[meteorite-list] Postal insurance claim or stamps.com.

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <*meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:57:40 -0400 Message-ID: <CAKBPJW_BnjMUPDbW-7nJzYcuUGfrqEvkCncnrUmtqt=DPVw2Pw_at_mail.gmail.com> · meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com

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On 3/29/13, Yinan Wang <veomega at gmail.com> wrote:
> To answer Paul about why they wanted to keep the broken item:
>
> When the post office's insurance pays out for something, they own it,
> whether or it's broken, destroyed, etc. The broken item's are
> eventually sold off as salvage or entered into the Lost Package
> Auctions. This is how they recover part of the insurance payouts.
>
> Every month the post office holds a big auction (or at least until
> recently when they contracted it out) where they auction off lots
> composed of items that were lost in the mail or had insurance paid out
> on it.
>
> I've attended these auctions before, they are quite amazing, they take
> place in a warehouse the size of a football field. Items are grouped
> in lots, for example: an 80 lb hamper of jeans, a cubic meter of
> textbooks, a cabinet of thousands of silver coins, entire boxes of
> gold rings, and yes, there is usually a small cabinet composed of
> rocks and loose stones. So yes, if you lose a meteorite in the mail or
> had insurance pay out and they keep it, it will end up at one of these
> auctions.
>
> Before anyone jumps in with angry claims that they're purposefully
> losing mail: this is packages only, they don't sell letters or other
> postal things. They do make an effort to return things (open packages
> and look for addresses inside, look for any contact info, etc) and
> usually return a decent percentage of items.
>
> -Yinan
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Paul Gessler <cetuspa at shaw.ca> wrote:
>> Mike , I had an experience like this back in 1995 (so not sure if still
>> relevant?)
>> I purchased a cut slab of Huckitta pallasite from Michael Casper.
>> It was 112grams for $1.75 a gram back then.
>> It was shipped US postal service and insured through them for $200
>> When it arrived the box had been crushed and the riker box inside
>> shattered
>> with the slab breaking into two pieces. I remember filing a complaint and
>> scheduled a
>> meeting with the post master at my end. They contacted Mr Casper to get
>> the
>> value
>> from him. I argued along with Casper that the collectability had been
>> destroyed because
>> it was broken in two. (those were the days before Bessy specks I think)
>> The
>> post office
>> agreed and gave me my $200 back. BUT they wanted to keep the meteorite? I
>> demanded
>> they return it as it still had scientific value and they were supposedly
>> going to just throw it away.
>> They finally relented and gave it back to me. My experience was that
>> nothing
>> was easy
>> or straight forward. I had to prove the damage by showing the crushed box
>> etc and demonstrate the
>> obvious careless handling resulted in damage. Then I had to talk them out
>> of
>> the object that
>> had been written off as destroyed. Why would you keep something that was
>> considered destroyed?
>> You could also argue sentimental value with this I guess. Same reasoning.
>> Anyway had to jump through some hoops but in the end I got a full refund
>> and
>> got to keep
>> the broken Huckitta.
>>
>> Regards- Paul Gessler
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Mike Miller
>> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:26 PM
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Postal insurance claim or stamps.com.
>>
>>
>> I am wondering if anyone can share their experience involving the loss
>> of an insured package. Whether it was successful or not and with any
>> of the carriers. I am especially interested in stamps.com or the Us
>> postal service. I am asking the question because I ship a lot of
>> meteorites and have lost some but never any that were insured. Today I
>> talked with a representative of stamps.com and I was told they only
>> insure the value that I paid for the meteorite or its value at the
>> time of loss whichever is less.
>>
>> --
>> Mike Miller  Kingman Az 86409
>>
>>
>>
>>
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