Fedex, The Memphis, Tenn.-based company reported earnings of $181 million, or 58 cents per share for the quarter ended in August, compared with $384 million, or $1.23 per share, a year ago. Revenue fell 20 percent to about $8 billion. UPS-Consolidated Results 3Q 2009 3Q 2008 Revenue $11.15 B $13.11 B Operating profit $929 M $1.63 B Operating margin 8.3 % 12.4 % Average volume per day 14.26 M 14.85 M Diluted earnings per share $0.55 $0.96 Looks to me as if UPS and Fedex are still making healthy profits depsite major declines in revenue. There's a comparison for you showing government inefficiency at it's finest. And I am not comparing this to healthcare or anything...your post just made me curious so I looked it up
apples to oranges I'm pretty sure the document shipping divisions of both those companies are operating break even or at a loss right now
Exactly. Also, let's make FedEx do non-profit mailings and bulk catalog clusterbombs to every address in America, for pennies.
I'm specifically talking about "DOCUMENTS" Fedex and UPS specialize in shipping packages. For comparison, look up DHL who specializes in documents. You can't ship XBOX's over email.
good point...didn't factor in Fedex's Kinko's group, stuff like that. Will have to look deeper when I have more time to see what their margins are like just on document shipping.
will check DHL. not comprehending your XBOX statement...you can ship packages via UPS as well EDIT: had to look quickly (at work), but could only find DHL's second qtr earnings release. Cost cuts cushion impact of economic crisis Underlying EBIT at 257 million euros in the second quarter Second-quarter revenue declines 17.7 percent to 11.1 billion euros Cost reductions totaling 413 million euros achieved in first half of year Group expects underlying EBIT of 1.2 billion euros for full year 2009 in unchanged economic environment Net income after minorities dropped to 66 million euros in the second quarter from 231 million euros in the year-earlier period
even if a private company took over USPS with the government regulating it, I still doubt it can make make money 2 prerequisites will be keep prices low 37 cents for first-class mail and Mon-Sat service
i'm saying fedex and ups specialize in shipping things other than documents. packages, which I think this has worked out well for all three entities up until email has killed the post office's specialty. but I may be talking out of my arse
that's a good point. It looks like DHL is still making money. But there are other factors that others have pointed out that affect earnings However, I don't think any of you can look at me with a straight face and say that you get good customer service at a post office...those employees drive me freaking crazy...so lazy :grin:
If the USPS charged what Fedex and UPS charge to ship a package, they'd be turning a tidy profit too. But, they aren't in it for the profit, so those premiums don't need to be charged.
No it's not. UPS and FedEx compete with the USPS in the areas that make sense as profitable business ventures. What makes the USPS expensive is not their priority/package shipping - it's their first-class mail that has to be delivered everywhere, every day. That's the industry in decline due to the internet - package shipping has increased with the boom in online shopping. If FedEx or UPS tried to deliver regular mail using the everywhere/all-the-time standards of USPS, they'd be losing money too.
The USPS didnt even guarantee overnight mail until a few years ago. “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” was Federal Express slogan in 1982. There would be no such thing as guaranteed overnight mail without private business. It would have never existed. A few months ago I had to drive to 5 different post offices to find one that would let me apply for a passport. Most of them had passport hours from 12-2 but they still had nobody there to get the job done. They are depressing hell holes. I CAN NOT WAIT for health care to become the same.
first of all, if you're b****ing about gov't waste, it would be absolutely wasteful for you to be able to get your passport at any damn post office. second of all, you will not have to use gov't insurance if you don't want lastly, how many elderly complain about medicare
Only a handful of post offices handle passports and the times are very specific. I check in advance who does and what time they're open to handling passports and I never had a problem.
I applied for my passport 4 weeks ago. Got it last week. I used this thing called the internet to find a post office that handled passport applications, and also used it to find out when they were open. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I would recommend the internet to you. It's awesome.
I've gotten bad service at private businesses as well. I'm not ready to write-off capitalism over it, though.
