USPS bills coverage as an insurance fee that rises in tiers. UPS and FedEx bill it as a declared-value charge per $100 above their automatic $100 liability. Third-party providers bill a percentage of the declared value. On a $500 replacement cost, the four numbers are not close to each other. Prices below are from the carrier documents indicated, read 2026-08-11.
USPS publishes the entire schedule in Notice 123, effective 2026-07-12, on pe.usps.com. It is a stepped price, not a percentage:
| Coverage tier | Fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $50 | $2.80 |
| $50 up to $100 | $3.50 |
| $100 up to $200 | $4.50 |
| $200 up to $300 | $4.55 |
| $300 up to $400 | $6.05 |
| $400 up to $500 | $7.55 |
| $500 up to $600 | $9.05 |
| Over $600, up to $5,000 | $9.05 plus $1.50 per $100 or fraction of $100 above $600 |
Ground Advantage and Priority Mail include $100 of coverage in the label price before the tiers above are added, so the first $100 of value on those products carries no additional fee.
Neither UPS nor FedEx sells insurance in the strict sense. Both offer declared value, which raises the carrier's contractual liability limit up to a stated amount and prices that per $100. The rest of this site walks each schedule in detail; the point of comparison is below.
$100 automatic per package. Above that, UPS charges per $100 of declared value with a minimum charge per package and a $50,000 ceiling on most packages. The full figures and the list of goods UPS refuses to over-declare are on our UPS declared value cost page, sourced to the UPS Tariff/Terms and Conditions of Service.
$100 automatic per package. FedEx charges $4.95 for the $100 to $300 band, then $1.65 per $100 above $300, on top of postage. Fourteen categories of goods (artwork, jewellery, glassware, collector items and instruments over 20 years old among them) are capped at $1,000 no matter what you declare. Detail on FedEx declared value from the FedEx Service Guide.
Both apply Signature Required automatically once declared value crosses a threshold, and both exclude many categories of goods from any coverage at all. The declared value figure buys a liability cap, not a guarantee - the carrier still needs to be at fault for the loss.
Companies such as Shipsurance, Parcel Insurance Plan and Route sell coverage that sits alongside a carrier label. Pricing is typically a percentage of the declared value with a minimum, and rate cards vary; standard categories tend to come in below the carrier per-$100 step and electronics and high-risk goods tend to come in above it. Compare each provider's own rate card against the carrier tables above for the exact value you want covered.
Our own third-party parcel coverage page walks the trade-offs. SMKlog does not resell third-party coverage - the checkout offers our own shipping protection instead, capped at the pilot limit noted on the shipping protection page.
Between the built-in $100 liability and roughly the $500 mark, the third-party rate cards and UPS declared value tend to come in lowest, USPS sits in the middle of its stepped table, and FedEx sits at the top because of its higher base band. The picture inverts as declared value climbs into the four-figure range, because the USPS per-$100 step ($1.50) is smaller than either carrier's ($1.65 for FedEx, $1.70 for UPS) — so above the $2,000 mark USPS becomes the cheapest carrier option on the same box. Third-party stays lowest for standard goods and rises fastest for electronics. Read each provider's rate card against the carrier tables above for your declared value.
USPS charges from $2.80 for up to $50 to $7.55 for $500, per Notice 123. UPS and FedEx charge per $100 above their built-in $100 liability. Third parties sell coverage as a percentage of value.
Below the four-figure mark, a third-party rate card and UPS declared value tend to come in cheaper than the carrier tables. USPS is $7.55 at the $500 tier; check each source's current rate against the value you want covered.
Yes. USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail include $100. UPS and FedEx include $100 of declared-value liability on every package. Everything above that is chargeable.
No. Declared value raises the carrier's contractual liability limit. The carrier still has to be at fault for the loss to pay. Insurance from a third-party underwriter is a broader promise.
Both apply mandatory Signature Required at that declared value and quietly stop charging the signature fee. The line is higher because it now buys a signature too.