What are keys to running an efficient and profitable shipping business? I will assume that a threshold volume in all shipping routes is key. Vehicle procurement, maintenance, and utilization, and the same for employees. How have some companies utilized technology better than others? How profitable are expedited options vs standard shipping options? What are vivid reasons private shipping companies are more profitable than USPS?

Volume is the key.

real estate and labor,

I ship for my job. What I want as a customer is fair price, reliability, and accountability or in other terms cheap, fast, and on time. I use a regional shipper for most stuff. I get overnight service for less money than USPS, FedEx, and UPS. They come to me for a pickup that’s convenient to my needs not their needs.

USPS gets knocked, and rightfully so in many cases, but being able to get a letter from SF to NY in three days for fifty cents is pretty amazing.

Why is private more profitable than USPS? Labor, pricing, and volume. Private shippers don’t have to stop and deliver at every address every day. They don’t have to staff offices and trucks and facilities and everything else to accomplish that. That fifty cent cross country letter in three days costs at least 10x as much using a private shipper vs USPS. Private shippers don’t have to deal with inexpensive but high volume shipments. On trade magazine day, which happens 3x/month my office gets a copy for most employees. That’s 100+ magazines that got picked up, sorted and routed at least twice, and delivered at a cost that doesn’t make sense for any carrier that isn’t USPS. The private companies picked the areas where USPS lags or was slow to adapt and left the bulk low margin high effort stuff for USPS. Sending a letter pouch USPS overnight from SF to NY costs around $35 for noon deliver. FedEx costs more. Businesses generally choose the more expensive option because it’s more reliable, more accountable, easier to deal with, and ingrained because FedEx offered an easier option than USPS decades ago. 25 years ago I had a computer and label printer provided by FedEx that allowed me to somewhat automate overnight shipments. I didn’t have to leave my office unless I missed the FedEx pickup. Overnight through USPS at the time required a trip to the post office and waiting in line.

It’s really two different business models. One created to be profitable and one created to be all things to all people.

Here's the deal: It doesn't matter if its shipped by USPS, UPS or FedEX - there's a strong chance all of those shipping containers containing all of those packages will be on the same BNSF Railway train to the destination.