The Great Homosassa Hassle: or A Trip Through the Wonder World of USPS Insurance Claims Adjustment
- by Frank Bequaert
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The U. S. Postal Service procedure for making a claim for insured goods damaged in transit requests that you return the damaged article and the packing material to your local post office before you make a claim. Your Post Office will probably want to keep the book until the claim is paid or rejected. If the claim is paid, they probably will not return the book to you. However, if there is damage to a book that can be repaired, they may be willing to pay for those repairs. In this case, the book would be returned to you.
3. If you file an insurance claim for a book lost in the mail, make sure that the initial claim you file is as complete and as accurate as possible. Whatever you put on that first claim form will be what is entered in the Claims Department computer. If you appeal the claim, the person handling the appeal will probably look at what is in their computer for that claim number, not at any additional information you send them. Also, I would suggest that you have the claim sent in with Delivery Confirmation or Certified Mail even if you have to pay the extra cost of that service.
4. The Post Office Claims Department operates an "amorphorous" system. There is no specific individual assigned to dealing with a claim. For example, each time you call to get information, you will probably speak to a different individual and if anyone calls you back, it will not be a person you have talked to before. However, each of the individuals you talk to will look up your claim number on their computer and will read you the same information from the computer screen. However, they may not be able to alter erroneous information in the computer. If your claim is refused, it buys nothing to get angry with the person you are talking to as they are not the one who actually rejected your claim.
5. If you purchase books through the mail for resale, it may be better to have the shipper use Delivery Confirmation rather than insuring the package. We recently received a shipment of books that were slightly damaged (corners bumped) in transit. The package was insured, but if we tried to collect the insured value, the Post Office would have kept the books. Even though we had to lower the sale price of the books, we still came out ahead by keeping the damaged books rather than simply collecting back our cost and losing the books.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
