Collecting insurance through usps for a bow damaged or lost in shipping?

[toomanyknots]

This hasn't happened to me yet, but I was mailing a bow the other day and the postal worker told me that if the bow is handmade, than I would have to prove that the materials are worth as much as I insure it, or have it appraised, to collect insurance in case it was damaged or lost? This seems like utter crap to me. Anybody know if this is true?

[Josh Shuck]

Print off a couple of nice yew staves with prices. That would cover quite a bit right off the bat.  If the bow isn't yew...I doubt the postal worker could tell the difference!

[Pat B]

I don't insure(or try to insure) my bows when I mail them off. I do send them "Priority Mail" and get "Delivery Confirmation". With Priority Mail fewer hands touch the package and with Delivery Confirmation you can track the package if it comes up missing.
  If you pack your bow well and mail it with these two lables your bow will most probably get to it destination with no problems. I have been mailing bows off for years and NEVER had one lost or damaged....knock on wood!!!
 To ship bows I use a 3", thin walled PVC pipe with end caps and wrap the bow well with bubble wrap.
  The postal agent at the window doesn't handle insurance claims and is only doing what their job tells them to do. Trying to "get over" on the PO would be postal fraud and not worth the trouble you will put yourself in if you try to claim something false. Pack your bow up the best you can and use Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation and have faith the PO will do their job. They have for me for many years.

[osage outlaw]

I have always been told by the USPS that unless I have a receipt showing where the item was purchased new, I couldn't file a claim if it was damaged.

[Del the cat]

It would be a nightmare to prove 'value' of a handmade item, even with copious photos. Probably the only way would be to find a commercially available similar item for comparison or get some independent valuation before the event.
A bit like a Picasso painting, without a valuation it's just the value of the canvas and paint.
Del

[Weylin]

I agree, it is likely a lost cause. I don't think they are worth insuring. just do like Pat says and then cross your fingers.

[dwardo]

Get the insurance company to ask us all for a price to replace our favourite handmade self bows.
Then when they stop crying ask them to pay up.

[Catahoula]

Hi,

I agree with Pat.  I mailed one last week to Florida priority with deliverly confirmation in the thin walled pipe...(Pat remember the osage you gave me the backing for a couple of years ago?...that's the one...)  Mail my flutes that way all the time and don't bother to insure as unless the postal worker drives his truck over the pipe I think I am good to go.

Catahoula

[toomanyknots]

Can you get a pipe big enough to allow for some 6" or so recurves? If so, than that sounds like a safe route to go. I usually use a trick I picked up from halfeye (Rich), which is to get a bunch of those free 3' long triangle shaped priority mailing tubes and double them up. If I wanna ship fedex or something else, I will put some brown shipping paper over them. The PVC pipe sounds safer though, I agree.

[bubby]

you can buy a couple of sweeps for the recurves, Bub

[mullet]

 Insurance is a waste of time and money for all of the reasons stated above. It is even harder trying to collect when trading, ask Chris Cade about collecting on a black powder gun that looked like it had been run over with a forklift.
Priority mail is the only way to go. I don't ask for confirmation, it's an extra charge. Anybody I trade with I know and they will email me when it gets there.

[Oglala Bowyer]

I'm don't know.  Why don't you try it and send me a yew stave .

[Pat B]

Eddie, the reason I pay the extra buck or two for Delivery Confirmation is without it the package can not be tracked. With it it is recorded in the system with every contact. I have never had to use it but it is worth the few extra bucks for me to get Delivery Confirmation when I ship valuable items Priority Mail.

[Stringman]

I'm with Pat, insurance "no," delivery confirmation "yes!" Just went thru a trade where a couple boxes of rocks got shipped to me without delivery confirmation. When they didn't arrive after 3 weeks, I called the PO and inquired. They just said they couldn't help me, wouldn't even try...

All my valuables get delivery conf now.

Scott

P.S. the sender felt so bad about it he sent me another package which was way more than we originally agreed upon, which made me feel bad so now I have to send him something else back, which will likely result in he and I becoming well acquainted (maybe even *gasp* friends?!?) This could all be avoided by getting D.C.