NGC Seems to Have (Essentially) Dumped USPS for Return Shipping

RichR

Guess too many coins have been lost or stolen recently...

Link:
https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/10235/return-shipping-updates/

P0CKETCHANGE

@RichR said:
Guess too many coins have been lost or stolen recently...

What leads you to believe that?

robec

I have notice that it is cheaper having coins shipped from Great Collections via FedEx than USPS., not to mention faster.

RichR

[What leads you to believe that?]

I have personally had coins lost or stolen recently via USPS...and that never happened to me in years prior.

Plus, quite a few on this board have also recalled similar recent incidents.

Assuming these cases are not unique, multiply that by thousands (or tens of thousands) of coin shipments and I can only assume that they've experienced an uptick in similar shipping issues.

In my case, an insured $500 coin, that was recorded as delivered to the locked mailbox in my building was gone within 5 minutes of it's recorded delivery...meaning that the coin was never placed into my box! And since the USPS recorded the coin as "delivered" to me, they flat out refused to honor the insurance claim despite their investigation being unable to prove that the coin was ever in fact delivered to my box and not another box in the building...so I was SOL!

FlyingAl

They’re not getting rid of USPS at all. Rather, they’re expanding their shipping capabilities to include higher value FedEx shipping if and only if the customer specifically requests that option.

lilolme

@FlyingAl said:
They’re not getting rid of USPS at all. Rather, they’re expanding their shipping capabilities to include higher value FedEx shipping if and only if the customer specifically requests that option.

I just read it and true not getting rid of usps but it seems to be saying that ngc will use (generally) fed ex for addresses (including international) and usps (generally) for PO boxes. They give a chart with fed ex rates for various values from $1 to $25K and on up to $100K. Starting July 5.

Return shipping via FedEx
With the updates, NGC will generally ship completed submissions to US addresses via FedEx with insurance coverage of up to $100,000 per package procured by NGC. The FedEx shipping method used will be based on the submitter’s declared values, with significant savings in many cases when compared to today’s rates.

jmlanzaf

@RichR said:
[What leads you to believe that?]

I have personally had coins lost or stolen recently via USPS...and that never happened to me in years prior.

Plus, quite a few on this board have also recalled similar recent incidents.

Assuming these cases are not unique, multiply that by thousands (or tens of thousands) of coin shipments and I can only assume that they've experienced an uptick in similar shipping issues.

In my case, an insured $500 coin, that was recorded as delivered to the locked mailbox in my building was gone within 5 minutes of it's recorded delivery...meaning that the coin was never placed into my box! And since the USPS recorded the coin as "delivered" to me, they flat out refused to honor the insurance claim despite their investigation being unable to prove that the coin was ever in fact delivered to my box and not another box in the building...so I was SOL!

That is anecdotal evidence of nothing with regards to NGC. They could simply have a cheaper commercial price from the competitors. They could have changed insurance companies which had different shipping requirements.

rays

NGC may have a special arrangement with fedex.

For collectors, fedex prohibits the shipping of collectible coins:

Money (coins, cash, currency paper money and negotiable instruments equivalent to cash such as endorsed stocks, bonds and cash letters), collectible coins and stamps cannot be carried by FedEx.

AdamL

Sounds like you can request USPS if you want, which is good for me. Literally EVERY package shipped to me via FedEx gets marked as delivered without ever actually being delivered. I had to contact the BBB to even get a human from the company on the phone just to tell them the driver was either a thief or utterly incompetent.

pruebas

I too have had many problems with FedEx. They often leave a note that the package is at Walgreens without even ringing the doorbell.

Luxor

They are now using Fed-Ex over the USPS??? Wow, what a massive mistake IMO. What were they thinking???

RichR

[[With the updates, NGC will generally ship completed submissions to US addresses via FedEx with insurance coverage of up to $100,000 per package procured by NGC. The FedEx shipping method used will be based on the submitter’s declared values, with significant savings in many cases when compared to today’s rates.]]

I'd say this will apply to a VAST MAJORITY of NGC's domestic customers, with only the exception of PO Boxes.

So while technically not ELIMINATING USPS as an option, I'd say this will greatly downgrade them in reality.

And for international shippers....there's this chestnut:

[[If an international submitter requests that USPS Mail be used, package(s) will NOT be insured and the risk of loss or damage during shipment will be assumed by the submitter.]]

logger7

The NGC shipping head told me a few years ago that they are the largest customer for usps in Sarasota county. It is hard to believe that they would switch that out to a totally private entity. Maybe they should be working with the usps and the government oversight to address concerns. Guarantees on overnight, etc. have been a problem with the usps and Fed Ex carries their overnight packages. With the pilot and other shortages it is hard to believe there is any easy solution.

Bigtree

It may be a choice of lesser evils. I think shipandinsure’s insurance premium table is interesting, and theoretically a reflection of the implied risk of using each kind of service.

I was surprised to see the risk premium of FedEx Ground be roughly on par with USPS Priority Express, and a fair bit less than USPS Priority. I also think this is more an indictment of USPS than an endorsement of FedEx.

bsshog40

@Bigtree said:
It may be a choice of lesser evils. I think shipandinsure’s insurance premium table is interesting, and theoretically a reflection of the implied risk of using each kind of service.

I was surprised to see the risk premium of FedEx Ground be roughly on par with USPS Priority Express, and a fair bit less than USPS Priority. I also think this is more an indictment of USPS than an endorsement of FedEx.

That's odd. I recently tried to Fedx some coins. I tried to insure them for 3k. They told me they wouldn't insure coins over $50. Had to mail them registered with usps.

P0CKETCHANGE

@bsshog40 said:
That's odd. I recently tried to Fedx some coins. I tried to insure them for 3k. They told me they wouldn't insure coins over $50. Had to mail them registered with usps.

I believe they have an exclusion for coins and/or bullion.

RichR

Reading between the lines (sort of) here...but are these coins actually being insured by FedEx or a third-party insurer retained by NGC???

I'm also guessing that on the submittal side of the equation, collectors would best be served to still use USPS to submit (and fully insure) their coins...and not FedEx, which doesn't seem to offer insurance to small fry like us.

I think a bit more detail from NGC might be advisable before people also start using FedEx to submit and get a rude surprise in the event of loss or theft!

Bigtree

@P0CKETCHANGE said:

@bsshog40 said:
That's odd. I recently tried to Fedx some coins. I tried to insure them for 3k. They told me they wouldn't insure coins over $50. Had to mail them registered with usps.

I believe they have an exclusion for coins and/or bullion.

Shipandinsure is a third-party insurance company. They provide insurance per shipment to their members. I was only using the table to show the implied risk for each shipping service.

If you don't have third-party insurance USPS is still the way to go (though important to make sure that the postage label doesn't tip off the value of the shipment), and specifically registered mail for coins that would be painful to lose.

thefinn

@RichR said:
[[With the updates, NGC will generally ship completed submissions to US addresses via FedEx with insurance coverage of up to $100,000 per package procured by NGC. The FedEx shipping method used will be based on the submitter’s declared values, with significant savings in many cases when compared to today’s rates.]]

I'd say this will apply to a VAST MAJORITY of NGC's domestic customers, with only the exception of PO Boxes.

So while technically not ELIMINATING USPS as an option, I'd say this will greatly downgrade them in reality.

And for international shippers....there's this chestnut:

[[If an international submitter requests that USPS Mail be used, package(s) will NOT be insured and the risk of loss or damage during shipment will be assumed by the submitter.]]

I have all of my USPS, FedEx and UPS packages sent to my PO Box. That way I know they’ll be safe until I pick them up.

amwldcoin

I have a friend going through a pretty good size loss insured through NGC that was lost in transit. Last I heard they were around 10K apart even with him documenting what he paid for the coins.

I would not want my coins shipped via Fed-Ex! I'm not sure how they were shipped to him, next time I talk to him I will ask him.