Do you prefer to ship items with the gov't postal service or an independent shipping service?

I was very dissatisfied with the customer service department of the US postal service. I like to use them for shipping packages, but I think that I will switch to UPS because they at least make a few attempts to deliver a package to an address. I tried to get the USPS to hold the package at the destination office and they refused saying that the package will be returned to sender. Very frustrating! What is your preferred shipping service and why?

UPS or Fed Ex because its much easier to drop them off, the wait is much less than at the post office and the employees actually care about the customers. I would be willing to pay more just to be treated decently. Perhaps the post office can use the next increase to train their employees in customer service but then again they have a job for a lifetime so why would they care.

small items I ship us priority - big items I ship ups ground.
I try and do it all from my computer and then just drop the packages off to the ups stores / postal stores. no more hassles with the people behind the counters.