You can request a "read receipt" but you probably won't get very many of them back because the user can decline to send them.

How you request it depends on which email software or webmail site you're using.

Thank you jscher2000. How do I go about doing that? I'm not sure which email software I have though.

For example, do you access your mail through the browser on a web site such as Yahoo, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail? Or do you use a separate program such as Thunderbird, Windows Mail, Outlook, etc.?

yahoo.

Hmmm, I guess not, then.

At this time, Yahoo! Mail does not offer a "return receipt" feature.

Source: If I send a message to someone, can I tell if they've received and read it? | New Yahoo! Mail Help

Thank you so much for going thru all the trouble to answer my question. I truly appreciate your effort. Have a wonderful evening!

Unless you choose the best reply and mark as solved the question remains open. Only you as the owner can mark the best answer as "Solved" while you are logged in.

I use Windows Live Hotmail and would like to know if I can get a confirmation that my e-mail was successfully delivered to intended recipient (do not have to know it was read) without having to request the recipient for an answer. Is it true that as long as there is no "failed delivery" notification it is almost definitely certain my e-mail was successfully delivered/received (assuming it was not "spammed" or blocked otherwise)

@josephdemeyer:

As an alternative to a read receipt, a "delivery" receipt would indicates that the other mail server accepted it from your mail server. As you point out, it could go into a spam folder from there, but it's better than nothing (especially if the delivery is time sensitive).

But alas, the webmail version of Hotmail doesn't support receipts (at least as of January):

Is Read Receipt available for Hotmail users - if not, why not?

If you access Hotmail through an email program (e.g., Thunderbird, Outlook, Windows Mail), they might work.