Parcel insurance is a lot like a swiss army knife. That is, more often than not you don’t need it. But when you do need it, it’s incredibly useful. 

First, Is Parcel Insurance Needed? 

When it comes to insuring your shipment, there are several factors to consider. According to Staples, certain carriers automatically provide insurance up to a certain dollar amount. But if the item you’re sending is worth more than this coverage, you will want to get the additional insurance. There are also third-party insurers who will provide coverage at a lower cost.

Learn what insurance coverage your carrier automatically provides. You obviously want to protect your loyal customers’ purchase and your reputation. But do research and ask questions before spending additional money on insurance. It may not be necessary.

Time of Year

Like any business, there are busy seasons and slow seasons. Between the second and third quarter, you can expect a slow season in the parcel business. But once US Thanksgiving comes, the 4th quarter ramps up across North America. 

With billions of packages coming and going during the holidays, there’s more potential for missing or broken items in transit than, say, in July. Over 2 billion packages are shipped throughout North America just between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So this is something you may want to consider when weighing additional coverage. 

Filing a Claim

Alright, so your customer received your shipment; great! But it’s damaged; no good! Depending on who you shipped through, contacting the service provider as quickly as possible is imperative. So when the recipient inevitably calls you, dial-up your shipping provider’s customer service for speedy reimbursement processing. Because the quicker you replace your customer’s damaged item, the happier they’ll be. 

Things to Know 

No Coverage for Certain Items

  • Depending on the carrier, some items may not be covered whatsoever. For example, many carriers will not cover such shipment items as coins, cash or precious stones. 

No Consequential Coverage 

  • Just as important, know insurance will not cover any consequential damages. In other words, the insurance coverage will not cover any monetary loss that may result from lost or damaged packages. Rather, only the physical shipped items the shipping provider handles are insured. 

Destination & Insurance 

  • You also want to determine what destinations your shipping provider covers. That’s right; not all carriers offer any insurance on parcels shipped to certain destinations, regardless of what you’re shipping. 

Declared Value is Not Insurance

  • Additionally, know the difference between declared value and insurance coverage. The declared value of a package represents the maximum carrier liability for the package in the event of loss or damage. Declared value only obligates the shipping provider to a certain monetary value- which could be much less than the parcel value- and is not insurance coverage. 

Not only does ShipTime offer insurance protection for your shipments, but the company also aggregates data to find you the best shipping rates available. Working with the most accredited shipping providers, they also help you take the hassle out of your shipment operations with customer-centric services. 

Finding you the best possible shipping rates, ShipTime provides all relevant shipping information on one screen. The ShipTime dashboard speeds your shipping quote with predefined box sizes. 

The ShipTime dashboard solution also provides predefined incentive rewards and the “My Pickups” functionality, allowing you to see scheduled pickups and times. They cover all your bases when it comes to efficient tracking and delivery.  

Learn more here.