411
Using inside info, iPhone thieves arrive at your house right after FedEx
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Right, and my point is that the carrier probably sells enough phones that insuring them could end up being cheaper than requiring a signature. So whether you buy from Apple or your local carrier probably wouldn't matter, they'll just mark it as a loss and send a new one.
And since the insurance is probably with the courier, the courier is the one that decides if a faster delivery is better than fewer stolen packages.