Counterpoint for your shameless promotion of the USPS:
The Post Office is on track to lose what, $6B this year, with the taxpayers on the hook when the Post Office defaults on its loans. This is not true of UPS or Fedex, which do not survive on taxpayer loans.
In my experience, international mail through the USPS is a horror. Long ago I learned from having critical documents disappear into the void that USPS is grossly unreliable. In fact, it is impossible to track your letter through to its destination with the USPS! I send dozens of documents every week internationally via Fedex, and have done so for years. Only ONCE did a document go missing with Fedex in all that time, and from their tracking they were able to pinpoint the exact driver (in France) who was culpable.
USPS is a dismal failure and an anachronism and needs to be permanently weaned from the government teat. If they collapse, so be it.
A package was mailed to me,last week, using the USPS, from a large city that is 300 miles away.
After languishing in the post office for two days my package then spent three days on a truck, and was delivered, finally, after many calls to the post office, after a week in transit.
The total driving time from one city to another was six hours.
The charge for this non service was $20.00, UPS would have delivered it in three days for a little more than $10.00.
Needless to say, I will never again use the USPS for package delivery