Q: Shipping high $$ value merchandise

With USPS you can track, but not as good. I'd insist on FedEx personally...

 

My experience with the USPS is that they ring the doorbell and leave the package. And yes, I've lost packages this way. I have never experienced a single problem shipping via UPS or FedEx. Where it gets expensive is in the declared value for the shipping insurance. I've actually shipped rather expensive items and declared almost no value. No problems. If the item is valuable, it's probably worth paying a few extra dollars to guarantee it's insured and gets to where it needs to go, if that will put you more at ease.

 

UPS has become very hard to collect on insurance claims.

I would stay with Fed-Ex.

And USPS is out of the question.

 

UPS left an Apple G5 on my door step one time, in the box. If someone had walked past my house and seen that big black box with a nice new Apple G5 on the side, it was theirs for the taking.

All 3 of those companies have dropped packages on my doorstep before. Only one that hasn't was DHL

Why is this person insistent on using USPS? That's kind of a red flag IMO.

 

Things may have changed, but USPS Registered Mail used to be a very secure deal. First, Registered Mail can't get left on the doorstep, it REQUIRES a signature. Second, tracking of Registered Mail is supposed to be very rigorous, each postal employee that takes possession has to sign for it. Third, stealing from the USPS makes it a Federal crime. At one point, Harry Winston, who was in possession of the Hope diamond, checked into the most secure way of getting the diamond from NY to Washington and decided it was Registered Mail!

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Hope_Diamond.html

I've known people who shipped expensive watches, coins and other items via Fedex and UPS and they received empty boxes, so no service is completely safe. Asking to use USPS Registered Mail doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

+1. I would insist on using Fed Ex.

UPS lost a red label envelope I sent back in November. It was quite laughable the check they sent me for losing the envelope, so I sent them a scathing letter, and documented what losing that red label envelope cost me. Oh, and I sent it to UPS HQ via Fed Ex overnight. They called me a couple days later, and apologized for losing the letter. We then negotiated a more fair $$ settlement for them losing the envelope. F*** UPS!!!!

 

There has always been some confusion between Certified and Registered US mail. Certified mail requires the signature of the recipient. It only tells you if it was accepted or rejected (usually after two weeks of attempted delivery), and by whom. In Registered mail, every person handling that mail must sign for it from origin to delivery. That is how it is tracked. Loss, in this latter situation is investigated by Postal Inspectors who actually have a better record than the FBI.

 

All the evidence here is anecdotal.

I ship thousands of packages a year across the USA and to Europe. We have had good success with UPS and with FedEx. I don't see a particular difference in loss rates with one vs. the other. DHL is substandard compared to UPS/FedEx. If you have a loss, their internal tracking systems do not locate the package with the same accuracy that FedEx/UPS has. DHL will tell you the last scan was when it left such-and-such but that will be it. UPS/FedEx will be able to tell which location it was at, who scanned it, when, and what they were supposed to do with it.

As for mail, registered mail is a different animal than 1st class or priority mail. I have NOT had good luck with "normal" postal. Our loss rate is 3-4x what it is with UPS or FedEx. Their tracking is substandard. But Registered mail means the package is under essentially lock and key as it moves through the mail system. Someone is held accountable for each step during a registered mail package, and they all know it. I tend to think for valuable items, registered mail is a safer option.

The problem is, UPS/FedEx both set a "high value" cap around 2,500, so anything above that is marked high value. But it still goes through the regular UPS/FedEx machine with little accountability as to who actually touches your package. May as well mark it "something worth stealing in here"

Send it registered mail, and make sure it's insured for the full value. And check for tampering when it's delivered (use some of that tamperproof tape)