GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The U.S. Postal Service, UPS and Federal Express all promise to get your package to it's destination quickly.

But which shipping service is fastest?

News 4 conducted a holiday shipping test to find out.

The test involved two other Hearst-Argyle stations, one in New Mexico and one in California.

Reporters David Quinlan of KOAT in Alberquerque, Lynsey Paulo of KCRA in Sacramento and News 4's Tim Waller sent station coffee mugs to each other to see which carrier delivers the quickest.

They mailed the mugs on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

"It was a job and a half," said Waller, "wrapping six WYFF mugs and sending the packages via the Postal Service, UPS and Federal Express ground [service]."

The first step in the nationwide mailing test was to record how much each of us paid for shipping.

Waller found that, to send a coffee mug, the U.S. Postal Service charged $4.49 for parcel post.

Federal Express ground cost $4.94, while UPS ground was the most expensive, at $6.90 per box.

The first box to arrive at WYFF was also the cheapest.

Quinlan's parcel post package arrived through the Postal Service just two days after being mailed from Alberquerque.

In fact, the Postal Service had three first-place finishes: From Alberquerque to Greenville, from Sacramento to Greenville and from Alberquerque to Sacramento.

FedEx and UPS had two first places.

As for last-place finishes, Federal Express had one and UPS had two, with UPS being the most expensive.

"So the good ol' U.S. Postal Service was the winner," said Waller.

He said the lines were a little longer but the faster deliver time was worth the wait.

One important point: all of the mugs in the test arrived at their destinations undamaged.