I would like to add my experience to the general discussion on the
postal department.
 
We ship huge numbers of queens through the mail every year.  My guess
is that we lose less than 2% of everything we mail, and that is being
generous.  The number is probably less than that.
 
In my experience, the smaller the shipment, the great the chance that
it will disappear.  Shipment of 1 and 2 are notorious for arriving
several weeks after they were mailed.  Larger shipments of battery
boxes are rarely lost or damaged.
 
The best method of shipment by far is to pay the extra money and ship
the queens by Express Mail.  The 48 hour guarantee is almost always
right on time.  Only shipments to South Dakota seem to take more than
48 hours on a regular basis!
 
I think the post office does a great job.  Without their efforts
queen breeding in Hawaii would be useless!
 
Mark at Kona Queen