OT mostly: USPS flat rate and insurance

My wife recently bought a print from a guy on Etsy. The print was shipped in what appears to be a flat-rate triangular box which is marked "insured". Of course, the seller didn't put enough tape on it, and it got flattened in transit, creasing the print. Print is a little pricey ($80), and my wife said the seller told her that SHE has to deal with the Post Office on the insurance business.

Anyone had any experience with this sort of situation, trying to recover postal insurance as the recipient of a flat-rate package?

I have. I received a box that had come open, and about half the contents were lost.

I made a claim with USPS and they paid it in a day or 2.

My experience is that it is the shipper that files the claim, as they are the ones who purchased the insurance, that said, it has been a few years since I have had to file a claim. FYI, USPS flat rate boxes are automatically insured for $50, it is the shippers responsibility to purchase additional insurance if the value is higher.

Did you pay for insurance?

The person who hands the money to the post office is the customer and the party required to file claim.

Simply ask your letter carrier of if not too much trouble take item to post office and ask them or check online.

They may be able to help but usually they advise you to seek remedy from shipper.

After post office confirms then ask seller for full refund as material was not properly shipped and that is his problem and insurance not likely valid anyway.

He owes you full refund...period.

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I have had no problem filing insurance claims on USPS packages I received, even if the sender did a bad job of packing. Last time I had one, some years ago, it still required going to the post office and getting a paper form and showing the package to a clerk. They always paid my claims.

But the USPS has adopted modern tech and now you can file a claim online. You need the original shipping label to get the tracking number. The label will also have the word "insured" if the sender paid for more than $50 insurance. If the package was not insured for $100, and you want more than $50, you have to deal with the sender, not USPS.

Here is the link. File a Claim | USPS

Larry

And difficult as some will find it to believe, the USPS is much better about paying than FedEx or UPS. FedEx has contracted out their claims process to a third party company who gets paid on how much they don't pay out. Trying to collect on a clear-cut internal theft of contents was one of the worst experience of my business life.

jack vines

We do it a few times a year and usually the customer is lying about it. Postal service always has paid in a week or so, once in a few blue moons they ask for some proof. As said the shipper is the one who has to file the claim and the one the check is sent to.

Only the person with the package can prove it was broken/damaged. They need to SEE the package and it's damage. You have it. You have to file the claim. If you ship it back to them... they could file it... then the USPS can say YOU damaged it before sending it back to THEM and deny the claim. Surprisingly it actually makes sense if you think of about it from their standpoint. Hard to accept "Hey, so, uh, the dude that got it says you messed it up". I've heard multiple stories of customers sending the item back in new packaging for the claim.... DENIED. Without the original package at the post office that delivered it (read: screwed the pooch) there is no money.

I've shipped 4,000 USPS packages in the last 2 years. Only 3 claims filed by customers. All paid off within 3 weeks. One was just a shredded empty padded envelope that arrived. Paid off the $100 covered for 'commercial shippers', though normally only $50 on priority for 'standard' customers. It was a $15 part in the package... she may have accidentally handed them the wrong invoice which was for $150 and they paid the $100.

**Edited to add: I have had ~10 'lost' packages in addition to the damaged ones. A few more that took MONTHS to arrive. One I shipped two replacements 1 month apart. They got the third. A total of 4 months after sending the first one the first two arrived within a week of each other. They RTSed both of those for me**

I ship 1 overnight every. single. week. to NY from SoCal. 1 out of 4 times they were a day late through USPS and I get 100% refund. I started shipping a day earlier for the ~25% discount. Now use FedEx since I get STUPID good rates through a private shipper ($21 priority overnight 10:30a delivery for 3lb 10*7*3 box) and they miss it 1 out of 6 times, but are late (time of day) 90% of the time and don't refund, apologize or give a crap if they miss deadlines. Now if it's vital it gets there on time I machine 2ea and ship one set USPS and one FedEx just to be safe.

A recent USPS experience has changed my opinion... and caused a bunch of doubt.

Recently a box arrived empty to an ebay buyer. He sent pictures of what was left of the box... it was mostly just the label side and a ragged end, the other 4 sides of the box were MIA...I filed a claim and the USPS replied with a letter telling me to bring in the box for inspection. Of course the box was thousands of miles away and the letter was nearly 3 weeks after the fact. Needless to say the buyer did not save the empty box.

USPS takes several pictures and weighs the boxes many times . They also keep track of those statistics. A quick call to USPS consumer affairs determined the boxes weight changed drastically between pictures. So the box was emptied at a USPS facility no question about when or where. They destroyed the box and lost the contents contents...

Pointing this out to the local post office manager did nothing... I was allowed to protest the judgement. But until I provided the empty box they would do nothing....

In the past I have been able to claim a loss as the shipper and I was paid each time..... Until this most recent loss....

It could be a recent change .... I dont know... I do know I dont trust the USPS as much as I did... they know the box I shipped changed exactly when and where.... And I still had to take a loss...

So this could be a new thing with the post office.... the receiver could be the person to deal with shipping damages...

Good luck to you and I do want to hear the out come...