Best way to ship and insure an expensive coin. USPS?

I have to ship a $4k coin to a dealer, from the DC area to Virginia Beach. FedEx says they only insure up to $1k. Is USPS insurance better? How to pack? Which USPS service to choose? Priority? Signiture confirmation? Cost of insurance? What if they lose my coin? All you experienced e-bay sellers must know how to do this..... Help? Thanks, everyone...

 

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I would just ship using USPS Registered Mail. Takes an age, but you can insure up to a large amount for not a whole lot of scratch.

 

I'll second the vote for USPS Registered Mail.

 

Regular first class with insurance gets expensive (and there is a top value limit, I don't remember what it is).

Registered mail is probably the cheapest/best choice.

 

What about flat rate boxes?

 

You can't use flat rate boxes for usps registered mail. It has to be a non padded envelope or box and every edge must be sealed with paper tape because they stamp all the seals. You can insure for up to 25k and average cost is $20-30 all-in

 

I third that vote.

Use a box (the small flat rate USPS boxes works great with bubble wrap or paper as a filler) and make sure you cover every square inch with the brown, heavy duty, adhesive type, reinforcement paper tape.

 

Here's my advice:

Find a sturdy cardboard box. Think "thicker than a cereal box, but not so thick that you could stand on it and not break it." This will conceal the shape of what you're shipping.

Wrap your coin in something protective inside (I use a bubble mailer due to speed/simplicity, you can use whatever is at hand.) This is so your coin doesn't rattle around inside.

USPS Registered Mail will require paper tape around the outside edges - so I usually put a "cross" of tape on my Registered packages - one strip lengthwise, one strip across the width. You don't need to completely seal all the edges, because the USPS employee (if they are doing it correctly) should do this with the paper tape. If you put tape on each of the edges, it tends not to stick to it very well.

USPS will stamp & initial every seam of the tape. I've had one lazy guy in downtown STL that didn't do that, and I had to actually ask twice. It's part of the process of accountability, and it's required...so don't let them skip out on it.

Once you send it on its way, it has to be kept in a locked safe and signed for at every step of the way. The only issues I've ever had with Registered Mail were in Salt Lake City (by far the worst post office system I've ever dealt with) where my lazy mail carrier LEFT REGISTERED MAIL PACKAGES FROM NGC ON TOP OF MY APARTMENT COMPLEX'S MAILBOXES. Yep. Out in the open, sitting on top of the mailboxes, not even locked inside a building. I called the downtown office to complain and their response was, "Oh, sorry about that." But if USPS is doing their job, it should be secure the entire trip. Should cost less than $25 total.

 

I hear people tend to "self-insure" on here.

Usually though, I'd just do first class / priority flat rate + signature.

Priority flat rate postage includes up to $50 insurance "free".

Registered is a good option, too.

 

Self-insure, yes, for less expensive coins. But not for a $4k coin...not when I can have peace of mind for less than $25. (JMHO)

 

"Self-insurance" just means "if it gets lost, I'll eat the cost and refund your cash."

Most of us would rather not "self-insure" a $4k coin...

 

Lol, I'm definitely not myself today. I didn't see the $4k part...

I should go take a long nap.

 

You have 3 main option for a coin of that value. Registered is obviously the most secure but with the storm right now you may be waiting weeks for that to show up, there is no real time assurance with it. It would be the cheapest though. Express and Priority mail now have the same priced insurance which will cost more but it will be there in 1-2 days depending which one you use.

All three methods will require a signature for delivery with that value insurance and yes do get insurance. If they lose it you just have to put in a claim and a few weeks later you'll have a check. Make doubles of any documents you are sending with it for your records, you would need that for extra evidence for insurance.

Just guessing off the top of my head express would probably run you $60 something, Priority the $45ish and registered $20something. It's really up to you if the extra cost is worth getting there faster. All three of those methods the value is under the maximum insurance limit so you would be fully covered if you got insurance.

You can it just doesn't matter. Registered mail is registered mail. There's no express registered. But usually youre going to cover the entire box anyway with the brown tape. The small flat rate priority boxes are great for registered shipments that fit.

 

The USPS will (and has the authority) to balk at using their other service boxes for Registered Mail, even if you cover every bit of the printing. They are familiar with the shape of their other boxes so 'could' easily point this out and refuse it when you present the parcel at the counter. Most of the Priority Mail flat rate boxes have terms of use printed on them. Problem is with using them for Registered Mail, you never know which clerk is going to reject it for this reason. Sometimes they reject it, and sometimes it seems they do so just for the excuse not to having to help you with a Registered Mail piece because each one is a lot of work for them to do, they are/can be lazy. Others might resist because of the box, but eventually allow you to ship the parcel, and still others won't care one way or the other. I've experienced all of these trying to ship things by Registered Mail. Best bet it to use something other than their boxes/envelopes and seal every seam with the paper tape, if not entirely entombing the parcel in the paper tape.

Some tips and info from Stamps.com on How to Prepare a Registered Mail parcel.

Registered Mail is a hassle and requires a trip to the post office for help by a clerk, but it is very secure and the best fully insured option, unless you have third party insurance to rely on as many businesses do for shipping another way. Registered Mail is much slower domestically, but for International Registered Mail, it's both secure, trackable outside the country in the receiving nation's postal system, and fairly expedient by comparison to rate of delivery time domestically.

 

USPS Registered is really the only way to go above $150 of insurance. That's about the line where it gets cheaper than standard insurance and you can only go up to $500 with regular insurance.

Registered Mail is a secondary service, or at least can be. I have shipped using First Class with Registered, Priority with Registered, and Flat Rate with registered. I have shipped in boxes and in padded mailers, although I don't think you are supposed to use padded mailers. Depends on your Post Office. Not only can you insure more (up to $50k), you get blow by blow tracking. Every time your package is exchanged it needs to be accounted for. You all but eliminate sticky fingers because the carriers take personal responsibility for the item.

When you package your coins for Registered Mail, don't use gloss plastic shipping tape. Use the brown, paper based shipping tape. Or no tape at all. The Post Office has to seal all Registered Mail with special tape that doesn't really stick well to standard packing tape.

One last note - it is a pain in the butt for the Postal employee to package the item Registered for you. Be polite and be patient.

 

To clarify... The Post Office WILL NOT pack or tape shut a package for you, especially for Registered Mail. The reason you may not use 'gloss plastic' tape is because the ink on the stamp they use (stamped on every seam of tape) will rub off the plastic tape. Then there is no security that the seals have been tampered with.

On the "One last note"... to reiterate, they DO NOT "package the item" for you, all they do is record the article, the sender and addressee and affix postage and seals (stamped over the seams), take your money and give you a receipt. If you are lucky, they do it without complaint for how much they loath the number of steps and time it takes them to do all this.

 

Padded mailers are not allowed for domestic registered mail but may be used for international registered. For those who ship coins frequently, it's good to be familiar with the USPS domestic and international mail manuals since, in my experience, postal employees are not always up to speed.

 

I could see the issue trying to send first class registered, but all the boxes say is they're for use for priority mail shipments. If you ship priority registered you're well within the policies of the box writing. The USPS website actually specifically states its available for small flat rate priority boxes and envelopes. There could be some ambiguity there for the medium and large, but at the very least the small is absolutely available for registered mail.

 

Yet I have had more than one clerk at more than one branch flat refuse to ship a parcel Registered Mail using a Priority box, even when completely covered with brown tape. Let us know how your results go. As I said, the problem is that the clerks are inconsistent (perhaps don't fully know the rules or are ill advised by a manager), and with that, it really frustrates and inconveniences the customer, particularly when they refuse to help you or allow y our parcel for shipping because of some technicality.

 

I don't doubt they've given you problems but they were wrong in all honesty. The same way most clerks won't know that if you used a click n ship label for USPS Priority Express and if the delivery missed the deadline you can come to any post office to get the refund in cash. USPS.com actually tells you to do that.
Really they just have to many policies for them to know most of them, or they could have thought they were following it, or unfortunately maybe just didn't want to do it.

I've done it many times though from numerous offices one of which is a regional hub that is generally more informed on polices overall then the smaller ones (I get the Express refunds there if it misses the date).