Lost/undelivered packages from PMG

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

Although grading by PMG is costlier if you read previous posts you will see that in most cases PMG notes get higher grades than do BCS notes....Therefore from a sellers point of view better grade = more $$$$$
Also PMG is more known world wide which also makes some sellers prefer this TPG over a Canadian TPG
Only my opinion

I sent off 50 notes (Canadian and foreign) to PMG yesterday and they arrived safely this morning (see tracking data below).

Whatever we may feel about American grading standards via-à-vis Canadian grading standards, PMG and PCGS have taken the TPG world by storm and, by default, their grading standards have become the industry standard. As I've opined before, I just don't feel that two widely different grading systems (Canadian and American) can coexist for much longer because, in reality, there is only one single commercial marketplace within North America.

Mine shows that it went from New York to London England before it made it to Canada.

Florida to New York then England then Canada

Florida to New York then England then Canada

That's most unusual, at least in my experience. Perhaps you should contact FedEx for an explanation?

<shrug> I'm sure they have their reasons. As long as it arrives on time I wouldn't care if it went to Mars along the way.

<shrug> I'm sure they have their reasons. As long as it arrives on time I wouldn't care if it went to Mars along the way.

I wouldn't care either as long as they put a MARS postage on the envelope

Reminds me of the time years ago when I worked in a call centre for the BC government. This man called up furious that his shipment of auto parts from California was routed through Fort Erie, Ontario on the way to BC. They arrived on time all right, he just wanted to blame some level of government because "private business doesn't operate that way with those kinds of inefficiencies. There's no way a shipment of auto parts from California to BC gets routed though New York and Ontario without government making that happen."

...And he was calling the BC government to complain about this. Sigh...

I just had a very close call with a buyer on ebay.

This buyer is from Singapore and purchased some banknotes in the value of $1000+ from me. My internal alarm bells were ringing but I went through with the deal regardless and sent the items through Canada Post registered mail in the evening and uploaded the tracking number.

The next morning the buyer sent me a message asking if the notes were sent insured. (Alarm bells ringing louder now) I responded with Canada Post will not insure banknotes but he would be covered through Paypal. The buyers response was "Well if you didn't insure them I don't them anymore. I see you have a 14 day return policy, and when they arrive I will return them to you because I don't want to deal with the drama of possibly pilfered notes. My apologies I should have told beforehand that I want them insured and would have paid extra to do so."

Knowing that I dropped off the notes last evening I left work and raced to the post office because I know I missed the Canada Post pick up time the evening prior and they were still at the post office and managed to get my notes back before they were shipped off.

I then sent the buyer a message that I managed to get the notes back and if he would like I can get a quote for shipping through Fed Ex insured. His response was "Oh that's ok, I've now found a local buyer with the same notes for cheaper!" I got lucky on that one!

Anyways the moral of the story is I then went to the Fed Ex office and asked about insurance for banknotes and was told that they will absolutely NOT insure banknotes. So my question is how are people shipping high value banknotes to PMG or anywhere for that matter insured? Or is everyone just taking a gamble? Are you just writing the contents are something else? If so, what if they do get lost and any type of investigation is done ( especially on higher value notes) will you lose out on getting refunded for lost packages? Help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Manny
manadabc@outlook.com

Bank notes are prohibited items under Fedex's terms and conditions. They will not insure them for loss under any circumstances. And if they find any in any shipment, they will be confiscated and deposited, and the shipper will be sent a cheque for their face value minus a service charge of between $25 and $35.  Fedex Canada terms and conditions

Knowing the above, I would never send any package to any TPG with Fedex. It would be obvious to Fedex what the contents of any shipment going to any TPG would be. I'd feel safer sending bank notes uninsured with regular post.

So my question is how are people shipping high value banknotes to PMG or anywhere for that matter insured? Or is everyone just taking a gamble? Are you just writing the contents are something else? If so, what if they do get lost and any type of investigation is done ( especially on higher value notes) will you lose out on getting refunded for lost packages?

People here have mentioned that they declare bank notes as historical documents to get insurance coverage, but I'm not aware of any successful claims against loss that have resulted from that.

If I understand correctly historical documents would only be covered up to a maximum of $500.

Section 16; Subsection 8 Articles of extraordinary value/valuable cargo

http://www.fedex.com/ca_english/services/serviceguide/termsandconditions/ip1ixf/

*correction Section 16 A - Restriction due to nature of goods Subsection 8

...... Knowing the above, I would never send any package to any TPG with Fedex. It would be obvious to Fedex what the contents of any shipment going to any TPG would be. I'd feel safer sending bank notes uninsured with regular post.

That's somewhat difficult to believe lol!

People here have mentioned that they declare bank notes as historical documents to get insurance coverage, but I'm not aware of any successful claims against loss that have resulted from that.

I declare as "Printed Documents" (or words to that effect), not for the purpose of obtaining insurance coverage but for the purpose of facilitating problem-free passage through Customs. So far fortune has been on my side. However, I realize that if a FedEx package got lost or stolen I wouldn't receive any compensation at all. Based on my own experiences, however, I just feel safer with FedEx than with Canada Post. The only real answer is to purchase private insurance, which many online sellers do as a matter of standard practice.

Thanks for the advice Ottawa! I will look into third party insurance.