I have never liked FedEx, anyone around me when I am expecting something from them knows that very well. Now I am faced with an even greater evil than FedEx itself, FedEx SmartPost. It is a service where FedEx bundles all of the packages heading to an area and then sends them there in bulk for later entry into the US Postal Service system for delivery. This seems like a nice system, and it is very cost effective, but there is only one tiny catch, it is very slow. I am presently expecting a package from Adorama (film scanner), it was shipped on July 1st, and was originally due to arrive here on July 6th, but FedEx has managed to push the delivery due date back to July 10th, quietly and without notifying anyone. Packages from Adorama shipped through the postal service only take about 2 or 3 days to arrive.

I do not see any advantage, other than cost, for using FedEx SmartPost, and the increased speed of USPS is certainly worth the additional expense. I never thought I would see a time when I preferred USPS over another carrier.