Post office appears to have lost a registered package.

coinlieutenant

Sent an ANACS AU50 1909-O Half Eagle to a dealer friend in California on May 12th. Package still shows in "acceptance" status. Called the P.O. tracking number and was told that the package is still unaccounted for and that I should file a claim. Package was insured for 6K. I wonder how long it will take to get my money?

Whole process is pretty scary. I cant imagine if it would have been a coin from my collection that was irreplaceable. Bottom line, make sure you insure, and insure well. Never know when something might happen.

I got lucky on the other package that went to IL. It had about 33K cost in it, not to mention about 4K in potential profit. I insured up to the max thinking that this stuff never gets lost. Never say never...

John

Cladiator

That blows. If that happened to me I'd have a hard time not "going postal".

storm888

As you know, RM is not about speed.

There is still a great probability that the package will surface.

fc

woe is me ;-)

seateddime

someone will lose a job for that!

Cladiator

<< <i>someone will lose a job for that! >>

Highly unlikely. It's nearly impossible to fire a Federal employee unless they murder someone or make a racial slur.

coinlieutenant

Actually Rich, someone will get fired if it ends up missing. Registered mail losses involve postal inspectors. And they dont mess around.

RWB

I had a registered package "vanish" for 5 weeks. Turned out that the receiving PO had allowed the recipient's agent to claim the package even though it was restricted to addressee only, and had a return receipt, then forward it to the recipient. The receipt arrived about a week after the package was verified as having been delivered. My local Postmaster and I had a long conversation with the Zone Manager.

Keyrock

I have a registered package going to PCGS sitting in Philadelphia's main PO now since the 21st of May. Looks like I should give them a phone call Friday. I was hoping is was delayed due to Memorial day etc. bust I'm losing faith rapidly. Thank God mine was only 6K and not the submission currently at PCGS. Man I hope they find it! I hate filing a claim, I would rather submission back!!

RYK

No reason to start a panic, but can you imagine what would happen to the rare coin trade if collectors, as a group, lost faith in insured shipping?

AnkurJ

This post has made me remember something. Heritage doesnt insure any of the packages they send. At least the ones sent to me. They are all electronically sent and just have Delivery Confirmation listed, no insurance. I guess they are willing to take a risk.

AJ

guitarwes

Do they just go ahead a give the $$$ to the insured person, or it a LONG drawn out process where they have to determine the actual value of the item in the package by comparison items for sale at auction houses, dealer's inventory, etc. Just so people won't insure a 5K with 8K worth of Insurance for example. stuff like that.

DrPete

Likely the package will turn up. The post office is good about paying out for lost registered and insured mail, but it can take a little while, perhaps a few months. I had a shipment coming to me that got lost and I was asked eventually to fill out a post office form, and eventually the dealer got his money and my payment was refunded. The coins were never recovered to my knowledge. The value was somewhere around $1300.

If the package has truly been lost/stolen, they will carefully check out the records of what the items were and the value based on your records and they will check closely. If the insurance amount taken out is clearly excessive, they will either only pay for the real market value or may not have to pay at all claiming a fradulent value was placed on the item. There is judgement involved here that might involve additional work. So it pays to keep good records and insure for the proper amount.

Outfits like Heritage have additional excess insurance they purcahse from companies such as Hugh Wood, as many of the upper tier dealers do. It is much more cost-effective for them to ship most coins as simple packages with their own additional insurance covering losses. To think of the amount Heritage would have to pay each year if all their shipments were sent registered and insured by us mail would be mind-boggling.

The last time I checked, registered mail with insurance will only pay a maximum of $25K, even if you pay excess insurance for amounts greater than this. That is, a $25K package insured for $25K and lost will be paid $25K. A package of $50K insured for only $25K lost and you're out of luck, you didn't fairly pay for the full insurance value, you get ZERO. A package of $50K and insured at $50K and lost, they'll pay the $25K. This is another reason that larger dealers have additional excess insurance to cover the insurance of higher priced coins.

RWB

Hmmm..I've never been able to buy anything from them that was expensive enough to insure....Maybe I'm on the wrong list, here?

Russ

<< <i>Heritage doesnt insure any of the packages they send. >>



Heritage has private insurance.

Russ, NCNE

ebaytrader

I also have a registered package gone missing recently. When filing the claim, the clerk laughed a little. Registered packages are signed for along the route as they change hands. I understand that the last elf that signs for it is given an hour to produce the package or be fired on the spot.

Cladiator

Sounds like a huge PITA.

PerryHall

<< <i>

<< <i>Heritage doesnt insure any of the packages they send. >>



Heritage has private insurance.

Russ, NCNE >>



As big as they are, they probably self insure.

Tonelover

Have your dealer friend check with his local PO to see if it might be there. Sometimes people don't receive their pink notification slip and the package is sitting waiting there for them. Happens to us every couple of months.

Hugegut

ModernDollarNut

The biggest delay in the handling of registered mail is the mandated use of safes to store the package at the various PO and PO hubs in transit. Bigger safes have deep dark corners that escape casual scrutiny so a package can sit in the dark for a long time before pressure is brought to bear to really dig for it.

30 days is the norm for filing a claim but I've found 45 days is a more reasonable expectation, even though one should file at 30 days to get the process moving. Rob

lordmarcovan

That is scary.

My PCGS submission left CA on the 11th and was just delivered to me the day before yesterday, though, so hopefully yours just fell into the same temporary time warp that mine did. I'll cross my fingers for you.