subject: What Does "declared Value" Mean? [print this page] When you fill out the forms that you're going to see every time you ship something with a courier company, most of the information you're asked to provide should be pretty self explanatory. Things like your pickup address, and where you are shipping the goods to shouldn't take any thought at all. Other things like whether you want to expedite your shipping to any degree and how you wish to settle your bill on the shipment might require some thought, but are still easily understood items. It is usually in the blank marked "declared value" that people might have questions about for their courier PA based company.
The declared value is what you are saying that your shipment is worth. This is a question that they have to ask you for insurance purposes. The important thing that you need to find out before you fill out this blank though, is what the maximum declared value at your courier company is. This means that on all shipments, there is a maximum amount that you can claim in your declared value because that is the most you can be compensated via the insurance policy the courier company has in the event that your shipment is damaged in any way.
The maximum declared value can be different within the confines of a large courier company if they have several different divisions and different scales of shipping operations within the company. To illustrate this with an extreme example, the maximum allowed declared value for something that you are shipping with a bike messenger is going to be much less than the maximum declared value on a semi full of cargo that you are shipping across the country. These numbers do differ from courier to courier though, so if you switch delivery companies you must be sure to check the maximums on declared value before you ship with them.
This information is so important because it can indicate whether or not you need to obtain extra insurance on your shipment beyond that which is provides as part of the courier company's service. Some couriers will have an option for you to add on extra insurance if you're shipping high value goods, but in many cases shippers find it more expedient to instead turn to their own insurance carriers and find a policy to cover their goods short term while they are in transit, but which will do so up to the actual value of the goods.
