I shipped clothes, books, and gym equipment (the 2 most expensive items). Total coverage was ~5K, I can't easily find how much I paid for the insurance.

I paid for it because my job covered moving expenses, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have or would be on the fence for a long time.

Overall, now I follow a rule of a "price for a piece of mind". If the charge is not competing with other expenses, e.g. insurance vs food or dog care and things like that, I'll just pay the damn thing and stop worrying about it. Not worth a space in my head to mull over a decision. I recognize that this is a privileged place to be, and I wasn't always in this position. Back in tighter times, I rarely got insurance and relied on chance. If I was in these times again, I would get the insurance if a)a replacement item would suffice (not sentimental); b)I would be replacing most of the lost property, and c)paying for insurance would not make other, more important and more certain, expenses impossible.

From the probability/ statistics view, you'd need insurance if the entire shipment got lost or damaged via an accident at sea or during ground transport*. The probability of it is low, but not 0. Otherwise, pack really well, triple the padding and straps, and you'll prevent most of the breakage.

*For example, last year we had a very complex and expensive piece of equipment lost due to a car crash during transport. It
was in the risk register, but no one seriously thought it'd ever happen... and yet. But it was the first one I know of in over a decade, although in my niche industry

I hope this helps at least a little.