The USPS Automatic Insurance Claim program is a feature within XPS where your USPS shipment claims are filed automatically on your behalf.
What Shipments Qualify for the USPS Automatic Insurance Claims?
Lost: In order for lost shipments to be automatically submitted, they must NOT show a tracking status of “Delivered” within the Tracking Events after 60 days from the shipment creation date. (In addition to having the commodities section filed out when creating the shipment.) If the shipment shows an event status of “Delivered” or an exception such as "Rescheduled to Next Delivery Day", “Return To Sender”, “Insufficient Address”, Sent To Mail Recovery Center”, or “No Access to Delivery Location” you will need to file the claim directly with USPS. https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm
Damaged: For damaged shipments to be automatically submitted, they MUST have the “Visible Damage” shown in the Tracking Events from the shipment details screen. (In addition to having the commodities section filed out when creating the shipment.) If a shipment does not have “Visible Damage” shown in the Tracking Events, you will need to file the claim directly with USPS. https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm
Example of a Visible Damage Scan in Tracking Events:
Late Express: In order for late shipments to be automatically submitted, they must have the USPS Priority Express service selected, and must have a status of “Delivered”. If the shipment does NOT have a status of “Delivered” after 60 days then it would automatically be submitted as lost (As long as the commodities section was filed out when creating the shipment.)
All Shipments: All shipments MUST have a USPS possession scan to be submitted. In the example below this shipment would not be submitted. With the status of “Shipment Received Acceptance Pending”, “Pre-Shipment Info Sent USPS Awaits Item”, or “Shipping Lb. Created USPS Awaits Item” it is due to the scan form/manifest being scanned by USPS, but without a follow-up scan of “Package Accepted” USPS would not consider it in their possession. We would recommend you contact your local post office to see what happened to the package. As well as file a Missing Mail Search Request with USPS.
How to Enter Commodities When Creating a Shipment
For lost and damaged shipments the commodities section must be filled out at the time of label creation. If the order is from an integration it should automatically fill in the commodities section with the product description and price as shown below.
If you are creating a manual shipment, or need to adjust the item value you can manually enter the values in the commodities section.
If no value is added in the commodities section at the time of creation, you will need to file the claim directly with USPS. https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm
How to Participate
One of the many benefits of the USPS Automatic Insurance Claim program is that you are automatically enrolled. As long as the shipment meets the criteria as listed above, XPS will automatically file the claim with USPS on your behalf. Once USPS has approved your claim, you will automatically be credited the claim amount minus a processing fee. (A percentage of the claim value.)
Our goal is to assist you in maximizing your percentage of payouts, and in many cases, you will receive credits for claims you may not have been aware were eligible.
If you do not wish to participate in the USPS Automatic Insurance Claim program, please contact XPS Ship customer service at 1-800-881-0288.