Post Office: Insured package lost, I receive amount insured for? Or only the value of item?

Question

I'm under the impression that if I insure a package at the post office for $500.00 and that package is lost, I will receive $500.00 regardless of it's value. I paid the fee for that amount of insurance.

If what all you are saying is true, then why are there amount of insurance options?

If what all of you are saying is true, then why do you have the option to choose the amount of coverage?

Answer 1

To answer your followup question about why are there different amounts available:
different things cost differently. You are given the opportunity to insure for an amount of coverage. Lets say the only available option was to insure for $200. You send someone a $1 pack of pencils. Do you think it is right to collect $200 for it? The other side of the coin is, you ship a $1800 laptop & it is damaged. Would you be satisfied with your $200 claim?

You are offered the option to choose your coverage based on your need. If you only need $50 of insurance, that is what you pay for. If you need $50k of insurance, you pay for that. You insure items for thier value, not what you want to collect.

Answer 2

What you receive is the value of the item or the price that was paid - whichever is appropriate.

The insured amount is the approximate value of the item - that is why there's so many choices. (For instance, if you're shipping costume jewelery, that's probably worth less than $100, but if you're sending your daughter your mother's diamond earrings, that value would be more than $1000, assumedly.)

Over the summer, I sold some heirloom plates on EBay for a grand total of $55, but the plates had a total worth of $1000. Since the guy only paid the $55, we only insured it for $100. Two of the plates arrived broken, so we filed the insurance claim, and the buyer got only what he paid for those two plates - about $11. When filing the claim you have to prove what was paid and what the worth of the item is.

Answer 3

With insurance companies and such they always want to make the lowest payment possible. So you will be reimbursed by the Post Office for the value of the item up to a maximum of $500.

If you were to get the full $500 then you would have to be shipping a $500 value item. Otherwise the price would be much higher and people would be beating down doors to lose their insured packages.

Answer 4

Why would you insure something for more than it's worth? You just wasted your money by insuring the package for more than it's worth. The post office's policy is correct. You only get the value of the items shipped....makes sense to me.

Answer 5

No, you have to PROVE to the post office what the value is - with a receipt or some such, and you receive the lesser of the value, or the amount insured.

Answer 6

the price it's worth