>> Increased theft risk as we don’t even know something is left for us.
I’m rural too, and we leave our gate shut most of the time. Even when it’s open, though, they just dump stuff by the gate. This is true even if “signature required”.
One thing you CAN do is sign up with FedEx and UPS and get text messages when something is shipped to your address. I find that very helpful — I know what day it’s supposed to arrive, and I get a text within a few minutes of them dropping it at the gate.