The most profitable freights go naturally to the biggest and the speediest carriers.
Trucks, some of them 70 feet in length and many weighing with load as much as 50,000 pounds, operated by common carriers, by contract carrier, and by private concerns, will compete for the most profitable classes of freight.
The company says the move, along with other cost cuts, will ensure the freight business is profitable next year.
"I am impressed at how U.P.S. has turned supply chain and freight into a profitable operation despite a depressed less-than-truckload market," Mr. Schoonmaker said.
Such a structure could be profitable, however, if there exist concentrated freight flows on some service links.
This was to result in the GTP being starved of traffic; even though it was arguably the best of the three, it ultimately failed to attract enough freight to make it profitable.
Freight service was still modestly profitable, but passenger service was, as virtually everywhere else in the world, possible only with substantial government subsidies.
Lillie Langtry played to full houses, but failed to convince anyone she was an actor; Jumbo the elephant was killed by a freight train and cut into profitable chunks by PT Barnum.
Sea freighting pineapples is not a highly profitable export business with narrow margins and the need for economies of scale.
