If you have a large amount to ship, is it wise to make several shipments? What value limit would you put in each box?
Keeping I mind most of the mailing process is automated...I would be more concerned with how I overpack the box. Insuring the package is another concern as I heard USPS doesn't payout on coins or bullion.
I’ve used registered mail for many years. It is the safest way to ship with USPS and I have never had a problem. The best way to do it is to get a medium flat rate box and fill it up. You have to use the brown paper tape with the threads to secure the package. Do not tape over the code on the box so that they can scan it. The cost will be the flat rate + registered + insurance. It will be in the system as priority 2 days but it will not arrive in that time. Registered mail does not go through the normal system. It is scanned and locked up. When the carrier gets it he scans it. When it arrives at the next destination, it is scanned and locked up. This process repeats until it arrives at the end destination. Insure it for the full (legitimate) retail value. You can easily calculate what it will cost on the USPS website.
If it’s not worth much Priority would be find. It’s insured up to $50 but try and collect on it. Try and collect on anything. If it’s worth more than Registered is the best safest way to ship. There is a tracking number but you can access it, only postal employees can. It moves slow but it’s safe.
If you are saying you can’t track registered, that’s not true. You get an update every time it is touched.
I'd be sure to buy private insurance and not that offered by the USPS. I don't want ANYONE inside the USPS knowing how much insurance I've taken out on a mailing. As for limits on value, the insurer usually set limits per package.
I retired from the postal service. Registered mail does NOT show the customer tracking information. ThT is done in order to protect the package.
@Collecting Nut When you say it does not show the customer tracking number, are you saying that the customer can't track the shipment or that it's an internal thing? $50,000 is the limit for Registered Mail.
Every single time (50+) that I have sent a registered mail package, the same thing happens. The postal worker says here is the tracking number so that you can track your package and then he/she puts a check on the receipt next to the number. They then circle the code on the receipt for completing a survey about my service at the post office. I have tracked every registered mail package I have ever sent at every stop it made. The registered number is also on the sticker that is placed on the package when you ask for registered mail so it’s not a big secret. The only change I have seen in the last 20 years with registered mail is that they are not doing the time/date stamp all over the package like they used to do.
Your experience contradicts my own, and I've used registered at least a hundred times. Each time, without fail, I get to see when it is delivered, but cannot track it at intermediate stops along the way. I'm inclined to buy @Collecting Nut's explanation that Registered packages are not tracked for security reasons, although you can use the tracking number to check whether delivery has completed.
I looked the coin up that he referred to in ebay. Unless I read it wrong, the package would be shipped from Atlanta. I've had several purchases with vendors in the Atlanta and I have a son and daughter in the area and I found that the vendor will let my son or daughter pick them up. I live in North Carolina and have made several purchases from vendors in that area. I also have family in California, Texas and several other states. Families are nice.
@ldhair ….. I don’t know the ins and outs of the USPS like the others that have responded. I am the most trusting fellow you will ever meet and it pains me to say that I have grown quite jaded about the USPS having several corporate checks pilfered from mail that was deposited at a post office. I am convinced that there are bad actors within the organization and I know that isn’t what you want to hear. Having said that, I do not have an option that I feel confident enough in to tell you that a valuable shipment would be reasonably safe in. Were I in your shoes, I would likely select FedEx for no other reason than I have lost all confidence in the USPS.
The customer can only see when it was mailed and when it was delivered. Once delivered, the person that signed for it becomes available. Only the postal employees can see the cities and states that the B parcel has been to.
Try putting the RE 53382 number with the US included. Then post the tracking information about every city and state it was in. The USPS does not show tr as cling in order to protect the package. S as nd yes, the maximum insurance amount is $50,000 for registered mail.
Strange, but I get a lot more online tracking info on progress of registered mail. Last time I sent a package via registered mail to CAC, the tracking I got as it progressed is below. Registered mail is the safest way to ship in the U.S. I use private insurance. The private insurance rate for registered mail is ½ the private rate for USPS Priority or FedEx Overnight … so, those last two are twice as risky. One huge advantage of private insurance is that I’m required to write a value of zero on the shipping paperwork. So, thieves are unlikely to nab it. Postal clerks aren’t supposed to ask questions about what’s in the box other than the usual about flammable, breakable, etc. But I have had them ask why I’m shipping something of zero value via registered mail. This is kindly meant because other methods would be cheaper. I tell them it’s business papers, and it would be a hassle if they didn’t arrive. They’re happy with this, and it’s no lie … there are business papers with the coins. Anyone new to registered mail should read the packaging requirements very carefully … all seams sealed with paper tape, no use of address labels, etc. And yes, they enforce those rules. Cal -------------------------------------------------------------------------- USPS in possession of item (my local PO) August 15, 2023, 10:27 am Arrived at USPS Facility WEST SACRAMENTO, CA 95799 August 15, 2023, 8:57 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility SAN FRANCISCO CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER August 16, 2023, 5:11 am Departed USPS Facility SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94188 August 17, 2023, 12:28 am Arrived at USPS Facility JAMAICA, NY 11430 August 18, 2023, 8:13 pm Departed USPS Facility JAMAICA, NY 11430 August 18, 2023, 11:04 pm Arrived at USPS Facility KEARNY, NJ 07099 August 20, 2023, 12:15 am Out for Delivery BEDMINSTER, NJ 07921 August 21, 2023, 9:23 am Arrived at Post Office BEDMINSTER, NJ 07921 August 21, 2023, 9:24 am Delivered, Left with Individual BEDMINSTER, NJ 07921 August 21, 2023, 11:45 am
Copied from USPS web site: Delivery information provides delivery status or attempted delivery status when the item reaches its destination. Trackingis not provided as the item is en route to its destination.
“Try putting the RE 53382 number with the US included. Then post the tracking information about every city and state it was in. The USPS does not show tr as cling in order to protect the package.” Ok.
Not according to the post-mistress who tried to locate an expensive shipment, and eventually took early-retirement. After-wards a later report determined the shipment was on a stalled ship, at sea! I have a POBox which the new male Post-Master states is unacceptable for my shipments, requiring a rural large road-installed box 1/4 mile from my unseen home. The road boxes are routinely open by gangs who steal contents, unprotected by USPS or "police". A report to "police" resulted in a road-box explosion, replacement destruction, and burglary. Although there's a delivery-gate with-in 15' of the road right-of-way, unlike other delivery sources, USPS can't, it's claimed, leave their delivery vehicles. A "Catch-22"!
