If your shipment, which was covered by postal insurance, gets lost or damaged, you can make an insurance claim with the U.S. Postal Service. Before putting in the claim, make sure your package was insured with the USPS. If you got it insured through a private company, claims have to be made to that company directly.

Two Ways To Purchase The Insurance

Your package can be insured with the U.S. Postal Service either by purchasing online insurance or purchasing it at a post office at the time of shipping. In either case, you can file for a claim to recover the value of your items that were lost or damaged in transit.

Who Will Make the Claim

There are two situations that arise when a package is either lost or damaged:

• If the package arrives in a damaged state or some contents are lost, then either the seller or the buyer can make the claim.
• If the package is totally lost and it does not turn up anywhere after 30 days of shipping, the buyer has to make a claim with the USPS.

Making The Claim

You must locate the article number of your package, which is associated with the insurance number for your package. You can file your claim online or by going to the local post office and getting the PS Form 1000. You can also download this form from the website USPS.com.

Online Filing: Online claims are convenient and less time consuming. Simply log on to USPS.com and search for claims. You will be shown the link to file claims; you can start filing by signing onto the USPS account. If you don’t have any account on this site, you have to create it.

After entering the article number, you will be required to fill out the online form with detailed information. The supporting documents as mentioned above have to be uploaded.

The advantage of online filing is that you can track the status of your claims by simply logging onto your account. You will also get to know the approximate time when you will receive the claim amount.

Filling Out The Form: Another way to file a claim is to obtain the PS Form 1000. After filling out all required information, you must provide evidence of insurance and other backup information. You can submit it in the post office along with the required documents of evidence, or you may send it to the address given on the form. You can track the status of your claim by calling the toll-free number printed on the form.

Documents Required For Filing Insurance Claims

Evidence Of Value Of The Shipped Item: For making an insurance claim, the evidence showing the value of the item must be produced. Some of the documents accepted by USPS as proof of value of the shipped item are listed below:

• Sales receipt of the items in question
• Copy of your money order receipt
• Letter from the seller that states the value of the item
• Description or photograph of a similar item from a catalog
• Your own description and details of the item

Proof Of Insurance: Either of the following documents can be produced as proof of insurance in case of a damage claim:

• Mailing receipt:The original mailing receipt, which was stamped at the post office when the item was submitted for shipping is required.
• Box or carton:The original box that contained the items, showing addresses of both the sender and recipient, is needed. This will also have various stamps and tags put on by the post office, which show that the package was insured.

Without the original receipt, the insurance claim may be limited to $100, thus it is a good practice to save the original receipt until package is received.

Claims For Cost Of Repair: If you are claiming the cost to repair the damaged item that arrived in the shipment, you must get a quote from an authentic repair shop or some authorized person.

One important thing to remember is that claims have to be made within a certain time frame, which varies according to the type of USPS service you have used.