The US Postal Service is really going off the deep end now. Just yesterday I shipped a 2 pound video card to Taiwan, and the cheapest option was $26 (no tracking or insurance). To track and insure the item would have raised the shipping cost to well over $50 (Global Express Guaranteed or whatever they call their money-gouging premium service these days).
The post office itself, which is in an old bank building, was dingy and dark. One of the two revolving entrance doors was broken and taped shut. The various posters and signs were mostly ripped and/or missing letters, and the pens were all broken off their chains at the counters. When I alerted my postal clerk, he said "Oh, yeah, the pens aren't working" and slid one through the bulletproof window for me.
The pens AREN'T WORKING? Clearly none of them give a shit. I'm not sure what destroyed the US Postal Service, whether it was government mismanagement or union sloth or both, but it seems to be reflective of a larger malaise in this country.