Reading a carrier's compensation policy without a lawyer

Four clauses compared across carriers, with the claim deadline as the decisive one. That figure is the reason this reading exists, and everything below traces back to the same 96-entry sample collected on 2026-10-05.

The declared figure sets two things at once: the duty the parcel attracts and the ceiling on any compensation if it is lost. They cannot be optimised separately, which is why the choice is a decision rather than an entry field.

Estimate error concentrates near thresholds. That is a property of the rules, not of the model: a step function produces large effects from small changes exactly at the step.

Declare accurately and keep the order record. A plausible figure with evidence survives a claim; a precise figure without evidence does not.

Both clauses are anchored to the declared value. Storage is charged against an item you have not yet shipped; the insurance ceiling is set by the value you declared. Raising one without the other creates a gap that only appears when something goes wrong.

Deadlines decide more claims than ceilings do. A parcel left unopened for nine days can lose a valid claim under a seven-day term, which is a worse outcome than a low declared value.

• Check which clock start applies before relying on a storage deadline.
• Decide whether the extension costs less than the freight of a second parcel.
• Photograph the parcel before opening it, on the day it arrives.

Everything in this reading comes from one of three sources, and each figure says which: measured from our sample, community-reported, or read from a published term. Where none applies we write “Not measured” instead of filling the gap.

Measured

Stage timestamps and weights from the 96-entry sample, collected on 2026-10-05.

Community-reported

Patterns that recur in buyer discussions and that we could not reproduce ourselves.

Published

Read from carrier tariffs, agent fee pages and destination thresholds.

Not measured

Anything we could not source. Written as such rather than estimated.

Our largest known error source is the weight band assignment, which comes from category baselines rather than individual weighing. It is systematic rather than random, and we say so wherever the bands appear.

Sample sizes are given for every range on this site. A range without a sample size is not a measurement, it is an opinion.

Freight is a step function, not a curve, and the four published lanes differ in where the steps fall as much as in their height. On a light (< 0.8 kg) parcel the UK standard lane quotes $6.40–$10.80 at 1.5 kg.

Between 1.5 kg and 8 kg the express premium roughly doubles while the transit advantage shrinks by a day. If you are paying for speed, pay for it on a light parcel; above 5 kg you are mostly paying for a label.

• UK standard: $6.40–$56.10 across the full weight range, median 16 days.
• Under 3 kg, express is usually worth it; above 5 kg it rarely is.
• Above 9–10 kg the question becomes parcel count rather than lane.

Four variables carry almost all the sensitivity: billed weight, declared value, lane and item value. Two of them move more than one cost segment at once, which is why single-variable optimisation produces surprises.

• Billed weight moves freight, and only freight — but by a full band.
• Declared value moves duty and the compensation ceiling together.
• Item value moves the service fee, and only under a percentage model.
• Lane moves freight and transit; it does not move duty at all.

On the reference lane a light (< 0.8 kg) parcel quotes $5.90–$9.40. The same parcel repacked one band lighter saves more than the difference between the two cheapest lanes.

Eight handoffs separate payment from delivery, and each has a nominal owner. One of them — the QC verdict — has no owner at all: the warehouse takes the photographs and you decide what they mean.

Payment to seller

Agent owns the transaction; you own the accuracy of the buy request.

Seller to warehouse

Seller owns dispatch; agent owns follow-up.

Check-in

Warehouse owns registration; the storage clock starts here at some agents.

QC

Shared and therefore ambiguous — the only genuinely unowned step.

Packing

Warehouse owns dimensions; you own the consolidation instruction.

Export

Agent owns documentation; you own supplying complete details.

Clearance

Carrier owns the filing; you own the declaration.

Last mile

Carrier owns delivery; you own address accuracy.

Tail risk concentrates at the seller, the clearance desk and the doorstep. Two of the three are entirely within your control before you pay.

Comparing lanes only means something if the parcel is held constant. One parcel, one weight band at a time, one item mix — anything else is a different question with a different answer.

Express buys eight days at 1.5 kg and seven at 8 kg, for two and a half times the money. That is the entire case for choosing on weight rather than on urgency.

At 1.5 kg

About $0.69 per day saved — a deadline makes this obvious.

At 8 kg

About $1.94 per day saved — a different week is the better lever.

At 12 kg

About $2.50 per day saved — a second parcel or a later date wins.

Everything here traces to one of three sources and carries a collection date. Item prices are published figures read on 2026-10-05; freight and duty are modelled from published terms; transit figures are measured from order timestamps.

Where a figure was unavailable we record “Not measured”. That is a deliberate choice: an empty cell is more useful than a plausible one, because it tells you where the uncertainty actually is.

Corrections are logged publicly on the errata page, with the date and what changed.

Risk in this process is concentrated in three places: the declaration, the packing and the claim window. Each has a different probability and a very different cost when it goes wrong.

The cheapest mitigation is also the highest-value one: measure the packed parcel before paying freight. It addresses the most frequent risk at the lowest cost.

• Measure packed dimensions before the freight payment, not after.
• Declare accurately and keep the order record.
• Photograph the parcel on the day it arrives, before opening it.
• Note the claim deadline in a calendar on the delivery date.