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Banking services for rural Alaskans / people without internet access / anyone else in the 2% [x] lose about as much as postal services. [x] In the west big tec

Banking services for rural Alaskans / people without internet access / anyone else in the 2% [x] lose about as much as postal services. [x] In the west big tech can more or less serve 98% of the population. but there is (approx) 2% of the population who for various reasons are massively uneconomic to serve - mentally, ill, disabled, poor, lacking literacy skills or the wrong language. Hell its probably more than 2%. But the point is Government must serve these people and provide a level playing field. Commercial companies dont have to.

JshWright 6y ago
Those are already challenges the USPS has to deal with. They have infrastructure in place to address those challenges. If they're paying those costs anyway, they might as well add services that can take advantage of that investment in exchange for more revenue. There certainly would be an additional marginal cost, but it would be much, much less than an entity trying to start that from zero.
delfinom 6y ago
I believe something like 10% of NYC is unbanked.
- mullen 6y ago
  Of hand, I believe it is a lot higher than that. I listen to an NPR (Or was it NYTimes?) podcast that interviewed working poor people and the number thrown around was that something like 40% of Americans working poor are unbanked with some areas of the country upwards of 60% (I think they said certain zip codes in Queens) are unbanked. What really stings working poor people from using banks are the hidden fees. There needs to be cheap and no frills banking for the poor.
  - NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
    Banks are required to offer such accounts by law in NY: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/banking_money/basic_bank_accounts https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/banking_money/basic_bank_ac... Do you mean even cheaper and less frills than that?
- missedthecue 6y ago
  It's not for lack of banking locations.

JshWright 6y ago

Those are already challenges the USPS has to deal with. They have infrastructure in place to address those challenges. If they're paying those costs anyway, they might as well add services that can take advantage of that investment in exchange for more revenue. There certainly would be an additional marginal cost, but it would be much, much less than an entity trying to start that from zero.

delfinom 6y ago

I believe something like 10% of NYC is unbanked.

mullen 6y ago
Of hand, I believe it is a lot higher than that. I listen to an NPR (Or was it NYTimes?) podcast that interviewed working poor people and the number thrown around was that something like 40% of Americans working poor are unbanked with some areas of the country upwards of 60% (I think they said certain zip codes in Queens) are unbanked. What really stings working poor people from using banks are the hidden fees. There needs to be cheap and no frills banking for the poor.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  Banks are required to offer such accounts by law in NY: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/banking_money/basic_bank_accounts https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/banking_money/basic_bank_ac... Do you mean even cheaper and less frills than that?
missedthecue 6y ago
It's not for lack of banking locations.