Firearms Shipping

[JohnGator]

I have a couple related shipping questions:

1. Have any forum users had any bad experiences shipping firearms, and
2. What specific precautionary proceedures do forum users practice to avoid
potential firearms shipping problems.

By precautionary proceedure I mean something like:
-- ship early in the week to avoid having the shipment sit idle in-transit (and
therefore vulnerable to theft).
-- omit any reference to firearms in the package labeling (like dropping the
word "Gun" from the business name Paradise Gun and Pawn Shop).
-- Insurance?
It seems I am getting more and more involved with shipping expensive merchandise and I want to avoid any preventable losses and also leaving things to chance.

Thanks for your input. John