Just like any business with a lot of branches, the service you get depends a lot on the quality of the management and personnel at the local level.

I had terrible service in Memphis, at my job. Rude employees, misdelivered mail, lost mail. Pretty good service at my home in the suburbs. In my current town of 20,000, our post office is most excellent. Friendly clerks and carriers, helpful when you need something, not so put out by the odd request. Your experience of it depends on how good the management is at the local PO.

My husband was involved in the installation of optical readers for the USPS in the 1990s. Yeah, they want and desire standardization of the typefaces used to address letters, but you would be really surprised at how good they are at deciphering handwriting. I don't see why something as uniform as calligraphy would be harder for the machines to read. They build that ability into the machines. I can imagine they're even more advanced now.

Karen