Has anyone ever been REALLY "saved" by using postal insurance?

TheLiberator

For instance: you insured the item for it's full value and then it was lost? How about the other way around? Have you ever trusted that the package would just arrive without full insurance and it never did?

NOTE: I am interested in responses from both buyers and sellers on this one. I'd like to get an idea of how frequently packages actually get lost.

poptopsRus

The post office has paid off to me (as a seller) for over $500 on about 4 lost packages. The process is a pain and takes months but it does work.

Trooper

I recieved an slit opened envelope once with my $300 coin missing. Took about 4 week but I was refunded the total amount. I will never pass on insurance unless it's a extemely cheap purchase.

Tom

NumisMe

I agree with them...I had a package of quarter rolls delivered in a beat up box with only 3 of the 20 rolls remaining in the box.
It took almost 2 and a half months to get it all straightened out, but I got my money back.

UncleJoe

I have had 2 packages lost as seller and 1 package lost as buyer in about 500 total transactions.

One package sent as seller and the package as buyer were both insured and reimbursed in full. (just paperwork and time to resolve) The other package I sent uninsured and I refunded the buyer in full.

Joe.

Bikingnut

What I find amazing is that there are people working in the postal service that would cut open packages to steel the contents. Aren't all postal workers supposed to go through some type of thorough background check?

robertpr

What I find amazing is that there are people working in the postal service that would cut open packages to steel the contents. Aren't all postal workers supposed to go through some type of thorough background check?

There are crooked people in all lines of work, background check or not.

The thing that pisses me off is that you have to actually pay extra for insurance. It's as if the USPS is saying, well you have to pay extra for us to be liable for our mistakes. I don't think that would fly in any other type of service industry.

291fifth

In my recent experience (the last four years, or so) I have had one loss that totaled $50. The one loss was suspicious (it involved a book and not coins). I suspect that the buyer of the book really did receive it but claimed that he did not. It's a long story.

I haven't filed any postal insurance claims

MrEureka

I've lost one out of about 4000 Registered packages in 25 years.

chiefbob

I sent a submission to PCGS 2 years ago that was insured but not registered. Big mistake. The USPS wanted to reimburse me only for what I paid for the coins and demanded a receipt to collect the insurance that I had already paid for. They returned my claim without reimbursement.

I then sent them a letter explaining that I had no receipts for the coins as I inherited the coins from my uncle. I also drew them an analogy that someone buying an antique at a garage sale for $25 and gets a receipt, and then 10 years later finds out it's worth $500 and ships it insured to a buyer . The receipt is meaningless, the current value is what the item was insured for. They processed it and I got paid about 5 weeks later.

What galls me is that I had paid insurance for the value of the coins, not what I paid for them years ago. They gladly collected my money but then didn't want to reimburse me for the coverage I paid for.

As it turns out, there was a thief working in the postal facility in Long Beach and quite a few packages destined for PCGS were stolen by this scumbag. The postal inspectors found a bunch of packages in his apartment during their investigation.

If not sending registered (highly recommended), I would at least pay the .47 for the tracking status of the package.

Bob

K6AZ

In the last five years I have sent out several thousand packages via USPS. Only one turned up completely missing, and wouldn't you know it, turned out to be a fellow board member about 150 miles north of me. It took about 30 days from when I filed the claim to get the check in the mail. I furnished a copy of what the buyer paid, and that is what I insured it for, and the PO paid that amount.

Likewise, I have only lost one incoming item. It was a NGC Morgan dollar. The seller put it in a bubble mailer loose. Someone slit open the edge of the mailer and stole the coin. The seller refunded my money and was paid off by the PO.

One other funny occurence. In December 2002 I bought a coin on eBay. By the middle of January, it did not arrive so I got in touch with the seller who refunded my money. The coin showed up in late March in a priority box with no apparent damage. Don't know what happened to it for three months. I got a hold of the seller and sent his money back.

DHeath

I had one stolen at the Newport Beach post office (by a postal employee) enroute to PCGS that I was reimbursed $1500 for. It's the only one I've lost over the years.

TheLiberator

<< <i>One other funny occurence. In December 2002 I bought a coin on eBay. By the middle of January, it did not arrive so I got in touch with the seller who refunded my money. The coin showed up in late March in a priority box with no apparent damage. Don't know what happened to it for three months. I got a hold of the seller and sent his money back. >>



Hahah! That is like those stories you hear where the mailbag was lost for 50 years in a basement and someone got their love letters delivered VERY late! It does happen!

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

What I have taken from this thread is this: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!

SirAnthonyAC

Yes... only once but, yes.

I sold 50 mercury silver dimes on Ebay for, something like, $60.00 I shipped them via UPS with $99 insurnace, they scanned it, it went to their depot, and then it was gone.

I kept the bidder in the loop with the tracking number, he contacted UPS as well, they admited it was lost. I refunded the bidder his money then waited...

It took some doing, forms to fill out, etc etc but... I got a check for $99.00.

Anthony

spy88

Bikingnut, all federal employees go thru thorough screening before hire, but so do teachers. And we all read all too often, of sexual abuse of a student(s) by a teacher. There just isn't any guarantee when dealing with people period.

In less then 100 transactions with shipping/receiving coins, I have had two lost, both coming to me. One was for less then $20 so just let it go. The other was for a 1971 PR69DC Jeff PCGS. Mailed from Kansas City, it went to LA then here to Vegas main hub. Somewhere along the way, it came out of the package which was returned to LA torn and empty. The owner filed for the insurance claim and I received my copy to fill out. In the meantime, I did calls to my PO and was finally put in contact with a "lost and found" section at our hub. Lo and behold, the slab was just sitting there waiting to be claimed. Since the buyer had already reimbursed me for the purchase, I just had them sent it back to him. VERY lucky!

This is also why I will always request that the coin store or auction house I buy from NOT use their standard return address name on the package! If you dealers out there have key words in your company name (rare, coins, gold, silver, etc.), I suggest you simply replace the company name with a personal name for mailing purposes only. Why advertise what the contents may be? The temptation may be too great for some poor over-worked and underpaid postal employee!

FrattLaw

Here's one --

Not coin related, but I think it shows the honesty of some PO staff. I usually get paid via check from large insurance companies in my business. One of my clients in their infinite wisdom decided that they didn't want to bother putting my checks into envelopes but instead just deposited them in the mail.

Luckily the checks had my business name and address on them. Several showed up at my office WITH POSTAGE stamped on the checks and the others were put into an envelope by the PO and sent to me. Out of 27 checks, I received 21 so far. How the checks weren't ripped or torn by the sorting machines is a mystery to me.

I'm surprised they weren't stolen and at least attempted to be cashed by someone.

There are honest people who work for the US Post Office.

Michael

paigowjohnny

Yes...twice...both times a couple years ago, and both instances involved GSA CC Morgans I won on auction.
Never received either package.
The sellers both handled it, and even though it took some time to flush out...restitution was made.

shylock

The one and only time I bought an EBay coin and neglected, unintentionally, to check the "insurance" box when paying thru PayPal, it never arrived. It may have been a coincidence but you have to wonder. The seller was very friendly but not very helpful, and made it clear he wasn't responsible. And he was right.

The real value of insurance is as a deterant to both sellers and Postal employees who may be inclined to rip you off. For every story we hear about the Post Office paying off for a lost package, there may be countless others that arrived safely only because the package was insured to begin with.

alergar

I say this with my fingers crossed !!!!

I have never had an incoming or out going package lost.

OK, fingers are uncrossed now.

I have received packages that where damaged in shipment !!!!

When I sell items I make insurance required on all items valued over $100.00; optional on items valued under $100.00.
If the buyer refuses to purchase insurance I send the item with delivery confirmation and I always keep the postal receipts as proof of shipment !!!!

cladking

I used to do extensive trading with many individuals and found the loss rate on
insured packages to be around 1%+ and on uninsured about .25%. Most of the
uninsured packages that were lost were going to someone I didn't know well so
always suspected some of these went through but the reciever didn't acknowledge
it. The amount of insurance had little bearing on whether or not it was lost, just be-
ing insured made it susceptible.

I had three major claims which were paid with little trouble though they did all take
quite a while. One major claim was lost because it was apparent the recipient stole
the items and they refused to press charges even with what seemed conclusive ev-
idence.

Uninsured with good packaging is definitely the best way to ship if the item is extreme-
ly important and/or of little value.

I never lost a registered package but used this very little except on incoming ones. The
biggest problem was usually damage. Packages are frequently tortured and whipped
and it can be nearly impossible to establish loss on coins which actually arrive at their
destination. At one point nearly 10% of packages were affected.

Sequitur

The seller was very friendly but not very helpful, and made it clear he wasn't responsible. And he was right.

I don't think so. If I'm the buyer and I don't receive a shipped item, it's not my responsibilty -- it's the seller's (read: the shipper's) responsibility to get the item to me. As a buyer and recipient , I'm not responsible for post office screwups or thefts.

And it's the seller's responsibility, as the shipper, to ensure his coins or goods are insured, not the buyer/recipient. (I did not say the seller had to purchase the insurance -- the seller can make insurance mandatory, include it in the auction price, or self-insure. But if the seller wants to guard against shipping loss, that's the seller's decision.)

If you're selling and shipping me a coin, and you don't insure it, what the heck do I care? It's the seller/shipper's loss, not my loss -- the seller never got the coin to me and I never took delivery.

Barry

I had 2 incoming losses and 1 outgoing loss over the years. One of the incoming losses was a hassle to collect, the other no problem (the seller paid me and dealt with the paperwork). USPS initially paid the Redbook G-4 value of the coin. After Round 2, they paid the correct amount. The outgoing loss is being processed now. I sold some L&C sets and from the sound of it, they drove a forklift over the Prio Mail box and crushed it.

I had one claim with one of the private carriers (RPS, now Fedex Ground). The driver left a big box (office supplies) outside my office on a Friday afternoon after we closed (4:45 PM). RPS claimed I signed for it. I told them, number 1, I don't sign for my own packages, my receptionist does. Number 2, she signs her own name, not mine. Number 3, we close at 4 PM on Friday. I asked to see the signature, and it was my name, but obviously not my signature. Turned out the driver admitted signing my name, to save having to redeliver it on Monday. We were reimbursed and he was fired.

MadMarty

I had one claim, the seller sent the package and it looks like it got wet, my mailman marked that the package was damaged and empty. Took a few month but the PO paid the claim.

airplanenut

<< <i>I sold some L&C sets and from the sound of it, they drove a forklift over the Prio Mail box and crushed it.
>>

Oops

darktone

<< <i>As it turns out, there was a thief working in the postal facility in Long Beach and quite a few packages destined for PCGS were stolen by this scumbag. The postal inspectors found a bunch of packages in his apartment during their investigation. >>

I lost one in the Newport beach fiasco also- months later and much agravation later I got a refund for $3,000. I have lost a few lower valued package but the USPS took care of those pretty quick. Overseas is another story as I have had a few lost with no compensation at all- I have a claim in for one right now that I just got my first letter back from the USPS but it took them from May 2003 to do it and all I can get back is $40.45. mike

nwcs

No, not yet. Although I do risk sometimes. I just sent a submission to PCGS using first class mail with no insurance or delivery confirmation.

ursabear

Yes.

The USPS has been very good to me.

I've collected on full insured value on several broken and lost items.

JR

I personally insure all incoming and outgoing packages (outgoing at my expense). I mostly do this from the personal belief that insured packages have a greater probability of showing up (if sent in the first place), and if they don't show, there is some accountability. Any purchase over $10 I pay for insurance regardless - if for no other reason than the ability to track the package. Also, I buy coins from overseas dealers, and not knowing some of them, I'm not confident they will even ship out a package - unless I previously purchased insurance on the goods.

The above being said, I have had to file two claims with the USPS. In the first case, I was the purchaser. After approximately 45 days, the USPS found the lost package at one of their facilities. The seller and I agreed to go the insurance route incase the item never showed. I had in the meantime already purchased a replacement item from another source, and the original seller was kind enough to accept the return of the item mislaid by the USPS.

My one and only claim that was seen through to the end, involved a PCGS certified coin that had its holder broken in transit and a damage claim was filed with the USPS. I had to provide supporting info to show what the coin was worth (under what the buyer had paid for it). In the end, the buyer got reimbursed ($75.00). The whole process took about 60 days.

haletj

I sent a 89-p ms66 Kennedy uninsured to Braddick that got lost in the mail.