Interesting Question Regarding USPS Shipping -- Drop Off at Counter or Use the Free Pick-up Service?

numisma

The USPS will pick-up packages at your office if you call them or request a pick-up online. Another dealer told me that he regularly uses this service when shipping coins. This surprised me. I have known about this service for quite awhile, but I have never even given it a fleeting thought. The reason? It just seems to me that if you hand the USPS carrier a bin of packages, they are unsecured the second he or she walks out of your door. And the carrier will know that you are a coin dealer. Am I the only one who is concerned about this?

For years I have made the daily trip to the P.O. with all of my coin shipments. Either first class, priority, express, or registered. I just felt better handing the packages to the clerk. However, now I am wondering how secure my packages really are. Aren't they also unsecured when I hand them to the clerk? I mean, there's really no record that I actually gave them the boxes with the pre-printed internet postage.

This got me thinking. There was another coin dealer in my town and we would see each other a couple of times per week at the P.O. I was handing off my bin of pre-paid packages (made via PayPal), and he was handing the clerk one package at a time to have them manually processed. I now realize that he was doing this for a reason: security. Of course this really only matters with priority or first class, since registered and express must be manually handled at the window.

What are your thoughts and/or experience with this issue? Another question: If you buy insurance on a package, the recepient must sign for it. Why do some people buy insurance AND the signature confirmation?

Russ

I hand stuff to my carrier all the time. Never a problem. BUT, I only do it if my regular carrier is working. I don't trust the nitwits they use for substitutes. I also frequently just stick shipments in the blue box across the street. Heavy days, I drop off at the post office.

Russ, NCNE

Russ

<< <i>If you buy insurance on a package, the recepient must sign for it. Why do some people buy insurance AND the signature confirmation? >>



They only have to sign for it if it's insured for over $200. The reason SC is also purchased is because it's required both under the PayPal seller protection policy, (at $250 or more), and to prove delivery in the event of a chargeback if processing credit card orders directly. This is because SC is viewable online, insurance sig is not. Without it, you're screwed.

Russ, NCNE

KentuckyJ

> If you buy insurance on a package, the recepient must sign for it


FWIW, I just received an insured package that was placed in my P.O.Box without any signature required. This is not the first time this has happened to me.

KentuckyJ

> They only have to sign for it if it's insured for over $200.


That explains it.

numisma

Good stuff. Thanks guys.

I wonder what would happen if I printed postage online with insurance and signature confirmation, handed the package to the USPS clerk, but find out two weeks later that the recepient never received the package. Would the USPS make we prove that I actually handed him/her the package?

OPA

<< <i>Good stuff. Thanks guys.

I wonder what would happen if I printed postage online with insurance and signature confirmation, handed the package to the USPS clerk, but find out two weeks later that the recepient never received the package. Would the USPS make we prove that I actually handed him/her the package? >>



No. ... just require proof of the value of the contents if filing an insurance claim.

BTW... some days, I leave my packages in my mail box for the P.O. delivery people to pick-up .... never had a problem with that either.

Russ

And, you can actually file some claims online now.

Russ, NCNE