Wait—did you just tell a room full of people who, after more than a year of waiting, finally have a LASER at their disposal to NOT destroy a perfectly good chunk of cardboard?
Isn’t that kind of like God telling Adam and Eve “Now, any of these trees? Sure, go right ahead… but THIS one?.. No, no… That one’s off limits.”
More like a 1st Suggestion than an 11th Commandment.
I’d be more than happy to make a road trip to Seattle, or just about anywhere else within, say, 1000mi of San Francisco, to pick it up and avoid shipping randomness.
Just saying…
I’ve ordered a lot of expensive things online (probably every major purchase except houses and cars…) and have never had a problem with delivery. Well, scratch that. I’ve had plenty of problems, but I’ve never had an issue that hasn’t been corrected by the shipping company or the company I’ve bought the item from. I’ve even been contacted by both before an item has even arrived to let me know it was potentially damaged and to reassure me they would take care of it.
I’m sure it’s a good idea to photograph the opening and all that, because it doesn’t really require much of you, but I don’t think you’re screwed if you don’t. First and foremost, signing for an item doesn’t negate your ability to file a claim for damaged goods - it negates your ability to claim a package never arrived.
Photos are good, but if your item is broken you need to keep all of your packaging. Some shipping companies want to inspect the remnants of shipping materials and item before paying. So, dont throw anything out, including broken fragments and glass. If it’s broken when you open it, just put it all back in the box until it’s resolved.
But mostly, glowforge is expecting some stuff will break, and they’ve budgeted for it. The shipping company is expecting stuff will break, or be lost, and they’ve budgeted for it. In my experience, dealing with the selling company is way easier than dealing with the shipping company, so if something is wrong I’d contact glowforge and they will file a claim, if they’re so inclined, with the shipping company.
It will really suck if something arrives broken or not working, but I don’t think glowforge will say ‘tough luck, you’re on your own’. I think, from my experience, the more frustrating situation is when something doesn’t arrive at all, as you’re left waiting for the shipper to try and locate it, and that can sometimes take weeks and weeks. But even in that situation, I’m sure glowforge will make it so you aren’t $2-5k poorer with no laser forever.
I nearly forgot to add that insurance is for the party shipping the item, not the recipient. If the laser you get is ruined by the shipping company, the shipping company will pay glowforge, who will either refund you or replace the item. I’m not even sure the recipient of a package can even file an insurance claim; I think it has to be the sender. But that might not be right.
But that’s just for US. I’m sure lasers confiscated and destroyed by customs, for example, might be a totally different situation.
My big dollar items
My projector lots of optics and glass had a hole in the box but unit worked
A laptop that the guy forgot to drop off left it on the bumper of the truck and a electrician found it on the road a mile away ran over… RMA HP was more then happy to fight fedex on that
21 feet of led grow lights for my lettuce garden. Buildmyled.com took pride in packing those up and was a perfect example of how to vet your packaging for shipping. Short of fedex hit them with a truck I think they would have survived
Some canvas prints from zazzle, boxes intact but canvas has some scuff and one a broken frame. Perfect example of someone not giving a care as they where just thrown in a ill fitting box to slide around.
So what im trying to say short of fedex or ups screwing up it really comes down to the care that the original sender takes in packaging it up
Lettuce huh? Sure.
I actually had grow lights for lettuce as part of an aquaponics setup (had to do it inside as 7 months of the year it is too cold to grow outside.) I was outside one night and saw the glow from the spare room and all I could think was, “I’m going to get raided. I really hope I’m not shot over lettuce.”
Ohh, time to do inventory on these. Old ones that will likely never be used to return for warranty or sale will be a good source of cardboard! 
It would be good to hear what @dan recommends users do on delivery to minimize the chance of problems in case a broken GF is received. I’m also sure that GF will try to make good on the problem, but perhaps there are things that owners can do that would that easier for them to do. I suspect that the OP was looking for that sort of info or advice.
ROFL! Reminds me of college days…had a couple of apartment-mates on campus that were growing “special lettuce” in a closet. I spent an entire semester not able to focus on studying at all, and I always sniffed to see if they’d been getting into the crop before I opened the door when my parents were visiting…
Still got most of the products that they belong to…otherwise…
You are more organized than me. I’ve probably got quite a few boxes in the back of the attic that are for items either junked or too old to ever warrant repair shipping. I’ll take my own advice and get up in the attic before it gets unbearably hot up there.
yup I posted in my show and tell my garden. Its a vertical garden so I couldn’t grow medicinal in it anyway
Let’s not get Trump involved with this! (All of his ideas are “suggestions”!)
And, I’ve asked if I could pick mine up also. I’m 20 miles away.The Seattle office, near SAFECO Field, does not ship from there. They’re shipped direct from the manufacture.
I recently had a situation where my vacuum had to go away for service. That was in march. Numerous phone calls and emails later the company (not divulging names but one very famous brand) they finally relented and shipped an upgraded new machine to me. They even upgraded the shipping to 2-day with Saturday delivery. Saturday came and the package was last seen in Texas. But was supposed to be delivered by end of day. The day went on and on. Finally the exception came. Not going to arrive before Tuesday. The fedex truck had left Rockwall TX for Nashville TN. The driver fell asleep, caused an 8 vehicle explosive pile up and was charged with negligence. That is my most recent shipping nightmare. But other than that so many things have changed with package handling I don’t expect anything to go wrong from this end. As a side note my vacuum did finally arrive (afrer some 50+ days). The package was pretty well beat up but the vacuum was in perfect condition. … and cat hair be gone before sundown.
I have a roomba on schedule so it wasn’t all that bad. If anyone has tips on how to program them to jump up onto furniture I would appreciate that.
When my Glowforge arrives I will wait for everyone else to leave the room.
Then I will dance.
I believe the Glowforge will be shipped as regular shipping and not frieght…that was part of the size design decision.
I’m going to do the opposite.
I’m going to dance, then everyone else will leave the room. 
No pick up in Seattle, they aren’t being manufactured there.
Dan has said that “shipping” refered to the “last mile”. I suspect the units will be freighted to local distribution points and delivered from there.
I recieved large expensive home furnishings from local warehouses, who unboxed/inspected and signed the bill of lading from the freight company, noting any discrepancy. I signed and assumed responsibility after inspection and made the “last mile” delivery to the customer.
When I signed off on the paperwork (noting any discrepancy *very important!) it became my responsibility.
You are the customer, and are not obligated to sign without inspecting the shipment. Many people do, and the delivery guy likes that because he is saddled with a full schedule to complete.
The signatures at the change of hands is an effort to establish liability.
Freight companies are used to the next carrier in line inspecting the items, but the last mile delivery guys are a bit less tolerant, because they are used to people just signing the paper as received.
Doesn’t matter he’s in a hurry, you are the customer. To protect yourself, take the extra few minutes to inspect and document any discrepancy. Photos are standard procedure in the warehouse, make it yours too.
Physical damage is the extent of the carrier’s liability, whether or not it works is beyond that scope.
The condition of the box is your first indication of how closely, and where you need to focus.
With concern for the delivery individual’s time, and as long as the box is crisp, I personally would dig just deep enough to determine the tube was unbroken and sign the paperwork.
With regard to the packaging, you want to keep it. Besides the condition of the box, there will likely be one or more impact sensitive indicators that will help determine how roughly it was handled. Those will be of interest in case there was concealed damage.
In 30 years experience delivering, I never saw a customer left hanging. Company reputations are at stake and no reputable company, manufacturer or carrier is going to ignore their obligations. As @erin pointed out, damage is anticipated and is accounted for.
Moral of the story is to complete the chain of transfer, by inspecting and documenting any concerns.
Don’t worry about getting stuck with a broken laser, just do your job at delivery and your biggest concern will be the delay encountered to correct the problem. 
I fully expect our Glowforge to be in good shape when we get it, but if it did arrive obviously broken, what do we do besides annotating the waybill as such? I suspect that we should still accept it, and then work with @Rita to either get the damaged one picked up and a new one sent to us, or to get the necessary replacement parts sent to us with detailed instructions to install them. However, is there any situation where we would be better served to refuse the shipment completely?