On Dec. 28, there were three letter writers willing to forgive UPS and FedEx for delivering packages after Christmas even though the companies had claimed to their customers the deliveries would take place before the holiday. Poor planning on the customers' part? Perhaps. Not as bad as households without power, as one letter writer suggested? Certainly not.

But one should also realize that the customer is always right. Not the company. Let us not forget that UPS and FedEx have lobbied Congress — successfully, I might add — in ways that disenfranchise and help to bankrupt the U.S. Postal Service.

We, as consumers, should demand and deserve better.

DAVID HIGGS, Minneapolis

• • •

The reason that we are so delighted that the little guy scored cheap fares from Delta ("What if the man had been over billed?" Readers Write, Dec. 28) is that we finally won one against the "Goliath" airline. Delta is making ever-increasing profits while pricing many out of flying home for the holidays to be with family. Last week, a one-hour flight from North Dakota to Minnesota cost $700, which seems more dishonest than an $86 fare to Hawaii.

MARA LEWANDOWSKI, Bloomington