It's my understanding that the USPS doesn't really make any money on letters especially in rural areas (they're required to do it by law), and they make pretty much all their money (whether it covers their losses on letter and third rate advertising mailers which they do mostly at a loss) from the shipping of packages and priority mail. That's the stuff they compete against UPS and FedEx on and why they need to advertise. On the other hand, whether it's cost effective to advertise those services mainly in Europe, where the racing takes place is another question. Had Lance not been a lock to win and get their name in the news back here in the US, it might even have been a more questionable decision, so maybe the folks in charge new what he was putting in his body and even gave him free shipping on it. Or maybe not.