# Certified vs. Registered Mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025 "2007-11-19T12:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/1 "2007-11-19T12:55:02Z")
What’s the difference between “certified” mail (in the U.S.) and “registered”? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/2 "2007-11-19T13:03:03Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] What’s the difference between “certified” mail (in the U.S.) and “registered”? [/QUOTE] Registered mail is for sending things of value, vs. sending a letter or document that you have to ensure gets to the proper person. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/3 "2007-11-19T13:40:45Z")
From the U.S. Postal Service: > [@](#): > > With **Certified Mail** ™ you can be sure your article arrived at its destination with access to online delivery information. When you use Certified Mail, you receive a receipt stamped with the date of mailing. A unique article number allows you to verify delivery online. As an additional security feature, the recipient’s signature is obtained at the time of delivery and a record is maintained by the Post Office™. For an additional fee, you can request a copy of the signature record before or after delivery with Return Receipt. > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/4 "2007-11-19T14:01:05Z")
Registered Mail is Serious. You can mail cash or rare stamps or diamonds and be confident the envelope won’t just disappear. OTOH, it’s also slow. So people sometimes just use some extremely fast overnight service instead, like FedEx First Overnight. Those are also heavily tracked and in transit for such a short time that it’s unlikely they’ll get stolen. Edit: Also, the insurance on Registered Mail is actually very cheap, due to the high security. It’s about $1 per $1000 value. Other mail is about $1 per $100. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/5 "2007-11-19T16:24:24Z")
Not quite true **SmackFu** and I’ll give you a couple of examples. I was for many years night manager at a Royal Mail sorting office and on 2 occasions one of the night sorters brought to me a couple of registered mail items that had been bundled up with the regular mail. If those guys had been dishonest it would have been a “fairly” simple matter to just slip them into their pockets, take them out to their cars at break and bugger off home with them when their shift was over. The loss would not have been discovered for 36 hours, perhaps less, when the intended recipient reported that they hadn’t received it. So, if it’s happened twice on my shift you can bet a pound to a pinch of shit it’s happened before on other shifts. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/6 "2007-11-19T19:11:22Z")
You’re talking about a different country’s mail service. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/certified-vs-registered-mail/427025/7 "2007-11-19T20:46:55Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] Registered Mail is Serious. You can mail cash or rare stamps or diamonds and be confident the envelope won’t just disappear. [/QUOTE] I’ve had registered mail disappear… twice. (And both times invovled Christmas gift stuff :mad: ) ETA: That was when I was still living in the U.S., so it would have been the USPS.