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provide lousy service

I completely disagree. What examples do you have that make you come to that conclusion?

I think the USPS just gets bagged on because they are a government entity.

I think they do a magnificent job, for very little money. You think spending $.37 or $.39 is too much to ask to take a letter anywhere?

I am amazed they don't make more mistakes, given the magnitude of the job.

My hat is off to every mailman in this country, who get my mail to me everyday, rain or shine.

What examples do you have that make you come to that conclusion?

Since private carriers are banned from providing mail service, the only comparison that can be made is package delivery.

In my experience USPS is the worst package delivery service. They lose about 5% of the packages, the packages can't be tracked (until the next day), and the delivery times are clouds of probability.

UPS and Fedex have never lost a package of mine, always delivery on time, and the package can typically be tracked within minutes of it changing steps in the shipping process.

Also, in some cases, UPS and Fedex can actually reroute packages in transit - an impossibility for USPS.

For me, the savings shipping USPS aren't worth unless I don't particularly care if the package makes it to its destination.

I completely disagree. What examples do you have that make you come to that conclusion?

Never more than 2 windows running out of 6 at my most-visited PO, for one. Vending machines that are perennially out of order or out of stamps, for another. And when the USPS does come up with a genuine innovation, it never stops looking for a way to screw it up. Consider the APC, the new Automated Postal Center that can weigh packages and print exact postage in any amount.

Last month, I had to mail out 25 identical photo CD's in standard bubble-wrap disc mailers, all domestic. I used the APC to weigh one, postage $0.83. Now since I had 25 identical in-country items to send, I should have been able to hit the "times 25" key and have it print all the postage, right? No, the APC won't let you do that. It makes you weigh each one individually. Since this was Christmas, and people were queuing up behind me, I went to the function to dispense postage in specified amounts. I could print any amount ! wanted, but one dollar minimum. So I had to have it print 25 $1 stamps for my packages.