Considering how terrible USPS is, why would anyone ever trust them with anything, never mind a live animal.
I've also been impressed with their physical locations. The workers are attentive and helpful (I don't mail letters very often; they have the answers to my many questions). This has been contrary to the stereotype of the post office being similar to the DMV.
You don't know anger until a post office working starts sliding the security bars closed (at 4:30 pm) cutting the long line in half and telling the people that are on the wrong side that they will have to come back tomorrow.
And what the hell kind of service business closes at 4:30. Making it literally impossible for anyone with a day job to EVER pick up their package (that they should have delivered anyway but didn't because the carrier didn't want to look for the box in his truck and just tiptoed up to your door and stuck a note on it).
Luckily, most post offices stay open longer now. But I still see nothing but long lines and poor service when I have to go.
The people in my post office are extremely rude and about as "I don't care" or "not my problem" as you can imagine. To be fair, I've also seen some extremely rude customers in the past too. From what I see, they are also very understaffed and probably under paid, but then again they have godly benefits and job security.
With UPS/Fedex, forget it. They have bad branches too, particularly Fedex ground.
The other thing as a smallish shipper you can actually use the insurance. If you make claims with UPS/Fedex, they'll retailiate by raising your negotiated rates.
no you don't, most of our workforce is union protected, they can poop in your package and not lose their jobs
By comparison, UPS and Fedex are often the source of unpleasant surprises for me as a recipient of packages from various online retailers. I love the USPS and it saddens me to see the vitriol directed towards it.
Hub to hub nearly all services are reliable, it's the 'last mile' service that has such extreme variability from area to area. That's why when I mail a package to someone else I try to ask them about which services are more reliable /in their area/ (since I attempt to drop off at fixed, staffed, locations, USPS offices and the like).