Post Office offers less than 1/2% of what was in my insured regristered package

Got through to a real person At Claims. Unless I had a professional apprasial done prior to shipping OR had the coins been sold to a comapny or a person with some sort of invoice they will only pay for face value.

I now have to resubmit with prices and they may pay off the lowest grade of that coin since they were not already graded. Plus, if graded they might pay the lowest amount on any published price list i e Grey Sheet. Plus they will not pay for a non verified varitities. 68 of the coins were Type "B" semi proof like 1959 and 1960 Washington quarters that in my humble opinion were at least 65-67 quality. 1863 reverse cud Indian, three Cherrios cents 2000 still in the orginal packages (they were going to be Christmas presents for my now grown kids) One sold on Teletrade for over a 100 bucks, most in the $30 range. 1950 circulated D/S and unc 1950 S/D both bought as the regular mint marks Washington quarters. Boy I am going to get nothing. I will never use USPS again...Fed Ex or USP for sure

 

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I can't believe they won't pay the value of claim cost, what is the point of paying registration fee and insurance fee if they don't honor their claim.

Does Fed Ex or UPS have insurance? I am not aware of any insurance when I ship package.

 

Wow, they act like YOU lost the item and are now trying to pull a fast one, as in insurance fraud!
How would you know to inflate the value 1000x because they were going to lose it.
I have had terrible dealings with USPS in the past. I can't stand them.
FedEx is about the best IMO.
I deal with FedEx and UPS through my business, and UPS used to be good, but I have had issues with them too.
BUT.. USPS takes the cake!

 

WOW! This totally sickens me, I'm so sorry to hear about your problem....it's just disgusting. I would do exactly as you and start a major uproar. You were ripped off by a postal worker, plain and simple. Registered mail has to be signed and accounted for at each step. From what I've heard FROM postal workers, it's a very detailed process. The custody chain is tightly controlled and monitored.

Thank you for sharing your post. I ship a lot of coins and sometimes use insurance. I've heard horror stories of trying to collector on claims and I think this story wins the prize. Never again will I ship big dollar coins out without my dealer looking at them and giving me a written appraisal!!! No way I want to find myself in a situation like this....I can't tell you how much I appreciate your post.

Thanks for good luck!

 

Ask to talk to a postal inspector.
Ask for the postal inspector's report.
Ask to see the written custody chain of your package.

 

Rattle chains like:
I think a PO worker took it.
Federal offense.
Possible grand theft if the coins are found and grade on the high end.
Ask for security video? (Freedom of information act)
Possilby find the last 'town' the package was known to be in a PO worker's custody, and make a police report in that town.

 

Darrow: I am so sorry to hear about your situation...my heart goes out to you. I agree with KoinJester in that under no circumstance should you cash the check they issued to you. They say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so maybe if you take a loud and public stance on this issue things will turn out in your favor. Best of luck to you, and please keep us posted.

 

Since it was sent "Registered mail" I seriously doubt it was stolen. Misplaced maybe, but with the requirement placed on the tracking by signature of every Postal Employee who touched the package, makes theft almost out of the question. Seriously, how many people would forfeit their Postal Service job for 76 coins that were valued at $3400 ? And the Postal Inspectors have a 97% case closure rate ! It's said Winston Chirchill mailed the Hope Diamond through the USPS registered mail !

First, I think you need to contact someone with some authority and request tracking of this shipment. I would try being nice about it and take a pad so I could take notes right there on the spot. There must be a proceedure in place to deal with things like this and you are unfortunate enough to need to learn what it is.

Threat of a lawsuit, etc is a bit premature I think. You should exhaust every option through the Post Office first. Then, you might have a better position if you do need to file a lawsuit. IMHO



gary

 

Coin Talk is great. lots of ideas encouragement. I will keep everyone posted as I go along. Thanks Darrow

 

an aside, I believe it was Harry Winston, not Winston Churchill, who mailed the Hope diamond.

I would contact my member of congress/senator (actually his/her staff) to have them start making inquiries. Congressional requests get very fast response.

 

I will sttand corrected. I got that bit of info from someplace and never verified it

 

No, they will not insure collectible coins, bullion, or other small items of high values such as collectible stamps, diamonds or other loose jewels.

That was Harry Winston when he shipped it to the Smithsonian.

I'm surprised at the claims dept's attitude. Plenty of people have received reimbursement for the claimed value of their coins when they have been lost through insured mail. I can't see why it would be different with Registered. I believe you said you contacted your Congressmen, stay on that, they can apply pressure.

 

Yeah...sty on it and you will make him pop..

 

I'm a bit surprised that you've not reported "where" the package was lost. If it had truely been sent registered, then the Post Office would know who signed for it last which would be the starting point for an investogation.

I'll go ahead and ask: "where was it lost?"

One more, "How was it packaged?"

Just curious since none of these details have been revealed.


I remember getting notified that PCGS had shipped a single coin submission back to me (back when they were sending everything registered) and the coin failed to show up after a couple of weeks.

I spoke with my mail carrier and after a couple of days it showed up. Evidently, the stiff envelope they'd shipped it in had fallen behind some counter and was quickly located once I'd brought it to their attention. It wasn't really lost, just misplaced which was kinda weird for a registered delivery.

 

Response:

 

It was in a cash bag that went to the Oakland Ca main sorting Posat Office and no one there showed it was not in bag or signed for it.

 

It is good to know that it is a private insurance firm, but I would not let the USPS off the hook. The USPS sold you the insurance, the USPS lost the package, so it is the USPS that is legally responsible for the insurance claim to you.

 

Take them to court...

 

Problem is that it is Federal court where you have to have a lawyer. The USPS lawyers are on staff, so the USPS's cost is effectively zero to defend, but your costs are not.

I would pursue Congressional channels instead. Its free and many times effective. Court should always be the last alternative, and in this case I am not sure its worth it.

 

Oh...I see..hmmm