Unlike all other private courier services (e.g. DHL, UPS, or FedEx) the United States Parcel Service (USPS) actually allows average people to safely ship physical gold fully insured via their USPS Registered Mail service.
Unless you work with a physical precious metals dealer like us here at SD Bullion, with a 3rd party insurance policy backstop and secure logistics speacialization, you should never ship physical precious metals with private courier services.
In our experience the greatest amounts of thefts and 'lost' packages occur with private couriers, hence the need for specialization and express written agreements for bullion shipment allowances by respective private couriers. This is why New York's diamond dealers have always utilized USPS Registered Mail if they did not have specialized insurance and agreements with private couriers.
If you are an average US citizen looking to simply ship gold bullion safely in the USA without any assistance, you will want to stick with USPS Registered Mail when mailing your physical gold bullion or other physcial gold items.
Here we explain various details on how to securely ship gold bullion with USPS.
Why is USPS Registered Mail so much safer for shipping gold compared to private carriers?
Think about the this fact.
If a USPS employees are caught stealing Registered Mail parcels they likely end up in a Federal Prison.
Theiving USPS agents that get caught also forfeit their coveted (and of course, likely underfunded) government pension plan.
As well USPS Registered Mail has an additional layer of security proved by the US Postal Inspection Service.
US Postal Inspectors are literally investigative agents. A US Postal Inspector is a sworn federal law enforcement officer who can carry firearms, make arrests, and serve federal search warrants and subpoenas. When US Postal Inspectors show up at the scene of a potential mail crime, virtually any and all disappearing parcels often ‘magically’ show up.
The USPIS essentially ensures that USPS Registered Mail will likely remain the safest any one can do it option, for individuals shipping bullion fully insured through the USA’s domestic mail system.
One thing to note about shipping gold with USPS Registered Mail though is that it is a slow moving process compared to other privately backstopped gold mailing solutions we can provide here at SD Bullion. If your parcel must get there quick, perhaps give us a call to see what private gold shipment options we can provide you.
USPS Registered Mail is the safest option for individual Gold Shipments
When acting alone shipping gold bullion in mail within the USA, the USPS Registered Mail service remains the best general shipment option in terms of overall price, safety, value, and potential insurance coverage.
USPS Registered Mail parcels can be insured for up to $ 50,000 USD per parcel at your local USPS Post Office.
Steps to Shipping Gold with USPS Registered Mail
In order to ship with USPS Registered Mail you will need a few items to make a safe and compliant shipment.
The following are basic best-practices for safe bullion shipping within the USA:
- Have a filled out USPS Form 3806. Note you can find that by clicking here or for free at your local USPS station.
- Use a minimum of 2 cardboard boxes for the parcel. One smaller box within to contain the shipped gold bullion, another USPS Priority Mail box for the gold shipment parcel’s exterior.
- Always put printed packing slip(s) inside the gold shipment parcel which helps identify the gold items being shipped from and to whom, order numbers, details, etc.
- Ensure the bullion contents do not jingle or make noise. Try putting packed newspaper or perhaps styrofoam peanuts inside each gold coin tube’s top before securely taping them all shut. For gold bullion bars, use tightly taped paper coverings or bubble wrappings between gold bars for secure silence. See how we package a small gold shipment to our customer by clicking here.
- To ensure gold bullion coin tube tops stay shut, apply robust filament tape to secure each gold coin tube top remains closed in transit.
- All box USPS Registered Mail parcels should have 3″ wide gummed paper tape covering all corners of the outer box to ensure a tamper proof stamped seal on the outer edges of the parcel.
- Do not ship more than $ 50,000 USD of gold bullion per parcel unless you are willing to assume the loss as USPS Registered Mail insurance per parcel only goes to $50k USD per parcel.
Faster Private Gold Shipment Options with SD Bullion
Private shipment service providers like FedEx (see here), DHL (here) and UPS (here) explicitly prohibit individuals from fully insuring gold shipments.
Yet this gold shipment exclusion just mentioned, does not include gold bullion businesses who like us have direct operation agreements with the private carriers we ship with as well as additional third party insurance backstops covering ourselves and our customer bases.
If this applicable gold bullion information was helpful to you, be sure to pick up our free 21st Century Gold Rush guide before you go.
Thank you for visiting us here at SD Bullion.
