Lost or Stolen Package? What you need to know

You sent a package, and it went missing in the mail? You're expecting a package and believe it's gone missing? Or perhaps someone stole your shipment? Here is our complete guide to determining whether your package is genuinely lost or delayed, as well as what you should do to be compensated in the event of loss or theft.

To provide some context, Secursus is a leader in shipping insuranceservices, and our day-to-day job is to compensate our customers for lost or stolen packages. Our customers are insured against loss and theft, but did you know that you may be entitled to compensation even if you did not purchase insurance?

Lost package, when should we consider a packageas lost?

At Secursus, we consider a package lost when the tracking has stayed the same for 30 days. Depending on your carrier, most deliveries are made within a week, even on a very long transit. Few packages get delayed for exterior reasons (weather, war, strikes, etc.), and your package may be delayed because of that, or it has been mishandled and sent to the wrong route. It happens more than you think!

So if your package is still within the 30-day mark, we recommend emailing your carrier to chase an update. Once this timeframe has passed, you should file a claim with the carrier and request your compensation.

You may be unaware of that, but even without insurance, you're entitled to a small compensation that is usually around 20£ per kilo. The insurance is then recommended for light items (watches, jewellery, etc.) because these items need full coverage, even if they're very lightweight.

Stolen package: does a missing package qualify for a theft?

Many will conclude that a package may have been stolen. But in fact, a theft is only considered as is when solid proof of theft is shown. When a package is marked as delivered but not received, you may think it has been stolen, where in fact, it may have been delivered to your neighbors or to a safe place inside your residence.

Theft is complicated to prove unless a camera recorded the theft. Otherwise, we’ll qualify the package as lost, and it does not change your right to compensation anyway.

Which carrier has the less loss ratio?

You may have used carriers such as USPS, Amazon, DHL, UPS, Fedex, Aramex or GLSin the past. Which has the lowest loss ratio? While none of these carriers share these data publicly, Secursus believes the high-end carriers such as DHL, FedEx, and UPS have a much better delivery rates than post offices or cheaper carriers such as USPS or Amazon.