I don't see why the UPS should need to run in the black. It's a public service to have very accessible postal service around the country. Admittedly this was much more crucial when much communication took place this way, so it is less so today. But I think the public service aspect still stands. Many small businesses do lots of small, lightweight shipping of packages around the country that would be prohibitively expensive with UPS/FedEx. (I'm one of them: I run a small Etsy business that sells low-cost lightweight items that would be a lot harder if I couldn't ship for ~$3.50. UPS @ $11.00 would nearly double the cost of many items, and I don't sell enough for any sort of volume discount with FedEx or UPS)