Both almost went under in the Great Obama Recession and were asking for bailouts.
That was because their parcel volume collapsed.
USPS had a similar problem ~ mail volume dropped, the Postal Rate Commission would not allow them a rate adjustment, and Congress refused to allow them to discontinue operations that are excessively costly.
Hmm ~
BTW. Neither UPS nor FedEx deliver to the entire USA. They regularly mail their out of range stuff with USPS.
I keep hearing this, volume down, parcel volume collapsing, etc. It isn't happening in my P.O. The last mail count all our routes went up in size.
Both Fedex and UPS have had agreements with certain “mail order” retailers (LL Bean?) whereby the carrier will transport from the shipper to the local PO which carrys it the “last mile.” These have been experiments in my view. Fedex does not use USPS to mail to anyone aside from these special contracts. They will use contractors to BFE locations in crazy remote areas of the West and AK...... Neither UPS or FEDEX were close to going under. Fedex never came close to asking for a bailout. I’m a 25 year Fedex employee.
When UPS went out on strike in 1997, the USPS had an avalanche of mail for a period of months. If UPS or FedEx go out on strike or stop business for any reason, without a federal mail service, things will grind to a halt.