There has been debate on this matter on the strike board also. Its slightly different for me shipping from the UK, but as several have asked the question:

Firstly, it is the sellers responsibility to deliver the goods or make good any loss, regardless of whether insurance was either offered or paid for. End of story.

"Delivery confirmation" for UK to US (and vice versa) as a stand alone option was discontinued about 2 years ago. The only way to get it is either:
1. Purchase minimum insurance
From the UK this is $6 for up to $500 cover, there is nothing lower. Signature is required from buyer.
2. Use the larger customs label (mandatory for over 4LB weight anyway) and the bar code gets tracked with signature required. (even if you declare value = zero)

Global Priority envelopes have a barcode# on them but unless you purchase insurance, the tracking will merely tell you they left the country of origin. GP does not have to be signed for.

I have business mailing insurance for larger shipments only. This covers ingoing, outgoing, shipped on my behalf to other addresses, goods I have purchased that reside in someone elses premises etc.

In 4 years I have lost two outgoing packages. One was US to UK, the other was US to US on my behalf. In both cases it was subsequently proved the goods were stolen from the senders PO end. My insurance paid out anyway. These were $250 and $100 respectively.

On lower value packages I 'self-insure'. I may or may not purchase actual postal insurance depending on who it is going to, value etc. I do not charge any extra for the insurance either way, it is a business expense. A couple of outgoing packages have been lost out of some 7,000 sent. Cost to me about $100 total.

When I have more valuable shipments sent to me from the US, then in agreement with my insurance company and EU customs, the package can be sent with low value declaration and no postal insurance so as not to draw attention to it.

I have never lost an incoming package as described above. I receive on average two to three large shipments per week. I have never lost an outgoing package from here of any value whatsoever.

I am still liable for customs duty but am responsible for maintaining records and paying the duty at the end of each quarter. Similarly, I receive a 'credit' for everything I export. These near enough balance out. I pay sales tax on the difference and on any sales within europe.

IMO most lost packages arise because of either:

Incorrect addressing
Poor packing (and subsquently machine sorting damage)
Lack of return address in case of non-delivery

Ive never had a complaint about my packaging. I can think of one single occurrence when a CD case got cracked in a package to the US. In that instance Gene/The Palms sent a replacement to my customer FOC.

I have no complaints about any incoming mail from the US either. Even though some people dont get the addressing etc. 100% right it will invariably find me. Thats probably a benefit of living in a village which is lucky to have a main post & sorting office where I am one of their biggest customers. A package merely addressed to Spragg, Marlow, UK would probably get here but dont try it

I appreciate that people who live in city areas have more postal problems and may view things differently/have to handle their mailing in other ways.

Overall, I would say that once a package has any form of tracking on it, the chances of it going astray are greatly diminished. Make of that what you will.