4 ms·

Did you have insurance on this package? If not, that is a very expensive lesson to learn.

by krallja 10y ago

throwanem 10y ago
The earlier discussion here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13646438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13646438) included mention that the package is insured by its originator to €1000. The tough part is that byuu's probably going to have to make it right with the person who shipped him the games - he's already said that if they can't be retrieved, he's going to do that even though he's really not at fault, and I understand why. If you know any popular Twitch streamers or YouTube gaming superstars, now might not be a bad time to reach out, as I'm going to be doing later today. It would be amazing to see the huge retro gaming fan community come together and solve a problem like this for someone to whom we all owe so much.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- estomagordo 10y ago
  What do I owe this person for?
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Well, I don't know for sure, I suppose, because I don't know you. But byuu has been in many ways the eminence gris of the SNES emulation scene for about as long as there has been one; in addition to the only really machine-accurate emulator, bsnes, his research and often his implementations have substantially improved a lot of the more commonly used SNES emulators out there, and he's also responsible for a nontrivial fraction of the ROM dumps that give an emulator user something to play. Whether or not that means you owe him anything is yours to decide. If you decide that you don't, that's fine. I suspect I'm not the only one who would decide otherwise.
- RantyDave 10y ago
  Notch? (The Minecraft one)
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Minecraft isn't retro and Notch isn't byuu. I have no idea what either has to do with the matter at hand; at least one of us is almost certainly confused.
    - anc84 10y ago
      Notch is a ("retro") gaming nerd, he would definitely be a good candidate for sharing this.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        Oh! Oh jeez. Looks like the confused one is me! He doesn't know me from Adam's off ox, but I bet there's someone here of whom that's not true. I'll concentrate on people with whom I'm already acquainted, and hope someone comes along who can put a word in Notch's ear and hope to be heard.
- watty 10y ago
  The onus is on the shipper for not insuring to the correct value.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    As is amply covered in the prior HN thread linked from one of my earlier comments, byuu feels himself responsible because he requested the games be shipped in the first place, rather than ship himself and his ripping/scanning rig to Germany. I get that, if you want to be cheese-paring about it, what you say is in a narrowly technical sense correct. But the motivation here is identical to that which moved my first real boss to cover a $200 parking ticket I incurred through what I'm willing to admit, and stated to him at the time, was inexcusable carelessness on my part in failing to observe a sign. He nonetheless covered the fine, considering that, since I was in a position to make the mistake as a result of carrying out his business, it was reasonable for him to relieve me of the consequence. (Once - his exact words as I recall them were "now, you fuck it up again, you're on your own".) That's the same kind of motivation I see in byuu's intent to make this situation right with the shipper, instead of blaming him and doing nothing. You can argue if you like that byuu shouldn't feel responsible. But I think we'd all enjoy a better world if more people more often did.
- gambiting 10y ago
  On one hand, I understand why byuu wants to reimburse him. If I was in that situation I probably would as well. However, I don't understand why the shipper didn't insure the package for a full amount. If you are sending something wortk 10k, insure it for 10k. It's simple as that. If it made shipment expensive, then I'm sure the community would have sent him some money to cover the cost(or byuu himself would).
  - throwanem 10y ago
    I think I saw mention of €1000 being the maximum DHL would cover? Regardless, it's in the past; there's a lesson to be drawn for the future, but that's no help at all in the present.
    - SyneRyder 10y ago
      Yep, he seems to hint at that in his blog post, while mentioning that the sender chose the insurance value: https://byuu.org/emulation/preservation/lost-package/ https://byuu.org/emulation/preservation/lost-package/ "... when I went to return the first box of 100 games, I was surprised to learn that FedEx would only insure packages for up to $2499. Anything higher would require documented proof of value, and the faxing of many forms, which the retail employee I worked with had no interest in even contemplating."
      - ajford 10y ago
        Simple (though maybe more costly) solution is to send a bunch of boxes. Send only $2-2.5K worth of cartidges per box. Might double or triple your shipping cost, but would be cheaper than paying out of pocket for the value of lost package.
    - bluedino 10y ago
      Send it in 10 boxes? 10 times the chance of a single box getting lost, I guess.
  - byuu 10y ago
    He had to limit the insurance due to both a) difficulty proving the value of retro games no longer for sale, and b) legal restrictions in Germany due to Hartz IV.
justusw 10y ago
I think the last article written by byuu mentioned the package value exceeding the normal insurable amount.

Did you have insurance on this package? If not, that is a very expensive lesson to learn.

by krallja 10y ago

Did you have insurance on this package? If not, that is a very expensive lesson to learn.

The earlier discussion here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13646438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13646438) included mention that the package is insured by its originator to €1000. The tough part is that byuu's probably going to have to make it right with the person who shipped him the games - he's already said that if they can't be retrieved, he's going to do that even though he's really not at fault, and I understand why. If you know any popular Twitch streamers or YouTube gaming superstars, now might not be a bad time to reach out, as I'm going to be doing later today. It would be amazing to see the huge retro gaming fan community come together and solve a problem like this for someone to whom we all owe so much.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
estomagordo 10y ago
What do I owe this person for?
- throwanem 10y ago
  Well, I don't know for sure, I suppose, because I don't know you. But byuu has been in many ways the eminence gris of the SNES emulation scene for about as long as there has been one; in addition to the only really machine-accurate emulator, bsnes, his research and often his implementations have substantially improved a lot of the more commonly used SNES emulators out there, and he's also responsible for a nontrivial fraction of the ROM dumps that give an emulator user something to play. Whether or not that means you owe him anything is yours to decide. If you decide that you don't, that's fine. I suspect I'm not the only one who would decide otherwise.
RantyDave 10y ago
Notch? (The Minecraft one)
- throwanem 10y ago
  Minecraft isn't retro and Notch isn't byuu. I have no idea what either has to do with the matter at hand; at least one of us is almost certainly confused.
  - anc84 10y ago
    Notch is a ("retro") gaming nerd, he would definitely be a good candidate for sharing this.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Oh! Oh jeez. Looks like the confused one is me! He doesn't know me from Adam's off ox, but I bet there's someone here of whom that's not true. I'll concentrate on people with whom I'm already acquainted, and hope someone comes along who can put a word in Notch's ear and hope to be heard.
watty 10y ago
The onus is on the shipper for not insuring to the correct value.
- throwanem 10y ago
  As is amply covered in the prior HN thread linked from one of my earlier comments, byuu feels himself responsible because he requested the games be shipped in the first place, rather than ship himself and his ripping/scanning rig to Germany. I get that, if you want to be cheese-paring about it, what you say is in a narrowly technical sense correct. But the motivation here is identical to that which moved my first real boss to cover a $200 parking ticket I incurred through what I'm willing to admit, and stated to him at the time, was inexcusable carelessness on my part in failing to observe a sign. He nonetheless covered the fine, considering that, since I was in a position to make the mistake as a result of carrying out his business, it was reasonable for him to relieve me of the consequence. (Once - his exact words as I recall them were "now, you fuck it up again, you're on your own".) That's the same kind of motivation I see in byuu's intent to make this situation right with the shipper, instead of blaming him and doing nothing. You can argue if you like that byuu shouldn't feel responsible. But I think we'd all enjoy a better world if more people more often did.
gambiting 10y ago
On one hand, I understand why byuu wants to reimburse him. If I was in that situation I probably would as well. However, I don't understand why the shipper didn't insure the package for a full amount. If you are sending something wortk 10k, insure it for 10k. It's simple as that. If it made shipment expensive, then I'm sure the community would have sent him some money to cover the cost(or byuu himself would).
- throwanem 10y ago
  I think I saw mention of €1000 being the maximum DHL would cover? Regardless, it's in the past; there's a lesson to be drawn for the future, but that's no help at all in the present.
  - SyneRyder 10y ago
    Yep, he seems to hint at that in his blog post, while mentioning that the sender chose the insurance value: https://byuu.org/emulation/preservation/lost-package/ https://byuu.org/emulation/preservation/lost-package/ "... when I went to return the first box of 100 games, I was surprised to learn that FedEx would only insure packages for up to $2499. Anything higher would require documented proof of value, and the faxing of many forms, which the retail employee I worked with had no interest in even contemplating."
    - ajford 10y ago
      Simple (though maybe more costly) solution is to send a bunch of boxes. Send only $2-2.5K worth of cartidges per box. Might double or triple your shipping cost, but would be cheaper than paying out of pocket for the value of lost package.
  - bluedino 10y ago
    Send it in 10 boxes? 10 times the chance of a single box getting lost, I guess.
- byuu 10y ago
  He had to limit the insurance due to both a) difficulty proving the value of retro games no longer for sale, and b) legal restrictions in Germany due to Hartz IV.

justusw 10y ago

I think the last article written by byuu mentioned the package value exceeding the normal insurable amount.