As a small business we order a lot of stuff from the states. I also order fabric, and quilting related stuff. I've found 2 good reasons for choosing USPS.
1- it gets to us! UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Purolator all seem to have problems finding us 1 hour out of a major center (Calgary, AB). We live in a town, not a farm/acreage with a rural address . We've had parcels go missing for weeks. DHL actually has a policy of not coming out our direction except on Thursdays. So if your parcel gets to them on a Thursday, oops, too late, you wait till next week. The next week if it is the only parcel for our town it will wait again till the next Thurs. UPS has told us that they tried to deliver on two different days and we were not home. They mailed us a postcard telling us that we had to call them to arrange delivery. The day I got the card I called and they had already returned my parcel to the US. There are many such stories that I could relate.
2- brokerage fees. Not duty or taxes, but the fee they charge to do the paper work to bring the parcel across the border. Canada Post charges a flat $5.00 fee and they collect the taxes owing. The couriers all charge their own fee, for which they do not share their formula to figure out before hand. We've had parcels show up at the door with charges owing that were double the price of the item sent. The other good thing about USPS is that sometimes they don't check it at the border in which case you don't even pay the $5 or the taxes.
I would have to want something really bad to agree to having it shipped from the states with a courier. We now use either a trucking company if it's larger or USPS
Marilyn in Alberta, Canada where the weather has been incredible. I'm wondering if this beautiful fall is going to mean we suffer with extreme cold over the winter. Even if we do not having winter start in Nov means that winter will be 1 month shorter this year! Yay!