Does Shipping Insurance Cover Perishables?

Protecting your packages with shipping insurance can be a tricky game, ever-evolving and not as straightforward as one might think. For instance, shipping insurance covers laptops and jewelry…but only if you add Signature Confirmation to whichever service you choose. On top of stipulations like this, there are certain everyday items that shipping insurance doesn’t cover at all. Unfortunately, food and perishables are examples of items that insurance companies explicitly exclude from coverage.

Shipping Insurance Companies Don’t Cover Perishable Items

Unfortunately, all shipping insurance companies do not cover perishable items such as fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. Insurance companies don’t cover these types of items because they can easily go bad without refrigeration or freezing. Sometimes, unforeseen circumstances can impede shipping carriers from delivering non-guaranteed packages within their estimated timeframes, which can lead to perishable contents spoiling. As a result, you’ll often see these companies explicitly excluding perishables from coverage in their terms and conditions.

What About Built-in Insurance from the Major Carriers?

Similar to shipping insurance companies, none of the major carriers (USPS, UPS, and FedEx) will pay out claims for packages that contain perishable items. This includes situations where the package arrives with spoiled contents. Carriers may pay out claims if a package containing perishable items goes missing (we’ve seen this sometimes). However, whether or not they do so is ultimately up to their discretion, and they don’t make any guarantees prior to anyone purchasing postage for these particular shipments.

What Else Does Shipping Insurance Not Cover?

There are several other kinds of items that shipping insurance companies explicitly exclude from coverage. We’ve compiled a list of some of the other most common excluded items below:

• Cash, money orders, prepaid letters, and other forms of currency
• Plants (shipping insurance designates plants as perishable items, as well)
• Manuscripts
• Documents
• Live animals
• Seeds
• Sports cards, comics, and collectors items (excluded only if you haven’t received a professional grade for them)