If you hate waiting in line at the Post Office to mail packages, don't. The U.S. Postal Service has online label and postage services that are just terrific. Now that I have an account with my credit card information saved, it takes about a minute to print out a bar coded shipping label complete with postage. If you get it done early enough in the day, put a sticky note on your mailbox and the postman will come right to your door to pick up the packages. Or if you are running late (as I am today with Christmas gifts), you can walk right in the post office, drop them off, and walk out. It's a wonderful benefit of having broadband, and the Postal Service is to be applauded for offering the service.
Incidentally, it's a boon for small business as well. The Web application has an address book to store frequently-used addresses, so for small to medium-sized boxes, this Web app can be your shipping department. Note to economic developers: do all the small businesses in your region know about this service and know how to use it?