posted on May 1, 2001 01:14:18 PM
I mailed a 3-pound package Priority yesterday. I don't usually use USPS. Most of my auctions are for heavy items where I use FedEx Ground. I had both Insurance (blue) and D.C. (green) slips ready. The clerk insisted that I didn't need to purchase D.C. when sending an insured package. She said that after the rate changes in January that insured packages had to be signed for and that constitues proof of delivery.
She said that insured packages could be tracked on-line just like with D.C. That didn't sound right, but I left off the D.C. Sure enough, you can't track with the numbers on an insurance slip.
posted on May 1, 2001 01:26:29 PM
FYI I have been able to track both insurance and certified mail receipts BEFORE delivery--I think it just depends on where you mail it from. If I take the item to my regular post office (busy PO in a major city), I can track it the next day. When I took a box to a small USPS counter in a nearby office supply/photocopy store (1 mile away from the busy PO), I could not track that one until it had been delivered. I guess it depends on what type of equipment the counter clerks have.
BTW for the one person out there who doesn't know, USPS insurance tracking is only available for amounts over $50--if you insure under $50, all you get is a rubber stamp on the package with no tracking.
posted on May 1, 2001 03:41:25 PM
I thought I would throw my 2 cents in here and what I learned about this. I had not been buying delivery confirmation on packages over $50 because you were able to bring them up on the USPS web site which to me was like having the delivery confirmation. Two weeks ago I sent 3 packages out insured for over $50 and could not bring any of them up then or now and they have all been delivered. I questioned the clerks at my PO and one of them checked on it for me. I got a letter from the postmaster that this information on insured mail, certified mail, registered mail and COD's was never to have been accessed through the USPS web site. It goes on to say that the PO should not sell these services promoting this feature.(meaning confirmation) It can only be accessed internally. It is to be offered later this year. Which I guess means will have an extra charge for it. I'll be buying those delivery confirmations now.
posted on May 1, 2001 07:10:18 PM
IMHO: For 40 cents I can add DC to my packages. By the next day, I or my customer can go to the website and see that it was at least delivered to the PO. I have never been able to track a package by the insurance number, even when insured for $100 and up and I don't live in a rural area.
In 2 years and hundreds of packages shipped, the only one that ever disappeared was an insured package going overseas. It took the PO 5 months to declare it lost. So I don't waste money on insuring. I offer it to my customers as an option.
