Alert - Coins Stolen in FEDEX Transit

I had a look at FedEx restricted and prohibited items at https://www.easyship.com/blog/fedex-shipping-restrictions. Restricted items require a FedEx contract to be shipped and such contract may or may not be agreed to by FedEx. Had a big laugh when I looked at the list. I have shipped a number of them and have had some shipped to me, and there was no FedEx contract. Some I had packed by FedEx at one of their stores. Items on the list include cell phones, semiconductor chips, industrial forms of precious metals, gems, artwork, medicines and lithium batteries. Right FedEx! No one ever ships these without a contract with you.

Prohibited items are not to be shipped ever. Globally prohibited items include stamps, any kind of money (also prohibited under the “domestic” heading), bullion, fine art, tickets, and time-sensitive or critical documents. Right FedEx! No one ever ships these with you at all. Most of the restricted and prohibited items are probably just listed for their own insurance purposes. Some like dangerous or illegal items have a more genuine basis.

You don’t have to tell FedEx what’s in the box. I’ve shipped and received hundreds of times with FedEx (mostly non-numismatic items) and never had a question about the contents of the package. FedEx may suspend your account for violating their rules. Unless you behave stupidly, the chances of being caught are virtually nil. For something like coins, I’d guess you’d only get a warning for the first offense. If your insurer will cover the shipment and FedEx provides the service you want, use FedEx.

Again, always use private insurance if you ship coins with FedEx.

Cal

 

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This is what comes up if you search for something like "fedex shipping coins." It gives you a link to restrictions for Japan. You will note that the link has "en-jp" in it and if you pick English, it pulls up a Japanese document. As I mentioned in my previous post, if you go here https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/international-prohibited-items.html and look up United States, it says nothing about coins.

It appears the whole thing revolves around "declared value", and they specifically say that declared value is NOT insurance. On their declared value page, they say "If you declare a value for items that are prohibited (e.g., firearms, cash or currency, tobacco products) and they are lost or damaged, you will not be reimbursed", and the link you're directed to leads to their service guide. Their service guide is here https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/services/Service_Guide_2022.pdf

Page 128 says "F. Shipments (packages or freight) containing all or part of the following items are limited to a maximum declared value of US$1,000: ... 11. Collector’s items such as coins, stamps, sports cards, souvenirs, and memorabilia" It says essentially the same thing on page 144 under international shipments.

So, what I glean is that certain countries prohibit the international shipment of coins, and in all cases your "declared value" is limited to $1000 if you are shipping coins.

 

Not that it really matters, but Both FedEx and UPS have contracts with USPS. When delivering USPS origination items, both entities must comply with USPS regulations, not their own. Some USPS regulations are more stringent, some are not.

 

If your car is broken into and items stolen, will car insurance cover it less your deductible?

 

No,Jim

 

Yes. At least 35 years ago they did. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

My buddy was the GM of a very famous hotel on 59th St, Central Park South, NYC. He invited us to a huge New Years Eve bash. We were staying in the presidential suite with him and a few other couples. We loaded the car with lots of party accessories. While parked on the streets of NY our car was broken into. Everything was stolen, including our clothes for that evening, boom box (it was the 80's after all), overnight bag with sundries and sleepwear and the next days clothes, my briefcase, sunglasses, and much much more.

So early New Years Eve i was in an NYPD precinct filing a police report while my wife was out shopping for clothes to wear that evening at the gala. FYI, not as much fun as you'd think, even for her, on New Years Eve. My wife did ride up the hotel elevator that day with the evenings entertainer, Julio Iglesias.

Anyway, we did file an insurance claim. Everything was covered after the claims investigator came to our home, basically to verify how we live and to justify the amount of the claim we submitted.

And now that I reread your question I see I answered the wrong question. We were covered not under our auto insurance policy but under our homeowners insurance policy. So we were in fact covered for the loss you asked about, but not under the coverage you mentioned.

 

These thefts could be taking place by contractors hired out by FedX, UPS, and USPS.

Some FedX contractor just killed a 7-year old a few days ago.

 

Most of my purchases are from the Mint and they ship their products in a "small" box by USPS. We have a home in a city and use to have packages sent there, however, when my wife's mother passed, we not only inherited her home, we inherited 4 more dogs on top of the 3 dogs we had and the city's allowance is only 3 dogs. We still own our home in the city and now have the packages sent to our mailbox at our home in the country. We live about a mile down a dirt road and I have concerns about the safety of coin shipments to our home in the country. I was told a while back that the Mint will not deliver to a post office box. I just talked to the Post "Mistress"/Master that I can place a letter in my mailbox to hold all packages. It will be a bother because the Post Office is about 15 miles away.

 

Someone could just as easily take the delivery slip from your mailbox, go to the post office, and pick up the package. It's not like they check IDs. There are many scenarios.

 

I doubt it. Our post office is for a very small community and the Post Mistress, Angie, knows me by heart and has my phone number. Sometimes it pays to live in a small community. It may not work for everyone, but, it does for me.

 

Our town isn’t really large, about 120,000, but whenever anyone with a pink pickup slip goes there to pickup a package they ask to see your identification.

 

My PO is also very small and rural. I have never been asked for ID, despite some high value packages. But I've never seen a pink pickup slip either. There have been multiple instances over the years where I get mail for the wrong address, or my mail went to someone else (obvious because it was forwarded with a note written on it). If that happened with a delivery slip, they could just go pick it up. The OP situation where the box shows up empty is strange.

 

Our town is fairly large for this area. We have a little over 12,200 population. The PO employee always asks us for ID when picking up any mail held for us.

 

I think that is the PO policy. I would be concerned if my PO didn’t require some sort of proof or ID when picking up both held mail or undelivered packages where a pickup slip was issued. I would report or complain to those in charge.

 

Coins that I have bought from ebay are usually in a padded envelope. Many years ago, some high school thought it would be "cool" to take a bat and smash my wife's mailbox. (She was their senior English teacher.) They blabbed in school about their actions and were charged by the FBI with a Federal crime. They got a suspended sentence for their actions and were never able to get a security clearance. As far as the high school, they graduated, but were not allowed to go to the graduation ceremony. If they had kept their mouth shut, they probably never would have found out who did the dastardly deed. That was about 20 years ago.

 

There’s A LOT more to this story if a simple mailbox destruction got the FBI involved 20 years ago. Simply doing that wouldn’t ban you from a security clearance either. It’s unfortunate having to get a new mailbox, but this story just doesn’t add up.

 

Sorry that you don't understand. My wife was a teacher for 34 years and I've been a CPA for 40 years. I wasn't married to her then, but she wasn't the only one that told what had happened. I asked her about it and she said that her mailbox wasn't the only one destroyed and mail stolen.

 

I do understand what you were saying, it doesn’t change that it doesn’t add up. The FBI simply doesn’t pay attention to those things 20 years ago unless you have connections or someone involved did. Things like that would be local police or postal police. Stories morph overtime

 

It's a federal crime, a rather serious one (up to 3 years, $250,000 fine) and it's supposed to be investigated by the postal inspectors. I don't know if it would ban you from getting a security clearance but a federal crime showing up on your "resume" would raise some eyebrows. You sure wouldn't be top of the list.

I'll reiterate that I've lived in quite a few places, received innumerable delivery slips, and never once been asked for ID at the post office. Maybe it's a regional thing but it sure isn't a national policy.

 

Maybe they were sent by telepathy and were intercepted by a psychic.