Is Additional Courier Insurance Worth Having?

When sending items by courier, generally, I don't normally bother paying extra for any additional insurance and one of the reasons is that I get the impression that there may be so many "get-outs" and "exceptions" that it hardly seems worth having.

It's not often that I need to send anything valuable by courier but recently I needed to send an item with a value of well over £200 and I just stuck with the standard free £25 compensation. I kept an eye on the tracking using the number provided and the progress seemed slower than normal. After about a week there were 2 "abortive delivery attempts" by 2 drivers new to the company on consecutive days with no calling cards left at the delivery address. Following these 2 "abortive delivery attempts" there was no update to the tracking for at least 2 days and during this period I was seriously concerned that my parcel had been lost. After I got in contact with the delivery company, fortunately, the tracking was updated and the parcel did get delivered.

Do most people bother with additional insurance on parcels and has anyone successfully claimed for a lost or damaged parcel on such insurance?

Only time I worried about extra insurance was when the receiver wanted it or for two specific items, one 1928 Thompson and one LL M1 rifle. Both were very high dollar value I didn't want to give back if something happened.

I had a package with four Sig mags go stray and they honored the value declared, which was under $100... I had two pistols go stray and the posties turned over every stone to find them once the RCMP ordered them to do so.

Yes, anytime the value is above $100