Why isn USPS competitive when shipping larger and heavier items?
USPS:Federal law requires the Postal Service to cover its costs. That means it’s against the law for it to offer loss leaders, which are products or services sold at lower-than-normal prices. Every single package the Postal Service ships has to be profitable, as a matter of law. That means the Postal Service has to charge what it costs to ship. Heavier packages, and packages traveling longer distances, obviously cost more to ship. So why can other carriers charge less in some (but certainly not all) cases? Because private shippers can offer loss leaders. This means that while every single package they ship isn’t profitable, they still can be profitable overall, by using their lower prices to entice larger shippers to bring their business to them, to gain a larger share of the shipping market, or to lure in other, more profitable packages. Unfortunately, the Postal Service doesn’t have that specific pricing flexibility. It’s also important to note that lightweight packages are, in fact,
