Well, I've learned the hard way. Thought I'd share my experience so others can avoid it, although there may be no one as dumb as I am out there in chipland.

Needed to send $100 worth of chips to Portugal. Sent them Global Priority. They never arrived, nor were they returned to me.

Now I'm out the $12 or so for Global Priority mail, and the $100 worth of chips, right?

Of course I returned the payment of $100 to the sender in March, this time via Registered Mail to make absolutely certain it would arrive. It didn't. I may have made a mistake this time (note I said MAY - I know I didn't the first time) by leaving the building number off the address. Everything else was there, of course, as was my return address.

The $100 bill is now also missing in action. Despite Registered Mail, it wasn't returned to me either.

Now I'm out $100 for the chips, $12 for Global Priority, $20 for Registered Mail, and the $100 bill I was returning.

Filed a claim with the P.O. in May. Just received a form letter saying they received my claim, and they'll let me know some day. Oh, and by the way, the letter says, even if it's gone forever, all we owe you is $40.45.

WHAT?! This was Registered Mail! Supposedly the safest thing in the world, right? I mean, the P.O. itself says "When you’re sending valuable or irreplaceable items through the mail, protect them with Registered Mail. Items you send with Registered Mail are placed under tight security from the point of mailing to the point of delivery, and insured up to $25,000 against loss or damage. And you can verify the date and time of delivery and the delivery attempts online." Yeah, that's what I thought!

The catch is, if you read down further in the postal regulations, it says: "Registered Mail to Canada is subject to a $1,000 indemnity limit. To all other foreign countries, the indemnity limit is currently $40.45."

Who knew?

So much for safe.

Be careful. Be very, very careful.

Michael