Hopping mad at the USPS and at my bank

[matt819]

18. My 2 cents

I don't use any postal or courier service to send checks. There are just too many other, more secure options.

However, I use both the USPS and UPS to send packages, thousands over the past several years. There have been delays with UPS, but nothing ever lost. USPS delivers more quickly to more distant locations, and often cheaper than UPS, and I can count on one hand the number of problems. In one case, a package was not delivered, and in another, an express mail package was delivered two days late. That's out of thousands. So, while I bitch and moan about delays and shipping costs, overall I've been pretty fortunate. And when I take a deep breath and consider the big picture, all of them are pretty impressive.

As for your letter, since the tracking showed that it was delivered to the post office, provided that post office isn't in a large city it should be fairly routine for them to take a closer look for it. I know that my local post office (town of a few thousand) would do that in a flash.

Regarding the banks - well, that's another story. My small town bank has a list of about 50 fees. It sucks, but it's become standard practice. And, yes, you may find credit unions or some other small bank that doesn't apply a fee for everything they do (or claim to do), but, in the end it's a tradeoff. You balance those fees, customer service, banking hours, ATM, etc., etc., and make the best decision you can at the time.