Your shipping wrecks. USPS,FED-EX and UPS

I lived in Germany , Always  had postal mail as good as USPO at its best.
It decided to go private to lose good pensions and its postal system is now on a par with the worst in the world .

One of my problems is a item is marked delivered , when it wasn't delivered to me so I can't file a claim as undelivered......So I lose the item and the money.......That's probably a job for the postal inspector. maybe after Xmas.......Maybe it will just get better and everybody can forget the Xmas mess.........That would be the best solution.....

Re: USPS, make sure you sign up for Informed Delivery, which sends you a daily email with images of the mail you are due to receive that day, as well as tracking numbers and/or senders of any packages due for delivery that day and in the near future.  The package delivery can be off by +1 day or so on occasion, but it allows you to file a missing mail claim easily.  I've actually had a USPS carrier come to my house specifically to deliver a critical missing package (meds) after I reported it.  You may not always get this same service, but it always helps to do what you can to track your own mail delivery.  Just my $0.02.

bkeske...You chat with a few people in Germany who complain about DHL? Not a very large survey sample is it? Ever hear of heresay? Also, many economists do point to the pension requirements as unnecessarily hampering the Post Office's ability to be self-funding. Remember, the Post Office was never required or expected (until now) to be profitable. It was established (Franklin?) as a service for the people and the government. The pension requirement was done for no other reason than has already been pointed out, because one party (I didn't name it) wants to privatize the postal service. ALSO, to compare the situation the country faced over 200 years ago to the situation today when the population has gone from a few million at best to today's approximately 330 million people is not a reasonable argument. And I thought you didn't want to be involved in a silly political argument so you were going to leave it at that.
Libertarianism is a wonderful social and political philosophy that would possibly work in a country of few people. It can't work in a country as populous as ours. I equate it with Utopianism. Naive and not realistic.

USPS delivered my new headshell to a wrong address and couldn't get it back. Eight more days before I can even file on that one. Had some wire shipped from Ohio to eastern TN, Priority Mail; Somehow it ended up in MS and sat there for 5 days before it finally started moving again. Should get it today. Got an LP that the company guarantees  was  shipped on the 13th and all the PO site says is "label created". Still have no idea where that one is.