Whoa, this is messed up. USPS doesn't even explain WHY they reduced the claim from $3000 to $74. I'll be interested in seeing a follow-up on this.

I need 3000 dollars, I ship a box of rocks to my friend and insure it for 3000 dollars. Oops, it failed to arrive, where is my 3000 dollars?

Foiled again!

The US Postal Service lost five new Lenovo laptops that Pedro's friend bought and shipped to him. Pedro expected that this might happen, so he wisely insured the package for $3,000.

This sounds completely believable to me.

If you excuse me, I'm going to go ship 7 plasma TVs to my friend Escoban.

So I see they have outsourced their customer service to eBay/PayPal.

Have any of you ever dealt with any shipping insurance claims person? No proof of value, no claim. The fine print on the contract you signed says as much.

US Postal Service reaches new great heights of ignorance by losing an insured package of laptops valued at $3000. They then attempt to placate the customer by offering a $74 refund

Fixed

thomps: yeah i was going to say that if they were brand new computers, there shoudl be some receipts laying around.

Seriously. Something stinks and it isn't the USPS.

Does anyone know of any type of insurance that will pay out without challenging for proof of value?

Did the Postal Service type up the letter on one of his missing laptops?

Man On Pink Corner: Don't have your receipt showing what you paid for the item? Then all they'll refund is the shipping and insurance.

Yes, they'll cheerfully take your insurance payment for the full $3,000 without telling you this.

Oh, and the best part? The same folks who brought you the USPS are about to be placed in charge of your health coverage.

Oh, and the best part? The same folks who brought you the USPS are about to be placed in charge of your health coverage.

That is sad, the insurance companies have it running so smoothly.

GregoryD: I need 3000 dollars, I ship a box of rocks to my friend and insure it for 3000 dollars. Oops, it failed to arrive, where is my 3000 dollars?

Aha your clever plan has failed! Now your friend has got a useless package of laptops, while your precious stones have been sent to some colony of nerds. Where is your god now?

Who sends 3k worth of stuff through USPS

I have heard conflicting reports on this. Do my tax dollars go to the Post Office's budget? I know they report to the congressional budget office. They're a quasi-goverment agency but its not like Amtrak, which gets massive subsidies.

Some smart Farker must know this.

What you expect from the Obama administration, expect more screw-ups on a massive scale. Remember whoever is president inherits the sins of every government worker. You libtards taught us that tactic, thank you.

The Decider: Oh, and the best part? The same folks who brought you the USPS are about to be placed in charge of your health coverage.

That is sad, the insurance companies have it running so smoothly.

Agreed - I always hear how horrible it would be to have the govt running health care, And I don't necessarily disagree with that. Then I think to myself, "wait a minute, the current guys aren't doing such a great job either".

drjekel_mrhyde: Who sends 3k worth of stuff through USPS

Retards and scammers. The two overlap on occasion.

As a loyal consumerist poster, I can't believe this one made it here.

Nowhere in the post does the original source mention proof of value. The USP and any insurer requires this. The USPS even has it as one of their written polices.

There is more to this story, obviously, than what has been posted and while consumerist is very useful and interesting, they do sometime abandon journalistic values in defense of the "consumer."

I will attack the USPS and any large corporation when they deserve it, but the answer to this question is clearly (d) not enough information.

Hahaha, what makes some threads turn into wacko political threads? I haven't seen it happen for a while, did something new set people off?

This is off topic, but the last time I sent a package at the post office I went to some small place that literally had a sign saying "If you are rude we charge 10 dollars more", and then just took my package (hehe) without asking any questions.

After years of question after question about what exactly I'm sending it was pretty bizarre. I also happened to be sending a package in a box with tons three different holes in it, and as I left I was thinking "No legitimate post office in the country would have let me send that as is." It was crazy. I'm talking 2x2 inch holes. I left thinking "There is no way that gets through, I'm out my amazon delivery money" but sho nuff...

The summary of this is that people in charge of delivering mail are stupid and scary and inconsistent. Also, would you like to send dangerous terrorist like packages? I know just the place to send it from.

Oh, and don't but Lenovo laptops, their largest shareholder is the Chinese government.

abiigdog: What you expect from the Obama administration, expect more screw-ups on a massive scale. Remember whoever is president inherits the sins of every government worker. You libtards taught us that tactic, thank you.

0/10, over the top.

FTA: He insured the shipment for $3,000 and sent it parcel-post to me in San Diego.

Who sends anything of value by parcel post? Even if it does get there, it will take forever and a day to get there.

abiigdog: What you expect from the Obama administration, expect more screw-ups on a massive scale. Remember whoever is president inherits the sins of every government worker. You libtards taught us that tactic, thank you.

2/10

I found a pic of one of the laptops:

I admit I chuckled when I read:


"We couldn't find their email addresses (maybe they view it as competition)"

By the way, everyone who is up in arms about the prior stated value of the policy is - um, not smart. Or at least they don't know how insurance works. Let's say you want to insure an older car - not quite an antique or collector car, but still something worth substantially over book vale. You can buy a stated value policy, let's say for 20k. Does that mean you get a check for 20k if you total it? Hell no. The insurance company is gonna make you prove to them it's worth 20k first by providing comparable sales, photos, and receipts for optional equipment. If the dude in question can't provide documentation on the purchase for the computers, then that insurance is worth about $74.

JRoo: Maybe the package was made of ice!

And the label was printed with disappearing ink!

We need the Hardy Boys!

I once "mailed" a massive snowball. Of course, I was an eight year old kid at the time.

abiigdog: What you expect from the Obama administration, expect more screw-ups on a massive scale. Remember whoever is president inherits the sins of every government worker. You libtards taught us that tactic, thank you.

That will be negative internets for you troll, go back to your bridge!!

The postal service is going the way of newspapers and wagon wheels. Internet-savvy people don't need it anymore, and UPS handles the rest.

Epsilon: Whoa, this is messed up. USPS doesn't even explain WHY they reduced the claim from $3000 to $74. I'll be interested in seeing a follow-up on this.

The reason is this. They are the government, they have the guns.

If they protest the absurd settlement too much, I would not be surprised if they have the sender arrested for fraud.

The fail here is why anyone would ship anything of value USPS in the first place!

UPS ground is usually cheaper than USPS anyway. For gods sake stay away from the postal service when there are valuable goods involved.

and btw,i dont care if it was laptops or horse manure in the box if he insured it for 3000 dollars he should be paid 3000 dollars, whats it's valued at is irrelevant!

Man On Pink Corner: Don't have your receipt showing what you paid for the item? Then all they'll refund is the shipping and insurance.

Yes, they'll cheerfully take your insurance payment for the full $3,000 without telling you this.

Oh, and the best part? The same folks who brought you the USPS are about to be placed in charge of your health coverage.

As long as it's not the same folks who brought me DHL, they're totally incompetent.

I actually much prefer USPS to UPS because it's usually half as expensive, or less, for books and light packages and the kind of stuff I usually send.