Cannot buy insurance with Registered Mail???

[Black00SS]

Hello,

I took a package to the post office today to be mailed via Registered Mail.

I had to fill out the "declared value" form, and told the lady I wanted to purchase insurance for the package as well.

She told me I could NOT purchase any insurance for Registered Mail. She said the insurance is included in the Registered Mail fee, according to my declared value.

Is this true? Does the "Registered Mail Fee" include insurance for my declared dollar amount? I sent some stuff out Registered Mail last year, and distinctly remember paying for insurance as well.

 

Thanks

 

p.s.-On USPS web site, the Registered Mail Fee does go up as the dollar amount does, however I am just wondering if anyone has shipped anything Registered Mail recently, and paid Postage/Registered Mail Fee/and insurance charges.

 

 

 

[MarkFeld]

Hello,

I took a package to the post office today to be mailed via Registered Mail.

I had to fill out the "declared value" form, and told the lady I wanted to purchase insurance for the package as well.

She told me I could NOT purchase any insurance for Registered Mail. She said the insurance is included in the Registered Mail fee, according to my declared value.

Is this true? Does the "Registered Mail Fee" include insurance for my declared dollar amount? I sent some stuff out Registered Mail last year, and distinctly remember paying for insurance as well.

 

Thanks

 

 

What you were told is correct. The fee is based on registered mail and the declared value for insurance purposes.

[Black00SS]

Hello,

I took a package to the post office today to be mailed via Registered Mail.

I had to fill out the "declared value" form, and told the lady I wanted to purchase insurance for the package as well.

She told me I could NOT purchase any insurance for Registered Mail. She said the insurance is included in the Registered Mail fee, according to my declared value.

Is this true? Does the "Registered Mail Fee" include insurance for my declared dollar amount? I sent some stuff out Registered Mail last year, and distinctly remember paying for insurance as well.

 

Thanks

 

 

What you were told is correct. The fee is based on registered mail and the declared value for insurance purposes.

 

Thank you so much. I may still be able to sleep tonight!

 

 

[cpm9ball]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but insurance is included in the fee for Registered Mail up to $25,000. All you must do is provide a "declared amount". An additional fee is charged if the declared amount exceeds $25,000.

 

Chris

[robec1347]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but insurance is included in the fee for Registered Mail up to $25,000. All you must do is provide a "declared amount". An additional fee is charged if the declared amount exceeds $25,000.

 

Chris

 

I wasn't aware that you could insure Registered mail for more than $25k.

[jgrinz]

Correctamundo

 

[TomB]

The insurance isn't exactly "free". The rate that you pay is directly related to the amount of the value that you declare when you ship with insurance. Therefore, if you declare a $2,000 value you will pay a few dollars less than if you declare a $10,000 value. However, the clerk was correct in that you do not purchase additional insurance on top of the Registered fees. You may ship above $25,000 but will have to pay at a higher rate due to special handling requirements.

[Conder101]

The fee does include insurance for the declared value up to 25K. Over 25K you pay an extra $1 per thousand in declared value BUT that extra fee is not insurance. The extra fee is supposed to pay for "extra security", but if something did happen the MAXIMUM the post office will pay for a claim is 25K, no matter what the fees paid and declared value was. So if you are shipping something over 25K you might want to do private insurance.

[BULLY]

The postal employee was really giving you a half-baked answer -- and baked really isn't the word I would prefer to use there.

 

You ARE in fact, INSURING the Registered Mail package when you declare a value on it. If you leave that value blank, then you are not (say, if you self insure, but your insurance company requires that packages be shipped via Registered Mail because it is the most secure).

 

So, for this employee to tell you that you cannot buy insurance is really misleading at best, I mean, in the event of the loss, what did she think is going to happen with a declared value of $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and the extra fee that tacks on to the postage?

 

It sounds as though she didn't have a strong enough grasp on the process herself so that she could explain it to you, which is a sad state of affairs.

 

PUH-LEASE!

 

 

 

Hello,

I took a package to the post office today to be mailed via Registered Mail.

I had to fill out the "declared value" form, and told the lady I wanted to purchase insurance for the package as well.

She told me I could NOT purchase any insurance for Registered Mail. She said the insurance is included in the Registered Mail fee, according to my declared value.

Is this true? Does the "Registered Mail Fee" include insurance for my declared dollar amount? I sent some stuff out Registered Mail last year, and distinctly remember paying for insurance as well.

 

Thanks

 

p.s.-On USPS web site, the Registered Mail Fee does go up as the dollar amount does, however I am just wondering if anyone has shipped anything Registered Mail recently, and paid Postage/Registered Mail Fee/and insurance charges.

 

 

[Black00SS]

Thanks for all the information guys!

 

 

[coinman1794]

The discussion here about whether or not to call it insurance is coming down to semantics, but if you did not declare a value for your package, it will not be insured. The registered mail fee is $10 and DOES NOT include insurance. An insurance charge is added to the registration fee based on $1000 increments. $25,000 is the maximum insurance amount for registered mail. Also added to the registration fee is normal postage.

 

From the website:

 

Regardless of any insurance that may cover the article, the mailer must always declare its full value to the USPS when presenting it for registration and mailing (see chart below). The mailer must tell the USPS clerk (or enter on the firm sheet if a firm mailer) the full value of mail matter presented for registration. Private insurance carried on Registered Mail does not modify the requirements for declaring the full value. The accepting USPS employee may ask the mailer to show that the full value of the matter presented is declared, and may refuse to accept the matter as Registered Mail if a satisfactory declaration of value is not provided. Only articles of no value may be mailed as Registered Mail without insurance.

 

Translation: a declaration of value is mandatory and you must buy insurance if ther eis value. The clerk may have these concepts confused somehow

 

I wouldnt necessarily worry, anyway. Registered mail is very safe; it was the transportation method of choice for the Hope Diamond.

[Conder101]

I think what you will find is that they were trying to say that you can't buy additional insurance from the post office over and above that provided by the Registered mail insurance. In short they won't sell you two policies on the same item. You send a $5,000 coin Registered and pay for $5,000 in coverage, they won't let you buy another $5,000 worth of insurance and potentially have to pay $10,000 if something happened to the $5,000 coin.

 

So if you send something Registered and declare its value don't worry it IS insured, and Registered mail is probably the absolute safest way to ship something inside the country. (Downside, it can be a very slow way to ship.)

[Connecticoin]

I think some of the confusion revolved around the revised Registered Mail forms. The old forms had two boxes to check: "With Postal Insurance" or "Without Postal Insurance". If the "With" box was checked, the package was insured for the Declared Value, if the "Without" box was checked, there was no insurance, but the option could be used if you have private insurance.

 

On the revised forms, there are no boxes, so it appears that all Registred Mail packages are insured at the Declared Value, and thus you cannot opt out of the USPS insurance and use private insurance.

[Conder101]

You can still use private insurance, but you can't opt out of the USPS insurance.