USPS Final Appeal ?

[keeena]

I feel your pain...

(this status is as of April 22...almost 30d after ship)

 

[hotrats]

I've only had 2 instances where insurance was needed. 1st was a USPS package of brass drop pieces I purchased of a Facebook machining page from a individual. I finally got a message the package was undeliverable/lost, or some such. Went to the local postmaster, and it was determined that the pkg was in the "lost letters" facility. If it was lost, how did they know that? Anyhows the postmaster said that usually a package would break open, and contents may have been lost. It was a priority box. The postmaster also told me to contact the seller, as he had insured the pkg for $500. I think it was $40. I paid him... lol.
2nd, ordered a Simson Luger off ShotGunNews - yes, pre internet days. Customarily purchases came with a 3 day inspection. Didn't meet my expatations, so sent it back, called seller to inform, he told me he didn't see me doing that, and had already spent the money. Hmm, What to do now? The seller called me back a few days later, saying the pistol arrived damaged, and he returned it. So, I was happy I insured the return for what I had paid for pistol, $1200. I had to go to the UPS drop store, to meet the UPS insurance adjuster. The pkg damage appeared to be a maybe 3/8" hole in the side of box. On the inside, ever what made the 'hole' hit the wood grip, shattering it, crushing the magazine, and breaking the wood magazine base. The adjuster, who happened to be a gun guy, remarked that he'd never seen a pkg damaged like that, and suggested I get a appraisal of before and after value, since the grip and mag base were numbered to pistol. The adjuster saw the original appraisal, reduced value appraisal, asked if I'd be happy with a payout of the reduced value, and me keep the pistol. Oh yes, worked for me! After a week, got a call from the insurance dept, asking "so, we pay the claim, and you keep the pistol, this doesn't seem right". I replied to check with the adjuster...

 

[CJ5Dave]

My biggest problem with the junk mail is there is so much volume of various sizes and colors of paper my bills get lost. My mail person sometimes "tucks" my electric bill or credit card statement into the sales books. Have to do a thorough search before I discard the junk. If they were similar size or in an envelope it would be easier. I feel I need physical mail for security. Every time a group has access to my bank account, credit crd, etc. its another way to get hacked. And I have been hacked a lot. I get USPS statements saying Medicare, etc. got my signup information, my retirement money got deposited, etc. You never know that it got there otherwise. My flat rate boxes I mail take an average of 5 days to arrive. The ones from others, as far as 3000 miles away, take 2 days. It is possible for them to deliver timely and intact if they just want to. A few years back they found 3 semis of mail at Christmas at our regional USPS facility just parked on the back lot, 3 weeks later. People paid to do a job should just do it.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

To my way of thinking if you paid to insure it for 1200.00 then that is what they owe you...

 

[tq60]

One can understand needing some proof of value, otherwise, quite simple to create a dummy box, over insure it and do something to cause the label to fail or other such thing to make a false claim.

All mail gets photos as it moves, the inform service does that, so that may reduce fraud.

All that being stated, this case has a bill of sale and other documents showing actual amount of loss.

Someone still could fake it with fake bill of sale, but a credit card going through ebay along with all of the tracking information available, it should be obvious.

Call to local congressman's office is in order, it is their job to solve these things.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[verbotenwhisky]

One can understand needing some proof of value, otherwise, quite simple to create a dummy box, over insure it and do something to cause the label to fail or other such thing to make a false claim.

All mail gets photos as it moves, the inform service does that, so that may reduce fraud.

All that being stated, this case has a bill of sale and other documents showing actual amount of loss.

Someone still could fake it with fake bill of sale, but a credit card going through ebay along with all of the tracking information available, it should be obvious.

Call to local congressman's office is in order, it is their job to solve these things.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

I'm sorry but I do not agree. If there is a concern about value then they should require that proof prior to selling you the insurance as does most insurance companies. If I insure an empty box and you let it go then loose the box you should be responsible for paying the insured value of said box. I have been through this with the USPS twice which is why I do not use them if there is a choice, had the same issue with UPS once and they finally relented after a year of irritation and a date in small claims court. Insurance is a product and If you are going to sell it you should be prepared to honor it. If you are concerned about the value of the item you are insuring then that should be established prior to the shipment, not after you screw it up.

 

[Boswell]

If there is a concern about value then they should require that proof prior to selling you the insurance as does most insurance companies

I would agree that in a perfect world this would be the way to do it and agree that most other insurance is done this way. I will point out that there are a few things that make mail insurance a little different.
I think this would drive the cost of insuring a package up by a huge amount.

1. The shipper would have to gather the appropriate proof for every package that needs insurance instead of just the ones that get damaged
2. The carrier would have to build an infrastructure to track and maintain all of the proof documents that are mostly for items that get delivered with no issue.
3. Transaction time for both the shipper and carrier would increase for EVERY insured packaged as you would then have to provide the proof, have the carrier review and accept it. Again most of this would be for packages that are never damaged and delivered OK. So longer lines, most employees to deal with the longer lines and more cost to pay for the additional employees etc etc.