Shipping Insurance | Hacker News Reader

Shipping Insurance

blog.easypost.com

35 pointsjstreebin20 comments

Is there any sort of guarantee that my claim will be accepted? Or, do you have some trade secrets that increase the likelihood of a claim being accepted?

Many years ago, I had to file a claim on a damaged package and it was denied. Photographic evidence of a moderately crushed box with several open holes was not convincing enough. That day, I swore that I would never buy shipping insurance again.

I would love to insure packages again if I knew that a legitimate claim would be accepted.

I'm happy to email over our policy. Would that reassure you? Can email us direct and insurance at easypost dot com

Sorry, I think we may have misunderstood each other. I have confidence in your service and the submission of claim paperwork. I just am not sure about the actual shipping company accepting the claim and writing me a check because they may not agree with you and me that the package was damaged.

edit: from reading a couple of other comments, it seems like you are the insurer, too. So, my original comment is probably moot.

Yeah, that's what I wanted to clarify. It's with us, not the same insurance as through the shippers. Let us know if you're interested!

From the blog post:

There are no country restrictions, and only standard restrictions for things like guns, gold, and humans.

I'm curious why the restrictions on firearms? The USPS has no restrictions on shipping and insuring firearms that are mailed in compliance with federal law.

IANAL, but I don't think it is legal to ship a firearm across state lines to anyone other than an FFL Dealer (Federal Firearms License)

Yes, this is true. It's a violation of federal law to ship to an individual out of state. It is, however, legal to ship to individuals within the state or to FFLs either way. It's very common for firearms purchased over the internet to be sent USPS to the local FFL, and it's common for individuals to ship firearms to manufacturers, FFLs or smiths directly as well.

There's no need for purchasing shipping insurance, unless it's a one time shipment of a relatively very high value. Packages do not get lost or damaged, contrary to what insurance providers might want to make you believe.

If you ship a lot of high value items, just save some of your profits for such a rare eventuality (also called "self-insurance").

I'm sorry, but are claiming that the rate of packages being damaged or lost by the USPS is literally 0%? Do you have evidence for this extraordinary claim?

No it's not zero percent, and no one will tell you what it actually is. I was simply suggesting that package Insurance is a HUGE profit center. And the only way for it to be a profit center is if in reality packages don't get lost / damaged.

They just need to make people believe their package will get damaged and then take all possible steps to not pay out for a claim.

I thought that's how all insurance worked?

Correct. Except that in the case of Life insurance, Health insurance, Auto insurance etc., there may be more at risk, so the case for having some protection may be greater.

Not much to see there. I'd suggest you write longer blog posts, maybe include some anecdotes of the problem you are solving with your new service. "Here's a service, there's no details, want to join the beta?" isn't very compelling.

Noted! I'll add to it, thx

how's that?

Honestly, that is much better. Very nice.

Will be good to have a competitor to shipsurance and u-pic.

Oh wait, it's just a claim processing service?

Hi ck, we take care of the whole insurance process from purchasing it to dealing with claims.

You'd buy your shipping labels and insurance through the EasyPost API; and if you ever need to make a claim you just email us the details and we take care of the rest!

This is awesome, and would be even more awesome if you supported other countries.

We can probably do this -- emailing you now

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