Those discounted rates are still profitable. The margin is small, and they make it up in volume. There’s an economy of scale to be had when every single person

Those discounted rates are still profitable. The margin is small, and they make it up in volume. There’s an economy of scale to be had when every single person on the route gets the same bundle of local grocery ads, whereas if I send a first class letter, that has to actually be sorted and delivered to a specific address, potentially across the country.