3 ms·

5% is nuts. They don't lose 5% of goods.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
im3w1l 6y ago
The house always wins. What did you expect? Insurance is for when a loss would be unacceptably big. And I guess there are more things that can go wrong than dumping cargo. Breaking in transit.
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
When my parents moved from the UK to Nee Zealand all the valuable stuff went missing. This was some time ago but it seemed theft was endemic.
grecy 6y ago
A buddy worked for a company that shipped many thousands of containers around the world each month. He said right around 10% of the containers are never seen again. Lost, stolen, overboard, whatever. That being said I've shipped my vehicles are few times and always just taken the risk. Most recently (in early 2019) I shipped from Egypt to Canada was quoted 1.5% of the value for insurance.
- howlgarnish 6y ago
  10%!? That seems excessive. Were these containers packed with diamonds or something? PS. Love http://theroadchoseme.com http://theroadchoseme.com :)
  - grecy 6y ago
    He and I were shipping our vehicles together, and when we declined the insurance he told that story. awww, thanks ! :D
- bufferoverflow 6y ago
  Your buddy lied to you. 10% is 100% made up.
jdxcode 6y ago
They have to charge more than the average or they couldn’t be in business.
mlyle 6y ago
Anyone insuring containers in sea transport probably can't wake up for less than a 1000 pound premium.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> 5% is nuts. They don't lose 5% of goods. I don't know how you think insurance works as a business if you didn't already know that they charge more than the money they have to pay out?
- londons_explore 6y ago
  Most insurance charges more than double what they pay out on average. That's why I self insure whenever it's legal to do so.
  - mlyle 6y ago
    Sure, loss ratios are about 40-60% for many types of insurance. But there's benefits from risk pooling. A small annual fee to not have to deal with most of the economic cost if my house burns down or if I get cancer is worth it in how it reduces volatility. Once you have a high net worth, paying for small amounts of insurance becomes more questionable, because variability matters much less and because of the negative expected value of the transaction. This model misses some of the corner cases. Title insurance and boiler insurance have loss ratios of almost nothing, for instance, but are extremely economically useful. (The real service they're providing is inspection and research to make sure that the risk is negligible before insuring the risk). Auto insurance has a negative EV, but when my carrier subrogated when someone rear-ended me it was useful and convenient. Insuring a package so that you don't need to investigate shipping calamities from your customers can be useful.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

The house always wins. What did you expect? Insurance is for when a loss would be unacceptably big. And I guess there are more things that can go wrong than dumping cargo. Breaking in transit.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

When my parents moved from the UK to Nee Zealand all the valuable stuff went missing. This was some time ago but it seemed theft was endemic.

grecy 6y ago

A buddy worked for a company that shipped many thousands of containers around the world each month. He said right around 10% of the containers are never seen again. Lost, stolen, overboard, whatever. That being said I've shipped my vehicles are few times and always just taken the risk. Most recently (in early 2019) I shipped from Egypt to Canada was quoted 1.5% of the value for insurance.

howlgarnish 6y ago
10%!? That seems excessive. Were these containers packed with diamonds or something? PS. Love http://theroadchoseme.com http://theroadchoseme.com :)
- grecy 6y ago
  He and I were shipping our vehicles together, and when we declined the insurance he told that story. awww, thanks ! :D
bufferoverflow 6y ago
Your buddy lied to you. 10% is 100% made up.

jdxcode 6y ago

They have to charge more than the average or they couldn’t be in business.

mlyle 6y ago

Anyone insuring containers in sea transport probably can't wake up for less than a 1000 pound premium.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> 5% is nuts. They don't lose 5% of goods. I don't know how you think insurance works as a business if you didn't already know that they charge more than the money they have to pay out?

londons_explore 6y ago
Most insurance charges more than double what they pay out on average. That's why I self insure whenever it's legal to do so.
- mlyle 6y ago
  Sure, loss ratios are about 40-60% for many types of insurance. But there's benefits from risk pooling. A small annual fee to not have to deal with most of the economic cost if my house burns down or if I get cancer is worth it in how it reduces volatility. Once you have a high net worth, paying for small amounts of insurance becomes more questionable, because variability matters much less and because of the negative expected value of the transaction. This model misses some of the corner cases. Title insurance and boiler insurance have loss ratios of almost nothing, for instance, but are extremely economically useful. (The real service they're providing is inspection and research to make sure that the risk is negligible before insuring the risk). Auto insurance has a negative EV, but when my carrier subrogated when someone rear-ended me it was useful and convenient. Insuring a package so that you don't need to investigate shipping calamities from your customers can be useful.