This is one of those issues which proves that the plural of anecdote is not data. I'm pretty sure that if you did a nationwide study, you would show that the USPS comes out worse overall than UPS or FedEx for parcels. Although they are not subsidized by tax dollars, they are a federally protected monopoly for letters, etc. This guarantees inefficiency, postage increases, and, because of the difficulty of firing people, USPS is a magnet for least common denominator type employees. Having said that, I must admit that my experience with USPS has been very good, and I strongly believe that the quality of service is dependent on the quality of the local pool of employees. About fifteen years ago I sold a fair amount of stuff on Ebay. I was then living in a suburb of Denver, and our P.O. was staffed by efficient and generally friendly employees. I had zero problems, and the postage for small packages was lower than the other carriers. I now live in Jonesboro, AR, a college town of 70,000. When I get a package, it is delivered to the door along with the rest of the mail. They ring the bell and wait for a response. Although it's not uncommon to get a misdelivered piece of mail, it's not a big problem. Your mileage may vary considerably.
