How does postage insurance work?

[mailin 0]

How does postage insurance work?

By nature - doesn't insurance mean providing the means necessary to restore 'insurance item' to its status before 'accident' occured?

So... I'm at the post office mailing some film negatives for the calendar project to an important part of our development team. I place all the items in a acid free cardboard envelope and place all of them in a padded/bubble wrap envelope to protect it from bumps and rain water.

I fill out the slips necessary to get insurance. Hell, these things are our entire project. If something where to happen to them the calendar would be a bust... insurance is a no brainer right?

I bring it up to the counter and the lady at the counter asks me the value of the items inside. I tell her - "well, thats impossible to say. They're the result of a service rendered and I can't put an exact dollar value on them. The only thing I can do is estimate the cost to replace them, which would be airfare etc. to the locations the pictures were taken etc. I'll place the entire value at $3,000."

"No, you can only insure the actual items. How much are they worth?" she says. I stare at her blankly thinking 'Did she hear me?'. "Well... these are a vital part of a project that has the potential of raising $100,000. Can I insurance them for a portion of that?" I ask. "No, just what they're worth".

Well... shit lady, they're worth a TON of freakin' money to me. They're worth 9 months of time and effort on a ton of people and I want to make sure you don't fuck it up and leave them on some doorstep to get eaten by a neighbors dog! (ya, I wish I had said that).....

But I just left it at that. She stamped it a bunch of times with "DO NOT BEND" and "FRAGILE". Like thats going to do anything

So how does postage insurance work? I'm thinking I should send everything UPS from now on

Jen

Arianna Frances

[Remster 30]

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I'm thinking I should send everything UPS from now on

Same deal I would bet.

Remster

[mailin 0]

Then how do you insure something like that?



Jen

Arianna Frances

[beowulf 1]

You should have just said they are worth $3,000 with out explaining why.

[Remster 30]

Quote

You should have just said they are worth $3,000 with out explaining why.

Problem with that is if you have to claim, you'll probably be SOL.... I'm not into the insurance game, so I may be hugely mistaking.....

Remster

[mailin 0]

In the future I will do that - but... she said she was required to ask and document what items are being insured. So anything deviating from the documentation could total void the insurance.

Seems like I should just drive the hundreds of miles and hand deliver them


Jen

Arianna Frances

[jtval 0]

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You should have just said they are worth $3,000 with out explaining why.

they told me I couldn't send wine through the mail. I had two boxes one wine and one clothes etc.
the one with clothes in it was still labeled with a wine label she asked me if there were bottles of wine in that one I said :NO: she asked my what was in the one that weighed so much I told her it was "vacation crap" she said ok.! and sent them whenI got home I had a case of great wine

My photos

My Videos

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

Quote

Seems like I should just drive the hundreds of miles and hand deliver them

People in the fllm industry hire prduction assistants to do just that. (I know someone who used to do this when he first began in the industry.) They fly with the videos/film/etc. and hand deliver the originals to the other party across the country or wherever. It's kind-of like a drug deal...

[unformed 0]

Send anything extremely valuable by FedEx or UPS. If its small enough, send them Fedex/UPS Overnight.

If you're going to use the postal service, as a minimum use Express Mail/Registered Mail.

Express Mail is guaranteed to be delivered the next day. (A postal worker will drive to you r place in a private car to deliver it.)

Registered Mail will always have somebody responsible for it.

I don't really know what you can do for insurance, but regardless, I'd use FedEx/UPS for anything important to you.

For example, all important documents, (ie: contracts, some job offer letters, etc) are sent by Overnight FedEx)

This ad space for sale.

[Snowwhite 0]

True story, I mailed a viola bow to a family in Des Moines. Used a big hard tube made just for the purpose. Put the recipients addy on the middle of the tube, on a USPS label. The customer calls to say that the tube is broken in HALF, in the mailbox, with brown TAPE over the label, so that the name is not visible.
When I had gone to the post office, I asked about insurance, but the clerk told me that first class was insured to $150. (This was 1980 something) and the wholesale value of the bow was just about that amount, so I hadn't added any. Turns out the clerk was wrong,,,NO insurance. So even tho it was obvious that the MAILMAN broke the bow (or else, how did he know where to deliver it?) I ended up eating the cost of the viola bow. Never again, it will always be UPS from now on.
btw, one Friday late afternoon, Fed EX left 6 guitars in boxes on the doorstep of my shop. A neighbor knew I wouldn't be there all weekend and took them home with her, or that could have been REALLY expensive...

skydiveTaylorville.org
freefallbeth@yahoo.com

[diablopilot 2]

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thinking I should send everything UPS from now on

Yep, or acctually I prefer Fed Ex. Much better customer service.

Believe me when I say I ship ALOT of stuff.

US Postal Insurance is a joke. In 2 years of filing claims everytime something has been lost or broken we've collected exactly once. The come up with bullshit excuses about how it's not their responsibility and you have no additional recourse.

On another not, please try to NEVER send original negatives. Have copies of the negatives made. It's not expensive.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Keith 0]

If it works anything like my recent experience, you'll pay them to fully insure the items for what they're worth (I had reciepts to show value), then, if they items are damaged, they'll pay you what they want. I'll Never send Anything of value through the USPS ever again. I hope the pics arrive in one piece.

Keith

Don't Fuck with me Keith - J. Mandeville

[ypelchat 0]

Quote

How does postage insurance work?

By nature - doesn't insurance mean providing the means necessary to restore 'insurance item' to its status before 'accident' occured?

So... I'm at the post office mailing some film negatives for the calendar project to an important part of our development team. I place all the items in a acid free cardboard envelope and place all of them in a padded/bubble wrap envelope to protect it from bumps and rain water.

I fill out the slips necessary to get insurance. Hell, these things are our entire project. If something where to happen to them the calendar would be a bust... insurance is a no brainer right?

I bring it up to the counter and the lady at the counter asks me the value of the items inside. I tell her - "well, thats impossible to say. They're the result of a service rendered and I can't put an exact dollar value on them. The only thing I can do is estimate the cost to replace them, which would be airfare etc. to the locations the pictures were taken etc. I'll place the entire value at $3,000."

"No, you can only insure the actual items. How much are they worth?" she says. I stare at her blankly thinking 'Did she hear me?'. "Well... these are a vital part of a project that has the potential of raising $100,000. Can I insurance them for a portion of that?" I ask. "No, just what they're worth".

Well... shit lady, they're worth a TON of freakin' money to me. They're worth 9 months of time and effort on a ton of people and I want to make sure you don't fuck it up and leave them on some doorstep to get eaten by a neighbors dog! (ya, I wish I had said that).....

But I just left it at that. She stamped it a bunch of times with "DO NOT BEND" and "FRAGILE". Like thats going to do anything

So how does postage insurance work? I'm thinking I should send everything UPS from now on

Jen

Hello Mailin;

My advice to you is NEVER pay for USPS insurance. It’s a total loss of money. Two years ago, my Cypres got lost in the mail.

To make a loooooong story short, here’s what happened.

After maintenance was performed by SSK on my Cypres unit, SSK sent it back to me, by USPS insured mail (with tracking). Somehow, my Cypres was lost when it "crossed the U.S -- Canadian border".

USPS said : "Once a package crosses the border, it’s out of our hands……".

Canada Post said : "The package never entered Canada, so it’s out of our hands……"

The USPS tracking status stated the package effectively entered the Canadian customs……..

Canada post tracking status stated the package never entered the Canadian customs………

To this day, the claim is still open……… To my knowledge, SSK was never able to collect any money from USPS or Canada Post, even if the package was shipped fully insured.........

SSK sent me a loaner unit to replace my lost Cypres, and later told me the loaner unit was mine to keep. (Thanks Karen and Kai Koerner)

Karen Dean of SSK spent COUNTLESS hours on the phone to TRY to talk to a real USPS representative. She was never able to talk to a USPS representative. Only automated reply messages…….. Press 2…. Press 3…….. press 4…….press 6…………. To hear this message again, Press 1……..

On my side, I was able to talk to several Canada Post representative, all of which said the package never entered Canada.

As a result, SSK decided to negotiate a Canada -- U.S -- Canada deal with UPS. Canadians skydivers can now ship their Cypres units to SSK, using SSK’s UPS account, and SSK would return the Cypres to the Canadian customer and added the two way shipping charges to the maintenance bill. :o)

My experience with USPS was surely not a good one. I know that a carrier like UPS cost more than USPS. But at least, with UPS, you can talk to a real human being. :o)

Yves.

[Layton 0]

i work for the postal service and if it has to be there unmarred,bent folded spindeled and mutilated send it registered mail. it has a paper trail from the minute you send it till the minute it is delivered. it is signed for every time it moves from one post office to the next and no we dont leave it on the door step for the neighbors dog to eat like the guys in the brown trucks do.mishandeling of a piece of registered mail can result in dismissal.keep in mind that you have to package it properly. it has to have brown packaging tape with the threads in it on all of the seams,so that the window clerk can round date on the corners so that you can tell that it hasn't been tampered with.that is the best service that we offer but it isn't overly fast because of the paper trail .it's not slow either but if won't go overnight.