You realize that the USPS has a long-term contract with FedEx to move and sort the lion's share of the USPS' Priority and Express Mail, right?
Not a whole lot of sorting or anything involved although there's terminal handling which can get complex in large centers.
Has a lot to do with late night flights and "locations" ~ passenger air carriers have been pushing mail outta' their holds over the years as they turn themselves into Greyhound buses with wings (and oh those stankmeister toilets, wow!).
My first job at USPS was involved in reviewing airlift opportunities ~ they'd only recently decided to transport First-Class Mail by air everywhere possible. Rates were pretty decent too (for hauling mail). We were just then experimenting withcontainerizing FCM letters so they could be directly dispatched from mail processing operations downtown directly to specific flights at nearby airports. Other guys were working on a bidding system ~ finally implemented ~ that gave each airline a shot at bidding to carry any particular segment of mail.
This stuff was highly dependent on the latest and greatest in roll-on/roll-off technology as well as computers.
Lots of fun hanging around airport ops late at night, riding around in little trucks on the aprons.
I was not aware of that. But that being said it is a perfect reason for them to be absorbed into the government by reasoning that is it to important to let fail. I still believe that it is the plan of Dems and Obama to nationalize as much of the country as possible. This might not be a main target but if it part of the fallout it would be a bonus for them.