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We have started an online lending library for Children's books in India.

As with any lending library we send books to our members home. As with lent any items they can get damaged, lost in shipment etc.,

What kind of insurance policies cover such risks? I spoke to couple of insurance companies but either they offer an insurance for the complete books (e.g. If I want to cover for 5000 books and the cover is generally for fire and/or natural calamities and not for individual books).

As we stock books from various countries and each book costs upwards of $10-15 in-addition to import costs of books to India, its not easy to get a replacement.

What kind insurance cover such lending libraries (e.g. DVD's, Books etc)?

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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Insurance is meant to cover risks that you cannot afford to cover youself. Your books seem cheap enough for you to cover the yourself. There should be standard house insurance while the books are stored in the library.

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Hi, Thanks for the info. As I said being the nature of business is sending books out. By covering there are two ways I can cover: 1) I can observe the cost 2) I transfer it to the customer...I was looking at an insurance solution to statistically distribute the burden. – Hariraj May 23 '10 at 17:57
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I think you need to factor in that some books will be lost or damaged as a cost of doing business. I know libraries here have a budget to replace books. After all they don't last forever.

Can you build some incentives into your business model to encourage customers to return and care for the books? Fines work, but there my be some positive incentives you can have as well - such as being able to borrow an extra book.

I love the sound of this business by the way - and your website looks great.

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Thanks Susan for the compliment. Yes we share the same opinion, we don't want to go the "fine" way but encourage them to handle with care. Extra book is a good tip. – Hariraj May 26 '10 at 4:56
up vote 1 down vote

Libraries around me have reading programs designed for children to:

  1. Encourage them to read
  2. Take care of and return books on time

The program offers prizes from local businesses for filling out a reading card. This may be a possible option as well. I do not think it is worth insuring all of the books that leave the library.

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