As a business, there are 3 things you can do:
1. Assign the risk to the buyer. If the buyer does not want that risk, he or she must pay you to take the risk. What percentage of shipments go missing and what is the average value? If 5% go missing and the average value is $200, then you charge a $10 fee to every shipment. Every 20 shipments you will have accrued enough to pay for a lost shipment. If they buyer doesn't want the risk and won't pay you to take it, decline the order.
2. Mitigate the risk of loss. About all you can do is get the buyer to verify the address, and package it as though the parcel will be stuffed in a full canvas bag and thrown 40 feet. I worked at the Post Office. When loading trucks, things were thrown 40 feet. Sometimes they got exposed to rain or snow.
3. Transfer the risk by insuring it. If USPS say their responsibility ends at the border, use an international shipping / courier firm like UPS or FedEx who maintain shipment status from door to door. It costs more but you get more.
I ship goods all the time with Canada Post, USPS and the UK Post Office. I can't think of a shipment that literally disappeared. Some got delayed for months but none vanished. How often is this occurring?
From a business standpoint, that is the way to look at it in the end: multiply the frequency of loss tines the average shipment value. Then either realize that someone is going to gave to eat that periodically or you realize that in the big scope of things it is a small cost of doing business. Companies look at warranty repairs the same way. In one startup firm I worked at that made multi million dollar custom engineered industrial equipment, we added a 2% "tax" to each contract to build up a warranty war chest so a big claim wouldn't threaten our operations. Customers were unaware, it was just part of our pricing.
1. Assign the risk to the buyer. If the buyer does not want that risk, he or she must pay you to take the risk. What percentage of shipments go missing and what is the average value? If 5% go missing and the average value is $200, then you charge a $10 fee to every shipment. Every 20 shipments you will have accrued enough to pay for a lost shipment. If they buyer doesn't want the risk and won't pay you to take it, decline the order.
2. Mitigate the risk of loss. About all you can do is get the buyer to verify the address, and package it as though the parcel will be stuffed in a full canvas bag and thrown 40 feet. I worked at the Post Office. When loading trucks, things were thrown 40 feet. Sometimes they got exposed to rain or snow.
3. Transfer the risk by insuring it. If USPS say their responsibility ends at the border, use an international shipping / courier firm like UPS or FedEx who maintain shipment status from door to door. It costs more but you get more.
I ship goods all the time with Canada Post, USPS and the UK Post Office. I can't think of a shipment that literally disappeared. Some got delayed for months but none vanished. How often is this occurring?
From a business standpoint, that is the way to look at it in the end: multiply the frequency of loss tines the average shipment value. Then either realize that someone is going to gave to eat that periodically or you realize that in the big scope of things it is a small cost of doing business. Companies look at warranty repairs the same way. In one startup firm I worked at that made multi million dollar custom engineered industrial equipment, we added a 2% "tax" to each contract to build up a warranty war chest so a big claim wouldn't threaten our operations. Customers were unaware, it was just part of our pricing.