shipping valuables

February 28, 2006 8:11 PM

My mom left her jewelry behind at my sis's house in VA. What's the best way to get it back to NM?

There's $1000+ worth of jewels, so we don't need a courier-with-briefcase-handcuffed-to-his-wrist level of security, but we're not sure we want to entrust it to FedEx. Is there a better way?

posted by Sara Anne to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

USPS Registered Mail
posted by michaelkuznet at 8:16 PM on February 28, 2006

Some might call me naive, but I'd send it through the United States Postal Service.... I've had good luck with insured mail. There are also a number of courier services that could do it, (yellow pages) but they'd probably be very expensive for that distance.
posted by fvox13 at 8:16 PM on February 28, 2006

FedEx, insured appropriately, should be fine. If you'd trust them to ship a $2,000 laptop, why wouldn't you trust them to ship $1,000 worth of jewels? Unless the sentimental value is higher than the monetary value.
posted by kindall at 8:25 PM on February 28, 2006

Yep, Fed Ex insured. If it's going to a residence, pay the extra two dollars and get a direct signature from the recipient. The default is no sig and the driver will leave it if at all possible. If it's going to a business a sig is automatically required.

I would never trust the post office with anything valuable.

Sincerely - your friendly Metafilter shipping manager
posted by DieHipsterDie at 8:30 PM on February 28, 2006

Edited to say of the three big carriers I've dealt with in the last six years, Fed Ex has the least number of lost packages.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 8:34 PM on February 28, 2006

USPS Insured. The company for which I work ships tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry each year. The US Postal System is incredibly underrated.
posted by desuetude at 8:44 PM on February 28, 2006

Replying to say that FedEx has lost five packages sent to me in the last three years, and I wouldn't trust them with anything more valuable than a yo-yo. I'm recommending the USPS, for one simple reason: The only branch of government more ruthless and feared than the IRS are the Postal Inspectors. Insure the package, register it, and you should be safe — because any claim filed for $1,000 will be investigated, and everyone knows it.
posted by cribcage at 9:19 PM on February 28, 2006

USPS Registered, with postal insurance. My father's a jeweler and has been shipping stuff that way for his entire career. He has lost precisely one package since the Vietnam War.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:24 PM on February 28, 2006

My engagement ring was shipped USPS registered mail. My uncle, who is a jeweler, always ships things registered mail.
posted by tastybrains at 5:10 AM on March 1, 2006

The US Government ships classified material up to the level of SECRET via registered mail, the USPS takes pretty good care of it and there's a chain of custody record, by name, for every piece. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for Mom.
posted by m@ at 7:44 AM on March 1, 2006

USPS insured/registered mail. They have a much higher insurance limit than FedEx or UPS. Plus, sending by this route ensures hand-holding and check-throughs all the way to the destination. I'm a jeweler, and I would not ship jewelry any other way.
posted by Flakypastry at 8:40 AM on March 1, 2006

The insurance provided by post office and couriers has different rules for jewellery than for other items. I don't have all the details at my fingertips but my vague recollection is that USPS Registered Mail (and only registered) is the only one that will offer any useful coverage for jewellery and even then I'm not sure it will be enough for you. Read the details of the insurance coverage carefully.

Another option is using a third-party like U-PIC or DSI to insure the parcel. I don't know if either of them will cover this parcel with their standard policy (but it's much easier to find out because their terms are spelled out pretty clearly compared to the carriers') but both will write custom policies for insuring parcels, which is not something you're going to get from the carrier.
posted by winston at 10:54 AM on March 1, 2006

USPS Prioirty Mail would be my choice. Insured.
posted by JamesMessick at 9:23 PM on March 2, 2006