Do you really want to compare their profits with private competitors?
The Postal Service's most visible and energetic competitors were shipping-service providers FedEx and UPS.
For the Postal Service, competition was a tricky matter; the Postal Service was a government-subsidized entity with many advantages. Its rivals frequently maintained that the USPS used revenues generated from its monopoly on mail delivery to fund services designed to compete against private companies. The USPS, exempt from most taxes, including federal and state, free from parking fines, and able to clear foreign customs more easily than its competitors, seemed to hold the upper hand in the marketplace. In addition, postal laws required that private companies charge twice as much for services also offered by the USPS, allowing the agency to significantly undercut competing prices. UPS chairman and CEO Jim Kelly spoke out against such policies in a speech given to the National Press Club in 1998 and declared, "I'm hard pressed to think of a better example of anti-competitive practices than setting your competitors' rates." The Postal Service defended the postal rules and pointed out that UPS and FedEx charged more than double the USPS's $3.20 Priority Mail charge for two-day delivery services. USPS spokesperson Norm Scherstrom said in the Journal of Commerce, "If I recall, when we started our Priority Mail ads, UPS was charging about $8 and FedEx was charging about $12Â…. If the requirement was a double postage rule why were they way above that?"
As powerful as the Postal Service was, it faced substantial competition from many challengers and did not command all delivery categories.
In the express-delivery service segment, FedEx was the largest express shipping company in the world and the market leader with a 43 percent share in 1997. UPS took the second place spot with 27 percent, followed by Airborne Express at 15 percent, other services with 8 percent, and the Postal Service with 5 percent, according to the Colography Group
That's how they did it..
Even with the advantages....
While USPS posted loses for 2008 here is what FEDEX posted...
FedEx 2008 Revenue Profit 2009 Fortune 500 Rank : Finance : eConsultant
2008 Profit: $ 1,125 million