100 from the USPS. This happened a little over a year ago.

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Posted By: ramram

I wonder if this is a gray area with the Post Office or if it is something that has changed recently. Strangely, I know the Post Master mentioned that if it were a book it would be covered. I'm confused.

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Posted By: DJ

My post office people have never asked me what was inside. Not once. They ask me if it's potentially hazardous and stuff but have never inquired about it's contents In saying that, I sent out a Sporting News Premium about a year ago and it was damaged in transit. I had to give proof of it's value and such and the case was rejected stating that I didn't pack it properly. I sandwiched between four pieces of premium cardboard and how it got damaged it is beyond me. The PO didn't even send me my piece back. Who owns that piece now? It was such BS.

DJ

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Posted By: barrysloate

What I find is postal workers don't really know all the fine points of what the rules are at the post office, but that is in Brooklyn where everybody seems to have an attitude. If you insure something and they lose it, it shouldn't matter what it was. You have every right to send a collectable in the mail. If it is delivered damaged, then it gets tricky, because I think you have to determine to what extent you lost money. I would hate to have to go there with the post office.

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Posted By: sagard

USPS pays out very few claims whether they are legitimate or not. They will not cover your sale, but will cover your costs when you do get them to pay.

They will also try to apply their determination of your packages value when paying, not simply what you put on the slip.

If it is something you need to get from point A to B, USPS Registered is the best option as I have heard they are more expediant in paying when something goes wrong with that service.

For anything under a $1000 I choose to package it well and use priority and signature confirmation and take my chances. I quote my customers one shipping price and do not try to sell them on insurance, but issue refunds if there is a problem.

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Posted By: David Vargha

As easy a target as they are, the USPS has come though on the two times I had to file an insurance claim (once for about $400 and another time for about $70). I was just asked last week what was in an insured bubble mailer. They had no problem with it being baseball cards.

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: Richard Dwyer

Seems to me if you said it had a Honus Wagner card in it, the employee would steal it right then and there. (?)
I saw the same thing at DHL the other day. They won't let you ship Stamps, cards, etc. anymore.

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Posted By: Mark

BB cards are definitely insurable. Anything not listed in the domestic mail manual as ineligilbe is insurable. My claim was honored last year when I took at previously delivered package in to a USPS office, it was taken from me, and it was subsequently "lost."

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Posted By: Brent Butcher

I almost think its up to the local postmaster and the way they interpret the rules/regulations. I've been told at a po that they don't insure collectibles and then at my local po I was told by the post master they would. I've only had to make a claim one time when a graded card I received came damaged. The holder was broke pretty badly and I explained to the post master that this collectible is almost worthless if the card inside is damaged. I explained to her the grading process a little bit and she agreed to pay to have it reholdered and if it couldn't be reholdered she would pay for the price I paid for the card. It came back reholdered and I received a check for $5.

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Posted By: Charlie O'Neal

I have had one experince with filing a postal insurance claim. In the fine print if the post office denies a claim they have to provide the All of the contents of the package if you ask for it. If the post office fails to provde the contents for the package (I think within 30days) then your claim is automatically approved by default. If your experience happened fairly recently I would look into this.

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Posted By: Mark

It's not up to the local postmasters' interpretations of the rules. The claims are all processed through St. Louis.

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Posted By: damian

yes, the insurance policy is rather complicated, but i am only a letter carrier and will ask tomorrow in my office.

what i do know is "registered" mail is top dog. If i was to lose one i could be fired automatically. these things are signed over at every location. A postmaster would be in some trouble if someone lost one, not fired i'm sure but no having fun for a bit. they have the truck drivers sign for these as well, they get their own little bags (seperate from normal mail/parcels/priority et al) they have metal serial numbered tags that go over the bags and on trucks locks that have to be verified and changed at every stop. Basically thats armored car worthy to the USPS.

So if you want it the safest route, go Registered and insure it to your hearts content. anything of value to you or the provider should go this way.

P.S. The post office gets a bad rap all the time, but i will say this, UPS, FedEx, DHL, pick you server. they all have their faults also, noones perfect
and none of them will send a letter from the tip of Florida to the tip of Alaska, forward that to Hawaii, all for 38 cents.

Good Luck!