USPS blew it. They could have evolved/adapted into different businesses. Not only could they have competed with UPS and FedEX for parcel delivery at scale, but there was (and perhaps still is) an opportunity for an entity to provide 3rd party authenticated email service-- and charge for it.
Instead, they got comfortable with merely existing as a junk-mail conduit. Pathetic.
Sadly, in the current environment, where the failure of government programs is taken to be virtually axiomatic, the USPS is running out of slack to re-invent itself.
The main problem the USPS has right now is that Congress a few years back mandated that they put aside money for pensions of USPS employees who haven't even been born yet, let alone hired. FedEx and UPS don't have that requirement.
It makes you wonder who dreams up this stuff. The purpose of a pension is to defer a percentage of payroll payments until later, to keep operating capital higher during critical business periods. If you just have the money sitting in the bank doing nothing, you can just pay the employees up front and don't need to worry about having pension plan at all.
Much of the quasi-independent USPS's attempt to move in a UPS/FedEx-ish direction was blocked by the government. They actually tried to get to the most profitable segment of the market, fast package delivery between major metropolitan areas, before FedEx or UPS did much in that area, but their 1978 proposal for an "Express Mail Metro" service was blocked by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Instead, they got comfortable with merely existing as a junk-mail conduit. Pathetic.
Sadly, in the current environment, where the failure of government programs is taken to be virtually axiomatic, the USPS is running out of slack to re-invent itself.