If coinbase are losing money (or not making much) then they're doing something very, very wrong. The fees they make on both buys and sells are quite large. It's actually a rip off to buy from there but I only use it to sell.
It doesn't matter how high your fees are if no one's actually buying or selling. Things must be very quiet for all businesses at the moment, even the biggest. Volumes are pretty piddling on exchanges. It must be the same for retail sales.