I've had a single-digit number of packages never delivered, most of them years ago, from Aliexpress (which, at least back then, had a very buyer-favoring dispute process, so I would get my money back with three clicks or so).

In the US all carriers drop packages at door (or in the building's locker if you live in an apartment complex). Some packages need to be signed (alcohol, nicotine, gun ammo, etc) but the vast majority of deliveries involve zero human interaction

Sort of. Note that I'm a city dweller, living in a flat in an apartment block.

This is a real problem; classical solutions involve having another household member receive the parcel, asking the delivery person to deliver to a neighbor who you know is OK with it (since I started working remotely, I frequently am that neighbor), having them drop the package in front of your door (undesirable, but works in case where there's an extra door between your flat and the staircase), or putting your place of work as delivery address (if your company is happy about it; some are not). Dedicated "package send/receive" stores became a thing, then started disappearing as grocery store chains became package drop points. And then came the parcel lockers.

I imagine this problem was the primary driver of mass, enthusiastic adoption of parcel lockers - for the last decade, I've had at least one within 5 minutes of home, and this let me pick the parcel up at my leisure.

These days, most packages we order go through lockers; the ones are don't are usually medical or plain heavy (10-20kg worth of cat litter, soft drinks, etc.). This works because I work remotely, and my wife is yet to return to work after post-partum period.

Only if I really needed that specific thing pretty badly today would I spend a few bucks and 15 minutes to drive over to come get it.

I ordered some physical thing, not that thing and a quest.