They are frustrating when things go awry. On the other hand, in my 40 some odd years of using them, I have rarely had anything go awry. It is the one govt agency that so rarely fails me, I think I should stand up for them. Of course, when something is lost it’s terrible. And in this day and age it seems that they could have a better system. Of course, it depends on how you send it and if it’s insured etc (I rarely insure since they don’t lose my stuff and I admit to taking the risk unless it’s something really valuable). And media mail, well, then all bets are off, but then again, they’ve never lost any of that for me either.
All of those items were insured. That was probably the problem. Right on the box the amount of the insurance is written. When a postal employee sees $435 value and he/she knows it’s insured they figure it’s fair game. They’ll never be caught because the post office won’t start to track the loss for 30 days.