USPS No Longer Insuring International Priority Mail

Hello all, I've got some more bad news from the shipping world.

I recently sold off one of my flutes; a remake of a baroque Traverso. The customer lives in Northern Scotland, which is part of the UK. He requested insurance for the value of the flute; $200. I quoted him a price of $50 based on the package size, weight, and destination, and normal insurance fee, but only charged $40. The price without insurance came to exactly $40.85.

I went to my local post office, and tried to ship the package out, only to find that with the cut backs by the USPS, my local post office is no longer accepting international mail, and I must go to the regional center, which is about 35 miles away.

I went to the regional center and they accepted the package without any problem, other than it took about 24 minutes for them to enter it in to their new system, which did not like to accept Scotland as a destination because their UK destination roster includes only: Ireland or Great Britain (England and Northern Ireland). The postmaster had to enter it in the computer as G.B. and make a special note in the system because the label says differently (it says UK). Even then, an error came up when he tried to add insurance to the package. He called in to the help line and they told him that most international destinations are no longer eligible for additional insurance over the included indemnity value when using sub-Express Mail services.

This means that As of 2012:
International Package Tracking is no longer guaranteed on any level of service. Note; there is no pruchaseable tracking service, you have to use the number on the Customs forms for "tracking". (old news since Feb)
Additional Insurance on First Class or Priority Mail is no longer available for most International destinations.
Additional Insurance may be available for most destinations when using Express Mail, but is not guaranteed for every destination.
Not every Post Office is equipped to handle International Mail and you may be redirected to a regional center.

Does this count for Canada too? Or is it just for those outside of NA?

I'm not sure. I tried asking the Postmaster a bunch of questions but he said that he really does not know anymore. They changed the computer system over during the cutbacks and instructed all employees to explicitly follow the computer instructions. If it isn't on the computer screen, they aren't allowed to do it any more. He said that I could try and get a general idea of if insurance might be available or not for a destination by trying the online price calculator, and if an insurance option does not show up it is a good indication that it is not available.

Edit: I just checked and it appears Canada is still covered for Priority. I didn't check for 1st class though. Again, it isn't a guarantee either, just a possibility. If the website says it can be insured that means it may be possible, if it doesn't have the option, then it definitely cannot be insured. The Postmaster told me "it depends on the actual region within the destination country if insurance will be available or not, and for which level of service, so there is no guarantee at all it can be insured, only a possibility".

Someone needs Geography lessons at your USPS - unless Scotland has devolved recently it is still part of Great Britain - England, Scotland and Wales. When you add in Northern Ireland you get the United Kingdom.

The only time it gets confusing is when you have to send to Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man which are part of the British Isles but not part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom.

So when mailing you don't need to specify 'Scotland' as the Postcode will tell them where it's going.

Well, I don't think it is my local usps worker's fault, more so the dumbass who designed the usps computer system.

In their computer system (which they must abide by without deviation now) there is no entry for United Kingdom, if you select UK, it redirects you to Great Britain. They don't even enter the postal code into their computer system, they sort it by country (Great Britain for anything going to the UK) and let the destination postal service determine where it actually has to go.

ARGLaser said:

Does this count for Canada too? Or is it just for those outside of NA?

Click to expand...

United States Postal Service (USPS) is the Postal System in the USA.
Canada Post (CP) is the Postal System in CANADA..

One does not run the other or share internal policies...

Jerry

LOL

I see on the USPS web site they give you both choices Great Britain & Northern Ireland or United Kingdom (Great Britain & Northern Ireland)

However see this on their website International Priority Mail Insurance

Additional signs of the downfall of the once Great United States! I give it 38 more years before it's dethroned. Oh no... Canada will be gravely affected too, being it's biggest trading partner.

323 Priority Mail International Insurance

Click to expand...

Edit: I found the new info:

http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/fh_014.htm

As I had said before: "NOT Available" under the Priority Mail section. Only the Global Express has insurance.

lasersbee said:

United States Postal Service (USPS) is the Postal System in the USA.
Canada Post (CP) is the Postal System in CANADA..

One does not run the other or share internal policies...

Jerry

Click to expand...

I know that

I was just wondering if "International" shipping from the US included Canada.

Sigurthr said:

Edit: I found the new info:

Great Britain andNorthern Ireland

As I had said before: "NOT Available" under the Priority Mail section. Only the Global Express has insurance.

Click to expand...

That link is for UK/GB, no insurance for priority.
This is how it's been for at least the last 5-6 years as far as I remember, some countries allow insurance depending on service used and some don't.
This is not the fault of USPS, they just follow the rules of the destination countries mail service.

If shipped by small flat rate priority international or flat rate priority envelope international, there is no insurance period, no matter where it's going.

Most countries will allow some insurance for regular priority shipments, but many have limits.
Remember too, they will only ever pay a claim on the value that is claimed for customs purposes; so if you ship and insure a $300 item for $300, but only claim it as a "$25 gift" so the receiver won't get charged any duties, they will only pay out $25 maximum if it's lost or damaged.

So, you should change the title of this thread to
"USPS does not insure international priority packages to the UK" as this doesn't apply to all countries.

The difference is that they follow the rules (of the destination country) now. It isn't just the UK, that was just the example which tipped me off about the change, there are many countries which you can't insure Priority to now. I know the title makes it sound like there is no more insurance at all ever on Int'l Pri. but that is what reading the OP is for =P.

I've shipped to the UK many times in the past via Priority International and purchased insurace for it, I never once had to actually file a claim but I still have the records with insurance info and all. I used to buy and sell Ocarinas, Flutes, and Recorders on the side between 2009 and 2011 to boost my income and I shipped globally via USPS. I made over 150 international shipments, and a good chunk of that was to the UK, every single package insured. I know it isn't just my local MI Post Office which was breaking the rules (if it really has been against the rules for years) because prior to late 2010 I lived in NJ, so half of that sales period I was shipping from NJ. The only place I had to ship which I was not able to insure to from my records is Indonesia. Everywhere else, I have insurance records for.

FWIW USPS insurance has always had some serious issues. In general, you usually weren't covered for what you thought you were covered for when push came to shove.

@Ryan, while I do worry a great deal about our great (and once greater) nation, I would say the USPS problems are a result of the Internet more than the nation's decline. We need to fix it though, USPS was always part of the government that was supposed to make sure that even addresses that were a loss were covered with mail delivery. Sort of a little socialist I guess. They need to cut back on days of delivery, not services IMHO.