While that may still hold true with regards to the mail. If one is able to track a package as in the OP's case utilizing the Fedex or for that matter even UPS tracking system and that package is ultimately delivered by the Post Office; then those carriers are paying the Post Office for final delivery. The Small Parcel Business Model proclaims this as a win/win for small parcel and the Post Office. In reality the actual savings is a numbers game and the consumer experiences at least one more day of transit time in most cases.
Oh, I totally agree. It's annoying as heck to track a package and find out it's sitting in your local post office and there's not a darn thing you can do about it!