In October 2012, I agreed to loan a very rare Stevens Mallard hen decoy to the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art for an exhibition. I had never loaned a decoy to a museum before, but with a suitable loan agreement in place, I packed up my decoy and shipped it with our United States Postal Service. I insured it for $8,000; the exact price I had paid for it only a year earlier at the Copley Fine Art Auction in Plymouth, Ma.
A week later, I received a call from the Ward Museum saying the decoy arrived damaged.
I’ve packed and shipped at least a hundred decoys in my years of collecting and I only had to insure a few. I always use the same time-tested method of bubble wrap surrounded by foam peanuts. None had arrived damaged, until now. So I filed my insurance claim with the USPS. I was immediately denied. The letter claimed that I had missed the 30 days to file. The claim was, in fact, filed within 8 days and I had all the evidence to prove it. So, I filed the claim again with proof of dates. The claim was denied again. This time because they saw “no damage to the box”. What? I didn’t insure the box, I insured the decoy!
So I appealed a third time with an outline ...
1. The item was not broken before being shipped.
2. The item was properly packaged.
3. The item was insured and its value established by a paid receipt.
4. The item arrived broken.
I continued; “I can’t understand how your office can make itself the judge and sole decision maker while acting in its own defense. This is not due process in a Constitutional democracy. Claiming the box appears undamaged ignores the fact that the insured item is damaged.”
The claim was denied again. There was only one final appeal option. This process referred the matter to an impartial Consumer Advocacy Board. I submitted my evidence and asked that we reach some kind of compromise; shared fault; anything, after all the decoy wasn’t completely ruined and perhaps my packing was too tight to handle the shock of being dropped (I hadn't considered the possibility of it being dropped...from a rooftop?). Two months later, I received a check for the $8,000. No accompanying letter; no explanation; no willingness to consider the compromise, and not a word about the decoy being returned. If this isn’t dysfunctional bureaucracy, I don’t know what is. I appealed to pay for the decoy to be returned. I was denied. The USPS replied that all items covered by a paid claim are sent to “Atlanta for disposal”. What? Dispose of it? Why? The modern nonsense of government baffles me. I appealed in panic, “It’s a historical artifact. Please don't destroy it!” No reply; not ever. I sent a second letter and made a phone call. Nothing. The body of Ms. Mallard will never be seen again. It was murder on the Postal Express.
