Ensuring that your shipped valuables are safe, covered, and insured is absolutely necessary to your peace of mind when you put something of importance in the mail. Understandably, not everyone reads the fine print on what major shipping retailers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS policies are about insuring your valuables. Unfortunately, not knowing the fine print has meant losing irreplaceable keepsakes for so many where they may not see full monetary coverage come through. So, what do you need to know about FedEx insurance? We’ve done the fine print reading for you and have compiled the takeaways.
Coverage
First off, you need to know that FedEx insurance will only cover up to $2,000 on a lost, missing, or damaged item. But just because $2,000 as the maximum is what you’re told in-store, doesn’t mean it’s the golden standard. For example, items such as art, jewelry, antiques, precious metals, collectibles, furs, and model dollhouses, are only eligible for coverage of up to $1,000. This is unfortunate, because some of these items may in fact be at least $2,000 in value, but because FedEx deems that these items’ prices are often relative, they’ll only agree to pay up to $1,000 to be safe. It’s also important to note that FedEx values the maximum $2,000 coverage as the one package as a whole, not for each item individually that is in the package. So if each individual item you’ve included in the package is of great value, it might be better to send each item separately so you can maximize the coverage amount given.
Let’s say your shipped goods actually do get lost or damaged. This is when you would file a claim. What many people do not know is that upon trying to redeem this money, FedEx requires you to include a receipt in your claim showing the shipped item’s monetary value and how much it was bought for. Proof of value in the form of a receipt must be sent online, mailed in, or taken into the store. This can be less than ideal for many as they may know how much their shipped item is worth, but not have a receipt of purchase to prove it.
Cost
Secondly, you’ll want to know the cost breakdown to pay for insurance on the package you plan on shipping. The price of shipping insurance on your package is 1/100th of what the package is worth (up to $2,000 and up to $1,000 for anything containing the list of excluded items). This means if your package is valued at the FedEx maximum of $2,000, you will owe $20 in insurance fees. If your package contains anything on the excluded list such as art, jewelry, antiques, precious metals, collectibles, furs, and model dollhouses, and is listed as the maximum value of $1,000, you will owe $10 in insurance fees. Similarly, for a package valued at $100 or $300, you will spend $1 or $3 in insurance fees.
If you want to include a signature confirmation service, where the recipient must sign for the item before the post master leaves it behind, your package must be valued at a minimum of $500, but does not have a maximum.
Alternatives
FedEx does have highly competitive and comparable shipping prices to its counterparts at UPS and USPS, but just because the price to send is good, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the best insurance coverage along with it.
One alternative is to pay to ship your package through FedEx, but use alternative insurance through another retailer such as Cabrella. This shipping insurance option could be a good fit for you when shipping a package where you know the content is worth more than $2,000. Other shipping insurance carriers specialize in coverage options that exceed the FedEx maximum and have the ability to cover several valuable items at a time, rather than only the package as a whole. Additionally, pursuing shipping insurance alternatives can be a great option for you if the item you are trying to send is on FedEx’s list of excluded items and therefore is not receiving the maximum amount of coverage it’s worth.
Overall, having insurance can either make or break a shipping scenario gone wrong. It’s important to know what options are out there, and know the fine print when dealing with your greatest valuables. FedEx is a great post service to utilize, and with all the facts in your back pocket, we trust your keepsakes and valuables will be in good hands.