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Insured Shipping vs. Hand Carriage
Carrier insurance is real, and for a lot of items it is perfectly adequate. The trouble starts with what the terms exclude, which almost nobody reads until they need to.
Tell us what, from where, and roughly when. No obligation, and no inventory list needed to start the conversation.
Side by side
| Category | Us | Insured Shipping (FedEx, UPS, USPS) |
|---|---|---|
| Declared value ceiling | Set per move by arrangement | Low, and often excludes the categories you care about |
| What is excluded | Agreed in writing beforehand | Commonly bullion, loose stones, one-of-a-kind items, antiques |
| Custody record | Signed at every handoff, named people | Scans by parcel, not by item |
| Number of hands | Two, both known to us | A dozen or more, all strangers |
| Cost for a low-value item | Not economic | A few dollars. Shipping wins here |
| Reach | Florida | Anywhere. Shipping wins here |
| Speed for a small parcel | Scheduled | Overnight. Shipping wins here |
| If it is lost | A signed itemised record from before it left | A claim against the declared value, subject to exclusions |
Every row marked “wins here” is a real advantage of the alternative. A table that gives the other side nothing is not a comparison, and anyone reading carefully will notice.
Our view
The honest verdict
Ship the things that can be replaced. Read the exclusions first, because the categories a courier will not cover are precisely the categories worth moving properly. Hand carriage earns its cost when the item is irreplaceable, when the declared value is above what a courier will accept, or when you need a record that names each item rather than a parcel.
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Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.