What's wrong with the United States Postal service?

Well in addition to unions there is a lot of this:

Postal exec taps former associate for no-bid pact

Firm wins consulting deal worth $4 million

By Jim McElhatton

The U.S. Postal Service's president of shipping signed off on a no-bid, $4 million consulting contract to a firm partly because it employed a former associate from his days as an executive at pickle producer Vlasic Foods and lawn care giant Scotts Miracle-Gro, records show.

The decision to bar other companies from bidding on the contract was made months after postal officials warned that the nation's mail service risked running out of cash for the first time in history.

Read the rest it will not cheer you up, but you will understand what's happening.