I am not making excuses for the USPS, we have all had issues with them at some time. However, they are operating under a set of rules that were set up for them decades ago by Congress. In many cases, the USPS is prevented by these rules to improve and streamline its operations.

For example, you can mail a letter from anywhere in the USA, no matter how far apart, and pay exactly the same cost. In other words, you could mail a letter from Fairbanks, Alaska to Key West, Florida for the cost of 1 stamp which I think is 42 cents. Try that with UPS or FedEx and you are talking maybe tens of dollars. As far as tracking, check the detailed tracking record of your UPS or FedEx packages and you will find much the same thing. I used to be in charge of shipping at the company where I worked and we were always tracing UPS and FedEx packages around the country. A misdirected package often travels in strange circles until someone can intercept it and redirect it to its route. Much of the sorting is done by machines and computers so it is much more complicated than just walking down to a warehouse and finding your particular package. It could be in the belly of an aircraft or a tractor-trailer filled with other identical-looking packages. Millions, possibly a few billion packages and envelopes are shipped each year in the US by UPS, USPS, FedEx, and other delivery services, it is amazing that they are delivered at all with any accuracy.

I think mostly the USPS does a pretty good job at the prices they must charge. I have a number of items shipped to me by USPS, UPS, and FedEx and the USPS does a pretty good job at their deliveries at a cheaper price. If you want a good example of cost savings just check Amazon. Since Amazon has free shipping for their Prime members, check how they ship the majority of those items. It is USPS! They used to use UPS and FedEx exclusively but now much of it is USPS due to the cost. I am lucky enough to live fairly close to an Amazon warehouse. I often have items delivered on the same day by Amazon Prime trucks. However, most come by USPS in 2-3 days after ordering.

Also, I have had several friends that worked at the USPS and none of them were making $45 an hour! That would be over $90K per year. I doubt that. Maybe after 20-30 years on the job they might approach that number if in management or some specialty. The local post office was hiring recently and starting pay was $17/hr. That would be around $35K per year. Tough wages for anybody with a family and not much better than starting salaries at McDonald's. It would be poverty wages in many parts of the country.