I have no insurance problem at the moment. But I wonder is it safer to get insurance on a parcel from a postal clerk (who scans it on the spot), rather than get insurance via either (1) PayPal printing postage-shipping labels (made on your printer) or (2) at the post office kiosks (Automated Postal Centers)?

In the latter two set-ups, the seller has the postage-insurance label printed, and then drops the parcel off into a mail box. Is it scanned when the mail is collected by the post office people? What if they forget to scan it on collection (and it is later lost), or they deliberately don't scan it and steal it. How likely is this? Can you still collect on the insurance if the parcel was never scanned by the post office? Is your receipt and insurance number worth anything in that case? .... .... .... I don't blame the post office if they won't pay in such a situation, for what if the seller had the postage-shipping label printed, but pocketed the merchandise and never deposited anything in the mail box?

When you hand the parcel to a clerk at the post office, is it always scanned then? Does that make an insurance claim a sure thing (if the parcel is lost or stolen afterwards)?

Robert