Does anyone know: Is there any action I can take against the post office to make them pay for mail that they lost or haven't yet delivered?

At the end of September, I mailed out three checks. One to the appraiser, one to my car loan credit union and one to SBC for my final bill. As of now, none of those has arrived.

I stopped payment on the car loan check after talking to the credit union and reissued and mailed them a new check. They probably will waive the late fee. However, the fee for stop payment is $30, for Christ's sake. And knowing how oblivious most of these companies are, if I didn't stop payment and just sent another check, they'd cash both, putting me in dire financial straits. But, stopping payment on all three would cost $90, also hurting my financial situation. Such a retarded system...I hate banks. It's not even my fault, but I'll get charged. Assholes.

Is there anything I can do? Any ideas? Anyone?