Coverage, documented value, and the published cap all cut the same number down.
Where the number comes from
People often expect a claim to pay what the item meant to them. It pays the lower of what the label covered and what the paperwork proves, and no further.
| Source | Applies to | Ceiling | How it attaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included on the base label | USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express | $100 | Carried automatically, nothing to add |
| Added coverage bought at purchase | Declared value on eligible USPS classes | Up to $5,000 | Fees start at $2.80 for the lowest band |
| SMKlog shipping protection | Eligible domestic parcel labels bought here | Up to $500 declared item value | Optional, priced on screen, pilot terms apply |
The three do not stack into one big number. A claim is settled against whichever coverage the shipment actually carried, and coverage cannot be added once a parcel is in the network, which is the whole reason the decision belongs at checkout.
Documented value, not remembered value
DMM 609 section 3.2 names the papers that count, and section 4.3 names the argument that does not.
- Accepted: a "sales receipt, paid invoice or bill of sale, or statement of value", paid repair bills, a credit card statement, or a printout of the online transaction showing "purchaser and seller, price paid".
- Not payable: a "claim based solely on sentimental rather than actual value", per section 4.3.
- Not payable: a case where "evidence of insurance coverage not provided", which is why the label record matters as much as the receipt.
- Not payable: "loss, damage, or missing contents that occurred after delivery", which draws a hard line under the doorstep.
Quoted from DMM 609 at pe.usps.com, checked 2026-07-28. A handmade or one-off article is the hard case here, because there is no invoice behind it; the statement of value on the accepted list is the door left open, and it goes further when supported by material costs and a sales history for comparable work.
How our own protection compares
SMKlog offers optional shipping protection alongside eligible parcel labels. It is separate from anything USPS provides, and it runs on its own clocks.
- It is offered through an insurance partner that holds the coverage record and runs the claim process, while the carrier still moves the package.
- The label and the protection have to be bought together, through checkout, before the package enters the carrier network.
- The pilot currently takes domestic U.S. parcels only, capped at $500 of declared item value, and it excludes freight, pallet, crated, oversized, restricted and manually reviewed shipments.
- Damage or theft claims generally go in within 30 days of label creation, and domestic lost-package claims generally sit between day 15 and day 60 after label creation.
- Claims start by email to our claims address with the order number, tracking number, claim type, a short description, proof of value and photographs.
The full text, including the exclusions, lives on our shipping protection rules page. Approval depends on the partner policy, the documentation and the carrier record, so nothing here is a promise about any particular parcel.
A high-value parcel, priced on a real lane
Coverage questions usually arrive attached to small expensive things, so we quoted one. A smartphone in a padded envelope, 9 by 6 by 1.5 in at 0.6 lb, went through the SMKlog calculator on 2026-07-28.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Transit estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $8.86 | 8-9 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $10.06 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $10.31 | 2-3 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $15.13 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $15.38 | 2-3 business days |
Postage on a parcel like this is a rounding error next to the contents, which is the arithmetic that makes the coverage decision easy in one direction and hard in the other. We wrote the honest version of that calculation on a separate page.
Declaring value below the included line buys nothing
The base label already carries $100 on the three main USPS classes. Paying a band fee on an item worth less than that adds a line to the receipt and nothing to the coverage, a point the band chart makes obvious once the numbers sit next to each other.
Repairable articles have their own paper
Paid repair bills sit on the accepted evidence list, and USPS separately mentions an estimate of repair costs from a reputable dealer on its claims help page. For anything mendable, the repair quote is often a faster document to obtain than a replacement valuation.
The claim form is the other half
This page is about what gets paid. The mechanics of submitting, the decision timing and the appeal window are set out in our claim filing walkthrough.
Payout questions
How much does USPS pay on a claim?
Up to the coverage the shipment carried and no more than the value you can document. Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express include $100 on the base label, per usps.com checked 2026-07-27, and added coverage on eligible classes tops out at $5,000.
Will USPS pay what an item meant to me?
No. DMM 609 section 4.3 lists a claim based solely on sentimental rather than actual value among the situations that are not payable, so the file has to rest on a receipt, an invoice, a bill of sale, a statement of value, a credit card statement or a transaction printout.
What does SMKlog shipping protection cover?
It is optional protection offered with eligible parcel labels through an insurance partner that holds the coverage record. During the pilot it applies to domestic U.S. parcels up to $500 of declared item value, with freight, oversized, restricted and manually reviewed shipments excluded, and the full rules on our shipping protection page.
Can coverage be added after a package ships?
No. Coverage attaches at purchase, which is the only point where the declared value can be set on the label or the optional protection can be bought. Once the parcel is moving, the coverage it left with is the coverage it has.