Claiming Insurance at the post office.

[Starbreeze]

I’ve never had to file a claim with any of the major shippers, but to me it would be common sense that you have to show them the box, etc. In this day and age, no one is going to just take your word for something like this.

[Leigha]

I didn’t know it was a rule, so I voted accordingly.
But I always keep the boxes until I get the opportunity to do a thorough check on the item, just because it’s easier to ship the item back to the seller if it’s neccessary or carry the item to the post office in the box. And even after checking an item and deciding it’s perfect, I keep the boxes, because I may use them at a later day for shipping something else out, free packing stuff is good 😀

[Laurie]

I keep all my boxes too! My husband gets so mad when they start to pile up in the living room lol. I just can’t justify throwing them out when I know I’ll need them some day down the road.

[boskydragon]

Didn’t really know it, but I would’ve if I had to think about it (but I’ve never had to think about it).

The whole thing seems iffy anyway… when I was mailing Medley’s traveling muse, I was a wee bit nervous about it and when the PO lady said, “Anything fragile, perishable, hazardous,” etc I hesitated and said, “well, it is fragile, but it’s double boxed and bubble-wrapped.” THEN, I asked if it made any real difference to mark it fragile (remember the commercial where the guy sends himself the chocolate milk marked “fragile” so that it gets handled way worse?) and the Post office lady said (and I do quote): “Well, we try to handle it differently, but not really, no.” So there you have it. 🙄

[Jasmine]

Canada Post will insure against loss but not breakage. So even if you do buy insurance, you’re pretty much SOL if it’s damages.

[Maebnus]

I got an insured package in the mail today from USPS, so can add another tidbit of info. The Insured Mail barcode sticker says: “NOTE: To file a claim for damage or loss of contents, the article, container, and packaging must be presented.” Not sure it can get any clearer than that, though I suppose it does assume you actually look at the package instead of just the contents.

[David]

boskydragon wrote:

I asked if it made any real difference to mark it fragile (remember the commercial where the guy sends himself the chocolate milk marked “fragile” so that it gets handled way worse?) and the Post office lady said (and I do quote): “Well, we try to handle it differently, but not really, no.” So there you have it. 🙄

First of all, let me exclaim my amazement that so far we are running over 25% didn’t know about keeping the packaging.

Some carriers simply don’t acknowledge that “fragile” means anything to them. If it’s fragile, you should simply pack it better because it’s going to get handled the same as any other parcel. However, USPS is still old-fashioned enough that it IS supposed to mean something to them, which is why they ask at the counter.

My personal understanding of it is that if you pack something that is fragile, and it gets broken in the mail and you DIDN’T mark it “Fragile”, then you are more at risk of having the claim be denied.

Having said that, I have never had a domestic claim be denied by the Post Office for any reason.

[Skigod377]

I cant believe that there are 12 people who buy Windstones on a regular basis and dont know about claiming insurance either. I guess this saved 12 people some hearthache.

[darjeb]

I already knew that. I had a white emperor broken by USPS and had to take everything to the PO and the lady said it wasn’t packed very well but they paid the insurance anyway. I had a second white emperor broken by UPS and they came to the house to collect it and later paid the insurance so I was lucky both times – third white emperor made it in one piece but by that time the price on ebay had doubled.

[Bladerunner03]

Ya, we found out when we were considering shipping Purplecats art from the UPS man. We didn’t know until we asked.

Up until then we never really shipped or recieved packages. Now the ups man is almost purples best friend. LOL

[stephan]

well yes i did know this but i have been selling on e-bay for years,to be honest though i save and re-use most packaging anyway not only is free good but it’s nice to recycle,i have never had a package that i have shipped get damaged(hubby calls me the mad packer)i pack an item the way i would want it packaged to me,and yes that’s even with shipping to other countries,so far i have been lucky myself and have not had to make a claim 🙂

[Author]

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