October 22, 2009: UPS announced after-tax profits of $549 million for the third quarter of 2009 (July-Sept), up from $445 million in the second quarter.

It’s no surprise that in this economy, UPS’s profits are down from last year. UPS made $970 million in the second quarter of 2008. But UPS is still making big money—and still beating the competition.

In a terrible economy, UPS has hauled in $1.4 billion in after-tax profits since the beginning of the year.

By comparison, FedEx made just $181 million in the last quarter—and lost $779 million in the six months before that.

Total package volume is down 3.6 percent—a drop, but not enough to justify the number of laid-off drivers, combined routes and excessive overtime.

With $1.4 billion in profit after taxes already in the bank, no one needs to be crying tears for Big Brown. The working Teamsters who busted our backs to create these profits deserve a little more respect and a lot more contract enforcement.

Click here read UPS’s press release on its Third Quarter profits.