So, I've shipped a few and have never had problems, and I've always purchased insurance in the amount to cover the cost of replacing all the parts, shipping of parts, and shipping of the finished rod. So I sent a rod out last Wednesday to learn today that It arrived in the post office in Pine, CO broken in two. A 1.5" PVC tube mind you with a 10' 2pc 8wt rod. I put the insurance amount at where I could replace the rod if anything happened. So I know I've got enough insurance on it.......But I have two questions:

Have any of you dealt with postal insurance claims? How did it come out?

and

Should I be insuring for the cost of parts, shipping, shipping final product, and cost of my time to build a new rod? I've been told by a co-worker that on the claim I should be adding that cost into it and submitting for it. Thoughts?

You should insure it for the price you sold the completed rod for. Expect to have to provide proof that the amount you file a claim for is what you were paid for the rod.

............

Make sure you have all your documented paperwork and don't forget to dot your I's and cross all your t's as USPS is known to be very picky. If your claim is approved it can take up to 30 days to receive payment.
As for your other questions I am sure some builders will let you know their experiences.

Karen

Shouldn't be too hard then, I insured for the cost of parts and shipping of parts, and shipping to a friend. It was a surprise gift that I paid for.

Good luck I would have insured it with all the cost involved, Parts Labor and shipping. I would make a sales recite

Good Wraps Bob

The post office is extremely picky when it comes to paying insurance claims.The most critical thing is weather your package meets usps shipping guidelines.most do not.I sent an antique plate that I completely wraped in bubble wrap used a high density cardboard box and then completely filled with packing peanuts.I contacted the usps and they immediately refused payment.Why?because I should have put the box that I carefully packaged inside another cardboard box with peanuts.This is what it says in the guidelines.It is very important to read the insurance information and packing guidelines.I hope things go nice and smooth for you.

Scott

I've stopped using USPS except for only the shortest rod tubes. I used to use them extensively Priority shipment. On packages over 48" they have become non-competitive with UPS.

Pay attention to what Karen has written - they "owe me" for a broken rod from two years ago. Local post office / postmaster sat on the claim / "forgot to send it in" . Then it had to be sent to some central clearing center - which relocated to somewhere in the upper mid-west and the paper work was lost / misplaced. I have had to refile (2 times now) - I'm glad that I made photo copies of everything so I could refile (postage AND insurance you paid are not covered by the insurance either).

I've got statements from the postmaster in Pine who said he could not have packed that rod better.....and the rod only went 104 miles(I'm sure it went 150 or so once they sent it to Denver for processing and back out to Pine, CO.

Here's to hoping that this goes smoothly enough.

I guess it's all how you handle it. I've had nothing but absolute success with the USPS and found them to be very competitive with UPS. My only dislike is I can't see exactly where a package is, but I do know when it's been delivered with a nice email on arrival.

Question on competitiveness:
- are you paying yourself mileage to drop the package off and factoring that into the cost of postage or are you having the UPS pickup without a fee?
- are you using USPS online services which are 12% off the standard rate?

That made a big difference in seeing the competitive side of using USPS. Even Express Mail is pretty competitive when you look at it that way.

As for claims:

I have had the USPS shatter two tubes for 3 rods. I use online postage and the online claims process can't be much easier:
Claim 1 - Factory Quantum shattered. I'd turned it into a split grip for the customer. Filed the price of the new rod using a link to the Bass Pro page, my receipt for splitting the grip, and a picture of the damage. Check in full received in 6 business days.
Claim 2 - Two of my rods shattered, rod shattered. Included receipt and photo of broken rods. Check received in 5 business days.

Both claims filed online (available with online postage), documentation added as attachments to online claim - took maybe 5 minutes to complete.

100% satisfaction and no need to fight with anyone. It's much easier than going down to the post office and dealing with someone who doesn't want to deal with your problem.

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Andrew,
Whenever I ship a rod and buy insurance for the rod, I insure it for at least the value of the selling price of the rod.
In other words, whatever is on the invoice to the customer is what I insure it for along with the cost of the shipping.
For the few times that I have had a problem, I have never had an issue with payment.

I just send in the receipt and receive the money back.

By the way, I have found that virtually all of the carriers are identical with respect to damage avoidance. I have had very few problems with any of the carriers. I did have one summer where I had a broken rod with USPS, UPS, and with Fedex.

In all cases, it appeared that the tube had gottne caught in a convoyer. Any type tube will lose every time to a conveyor. I don't care what the material is made of, or how thick it is.

In all cases, the insurance took care of the problem with no issues.

--
Many years ago, my wife was in Ceramics. She had made some beatiful wall hangings which were shipped to my mother in very well packaged cases. In this case, since my wife is an artist and sculptor, I took the price of all of the materials and then added $500 for the artistic labor required to make the Ceramics. This would have been the price of the ceramics, if she had sold them to a private party.

They were received badly broken. I put in a claim and initially the USPS refused to honor the claim indicating that they would only pay for the cost of materials.
I had to generate a letter with other supporting receipts to other clients - indicating the value of the ceramics. Once I had done this, the USPS paid the insurance claim. I.e. as long as the object is insured for a specific amount, and as long as it is a fair and reasonable price - based on what it is, whether it is a retail sale, or wholesale sale, and you can document the value of the object, they will generally pay the claim.

Take care
Roger

Alex -
Thanks! I'll absolutely look into USPS on-line. This service was not available (two years ago) when I had the issue with USPS - and the post office . You were correct that no one wanted to "deal with the problem" - or knew how to (small semi-rural post office). With UPS I call them / they come for no additional fee. The post office is close enough that I wouldn't add anything to the cost of shipping. The "biggie" with the post office are the balloon rates for long packages - and the way they seemingly force-fit them into the aluminum airline-style shipping canisters. If it's 6 feet or longer then the package will go in "cat a corner" (diagonally) - and other packages will be put around and on the tube. The package at issue was 6'6" long - schedule 40 (thick walled) white PVC tube shipped to Brooklyn, NY. Customer received it in two pieces with one end cap knocked off (was cemented on).

Yeah, it's conveyors that cause this kind of breakage. Specifically, power turns, that take packages around a 90 degree turn. The radius of these are too little for a tube much longer than 4 feet. one end of the tube hits the siderail, boxes pile up behind it, and it breaks. I sell to these type places in my regular job, and see this happen pretty often.

All the carriers have procedures whereby such long packages are supposed to be hand sorted, but we all know how procedures are often not followed.

So as a gift I did not put a reciept in the tube, nor did I even generate one. I'm really only interested in getting payment for the parts so I can build a new rod. I was going to send them links to all the parts and prices on mudhole since that's where I received all the parts other than the blank.

Andrew -

Why don't you give them your mudhole receipt with the items highlighted?


Ken -

Setting up an account is super easy and you can pay with a credit or debit card. They also have some nice features like an address book (great for repeat clients), free boxes (for other stuff), etc. Maybe I am lucky. I use Sch 40 PVC and ship tubes up to 96" all over the country - never a problem (knock on wood). The two they broke were in cardboard tubes I reused.

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Andrew,
Just generate a receipt for the rod, as if you were selling the rod to a client.
You should be compensated for your parts, as well as your time, in the same way as if you were selling the rod to a client.

Roger

The claim was approved, now it's time to build another rod.