Insurance?

  • Thread starter Thread starter trapper
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trapper

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I nned an opinion here.
recently I had a customer come in with a rather large order, but he wants them shipped. They will be completely framed and with glass in them going off to Ohio.
I say insuring them is a waist of money, but I don't dare not to
Let me explasin briefly why I say this. It was explained to me by the post office once that I could purchase as much insurance as I want to, but in the end it would be a subjective claim.
I might think the article is worth a 1000 but they might think its worth only $50 and it would be up to me to go to court and fight the battle. So I send a piece all the way across the USA and have it insured for $1000 and it arrives broke and get $50 plus court costs amd loss of time..several years. to fight it..If I win I get the insured value, but look at the aggaravation it may have caused over the 2 years of getting it into court.
So whats the pint is my question?
Am I right or wrong on this issue?
 
I may be wrong and if I am, everyone will let me know ;) , but I think if you get paid and properly pack, insure, and put it in the post office's capable(?) hands, your responsibility ends. If there is damage, the claim process belongs to the recipient. What say you?
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Where in Ohio. You would be better off shipping them to your breteren with out glass and letting a Ohio framer glaze & fit them.

We are in Columbus, Rick Grannick is in Cincinatti, Paul is in Toledo, Edie is in Cleveland etc....
 
Better to let the customer take it to a packaging store ... that way you are off the hook entirely!
 
We have had our local UPS store flat out deny us shipping on a glass item.
I agree with FrameMakers.. ship it without and have a local framer in OH complete it.
 
Jerome is right. You don't want to be in the shipping and Claims Dept business!

It is a major headache. Let someone else do this and let them worry about it.

I categorically refuse to ship anything relating to art / framing for my clients. I refer them to the UPS store, 50 ft away.
 
Trapper, How big are the frames? 16 x 20 and under are pretty easy to pack safely. All bets are off for larger items as packing becomes more complex. Many carriers will refuse to pay claims if the glass is broken.

Plexi is a great solution when pictures have to be shipped. Good idea from the others about having an Ohio framer finish the work.

John
 
A artist that I frame for sent several framed items out last year by Fed-Ex and bought insurance for each one. Half of them came back broken. They said the insurance would not cover items with glass so they refunded the shipping and the cost of the insurance and said "sorry".
He now takes them to a shipping store and lets them pack and insure them. Less breakage, and less hassles.
Steve
 
anyone heard of a neat product called acrylic????
supposed to be break resistant & better still, supposed to be LOTS lighter(read that cheaper to ship?) than glass........even heard there isan abrasion resistant variant...you can actually use steel wool on it & it dosent show!!!! imagin that!!!
 
I think it would practically be cheaper to buy a plane ticket, carry it on the plane, and go to Ohio and visit some of these guys! Not to mention, more fun!
A friend of mine recently had a FedEx Nightmare on Framestreet. He CRATED a shadowbox piece that needed to be in Vegas for a competition. (It was crated VERY WELL). Made it to the competition in fair shape - made it home...destroyed. He spent literally months on the claim. Ended up very exhausted and sad from the whole thing.
Unfortunately, the insurance doesn't cover the shop time we spend on the phone dealing with all this, either. UPS is no better. I tend to tell people to either a.) get it framed in it's destination town, b.) hire a moving company to deliver it, or c.) send it as early in the week as possible and as fast as you can afford...if it sits still they will drive over it with their truck! And they really could care less!
 
I couldn't agree more with Jerome and Paul. Why unecessarily expose yourself to the risk. Take it to the UPS or packing store. Let them deal with any claims. You can't charge enough to deal with the time and effort involved in successfully getting paid for a damage claim not to mention the possible loss of customer good will if you pack and ship and it gets damaged.

NO BRAINER - contract out packing and shipping !
 
Acrylic great product.

About 15 years ago I shipped a large oversized poster drymounted, acrylic and metal frame we had framed via a well known national delivery company. It was delivered back to me damaged. The frame was mangled and the acrylic was broken with tire tread marks on it. Yes they eventually paid. Do I really want to waste my time with the claims process? NO !!!
 
I think we have a packaging store near us. DO I need to get it in writing that they will take responsibility for broken glass??? or is that an automatic given? Do you isnsure the piece fdor what it cost you to frame it or do you insure the art value as well????
Off the subject here..I have been slow in responding to this msg, because I did not know how to find it.
I write as you know by hitting the reply, but then I never know where to go and look to see if someone responded or had something more to say to the group..
 
Have you all ever noticed while looking through catalogs that ALL of the framed prints that you can buy framed are glazed with acrylic? There is a reason for this, so I would go with the others above to either go no glass at all and refer to a framer in Ohio, or use acrylic.
 
Originally posted by SteveT:
They said the insurance would not cover items with glass
As many have said glass is excluded from claim. Now on another thread recently I had a customer ship from Toledo to Utah, they had professionaly packed and shipped from UPS Store cost almost $100. Had insured for $300. Glass didn't break but mounting did from rough handling. (Mounts are supposed to break right? not the object). They denied claim, saying they were only responsible for broken glass. Go Figure?
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Originally posted by stshof:
I may be wrong and if I am, everyone will let me know ;) , but I think if you get paid and properly pack, insure, and put it in the post office's capable(?) hands, your responsibility ends. If there is damage, the claim process belongs to the recipient. What say you?
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The one who does the shipping, buys the insurance. If the claim is accepted and paid, its paid to the shipper and not the recipient. I don't think this is any different if you take it to ups or a packing store. The liability and insurance is YOURS and YOU have to see it through.
 
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