carlsbad
Lions don't lose sleep over the opinions of sheep.
I spent years in the collectible coins business. Nobody is more into safe shipping than coin collectors. Many coins are indeed irreplaceable. It was not unusual for me to ship several packages over $10K value per week. Over several years I shipped about 20,000 domestic packages without a single lost/damaged item.
For super expensive shipments I used a jewelry shipper. All packages were marked very blandly. For all you could tell from the outside it was a box of office supplies. Insurance was taken care of by the shipping company but wasn't marked on the package. Insurance stickers tell thieves that something valuable is in the package.
For less expensive packages (less than $2k), I NEVER purchased insurance. The coin forums are full of people complaining about all the trouble it takes to make a claim from USPS insurance. Additionally, USPS insurance is very overpriced for 2 reasons: fraud and poor packaging. The former explains why it is a huge PITA to make a claim. That and dealing with a governmental agency.
I recently bought 1000 bullets, 10 x 100 round boxes, from a forum member. The box arrived broken and 4 boxes of bullets missing. The seller had insured it and he was forced to make an insurance claim. What I didn't realize was that I had to go stand in line at the PO and start the claim for him. This made me very unhappy but I'm a good guy and did it. What if I was not such a good guy and refused to do so? It took 4 months to resolve this. I was patient and the seller was persistent. My money was tied up for a while but I take it was a real nightmare for the seller.
Here are my tips:
1. Package very, very well. Don't leave open spaces in a box with heavy things. Don't use crush-able packaging such as peanuts or bags that can pop. Cram newspapers or other dense material into open spaces. Use flat rate boxes so that weight isn't a factor. When you think you have enough tape, put another layer on. Tape=insurance.
2. Use zebra striped labels whenever possible. I print mine on paypal shipping but many other services offer print-at-home zebra labels. when they have a machine readable address, they don't lose many.
3. Don't buy insurance. It costs too much and is a nightmare to collect on. If you feel compelled to buy insurance, put $3/100 in value in a jar and watch it grow. Soon you'll have plenty of money in the jar to pay for a loss (which you won't have if you package well). [This assumes in the unlikely event of a loss you can afford to replace the item if lost. If you can't afford it, then the analysis might change. But shooting is expensive so I think the audience here is not indigent.]
Lastly, insurance protects the seller, not the buyer. This is the law, not my opinion. Sellers who make insurance the buyer's choice are fooling themselves. A seller's responsibility ends when the package is delivered and the buyer is satisfied. If lost in transit, no matter when the insurance arrangement, the seller is responsible.
Jerry
For super expensive shipments I used a jewelry shipper. All packages were marked very blandly. For all you could tell from the outside it was a box of office supplies. Insurance was taken care of by the shipping company but wasn't marked on the package. Insurance stickers tell thieves that something valuable is in the package.
For less expensive packages (less than $2k), I NEVER purchased insurance. The coin forums are full of people complaining about all the trouble it takes to make a claim from USPS insurance. Additionally, USPS insurance is very overpriced for 2 reasons: fraud and poor packaging. The former explains why it is a huge PITA to make a claim. That and dealing with a governmental agency.
I recently bought 1000 bullets, 10 x 100 round boxes, from a forum member. The box arrived broken and 4 boxes of bullets missing. The seller had insured it and he was forced to make an insurance claim. What I didn't realize was that I had to go stand in line at the PO and start the claim for him. This made me very unhappy but I'm a good guy and did it. What if I was not such a good guy and refused to do so? It took 4 months to resolve this. I was patient and the seller was persistent. My money was tied up for a while but I take it was a real nightmare for the seller.
Here are my tips:
1. Package very, very well. Don't leave open spaces in a box with heavy things. Don't use crush-able packaging such as peanuts or bags that can pop. Cram newspapers or other dense material into open spaces. Use flat rate boxes so that weight isn't a factor. When you think you have enough tape, put another layer on. Tape=insurance.
2. Use zebra striped labels whenever possible. I print mine on paypal shipping but many other services offer print-at-home zebra labels. when they have a machine readable address, they don't lose many.
3. Don't buy insurance. It costs too much and is a nightmare to collect on. If you feel compelled to buy insurance, put $3/100 in value in a jar and watch it grow. Soon you'll have plenty of money in the jar to pay for a loss (which you won't have if you package well). [This assumes in the unlikely event of a loss you can afford to replace the item if lost. If you can't afford it, then the analysis might change. But shooting is expensive so I think the audience here is not indigent.]
Lastly, insurance protects the seller, not the buyer. This is the law, not my opinion. Sellers who make insurance the buyer's choice are fooling themselves. A seller's responsibility ends when the package is delivered and the buyer is satisfied. If lost in transit, no matter when the insurance arrangement, the seller is responsible.
Jerry
