In a message dated 09/18/2002 3:04:38 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
valntine@ptd.net writes:
> I think it's highway robbery that we must pay for "insurance" from these
> shipping companies. We are required to pay them "extra" to "insure"
> that they will do the job they charged us for in the first place.
> That's like me charging extra to "insure" the photographs I produce will
> be visible.
>
>
Kevin, et al....
Sorry, no such thing as a free lunch. They could just adjust the rate and
not charge for insurance, but this would add to the overall cost of all
shipments as they would have to charge roughly equal amounts for folks
shipping air filters and diamonds.
The "rate" covers the cost of moving the product. A certain percentage will
always end up lost or damaged. The additional insurance covers this cost of
doing business.
To go with your analogy...you already charge enough for your pictures to
cover the ones that don't come out, get lost, fall on the darkroom floor, or
that the little ankle biters parents wont buy. It's part of your overhead
and part of the cost of doing your business.
This is just like we all pay for the fruits and vegetables that rot before
they are bought at the grocery store, or that someone samples in the store.
I find it nice that insurance is charges separately. That way, if I am
shipping pirated MS Office software to Bree I don't pay anything for
insurance, (not that I would do such a thing) but if I am shipping a valuable
antique golf club, I can insure it for a a "declared amount" of $250 and hope
they lose it!
I don't know the current insurance rates, but FedEx used to charge $.35 for
each $100 of declared value over the first $100.00. That's actually too
cheap not to do.
Robert B. Houston
Santa Teresa, NM
'74 Midget
'63 TR4
'03 Beetle
... Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick
themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."
- Winston Churchill
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