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In fact postal services in many countries do function as banks. When I was a primary school student in South Korea, we all made a savings account at the local p

In fact postal services in many countries do function as banks. When I was a primary school student in South Korea, we all made a savings account at the local post office and learned about how banks work and the importance of saving money.

letouj 5y ago
And indeed the United States Postal Service itself operated a savings bank system from 1911 until 1967: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S...
dahfizz 5y ago
I've never understood this. There doesn't seem to be a natural synergy between delivering mail and storing money. Is it just because post offices are everywhere? Why not make court houses banks? At least they would have security. Or town halls? It just feels kinda random.
- everslick 5y ago
  Because in some countries it is/was rather common to receive payments (most often pension payments) in cash that where delivered by the postman. That's why it makes sense in a way.
- syshum 5y ago
  Few reasons (US Centric) 1. Court Houses are not everywhere like Postal offices 2. Court houses are not part of the Executive Branch, where as a Service like the Postal Service or banking would need to be part of the Executive Branch, not Judicial. A Better counter would be DMV or some other government service. 3. Court Houses are not nearly as accessible and are much harder to get in and out of due to their nature. Not consumer friendly 4. Court Houses by the nature have alot of criminals going in and out of them all the time, probably a bad idea to put money services in the same place.... for the record I do not support the idea of USPS being a bank either.
- steelframe 5y ago
  Post offices have to be able to handle money orders paid for in cash, so I guess they already have the infrastructure to do a significant subset of bank-like things. At least with respect to document authentication and cash management. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Money-Orders-The-Basics https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Money-Orders-The-Basics

letouj 5y ago

And indeed the United States Postal Service itself operated a savings bank system from 1911 until 1967: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S...

dahfizz 5y ago

I've never understood this. There doesn't seem to be a natural synergy between delivering mail and storing money. Is it just because post offices are everywhere? Why not make court houses banks? At least they would have security. Or town halls? It just feels kinda random.

everslick 5y ago
Because in some countries it is/was rather common to receive payments (most often pension payments) in cash that where delivered by the postman. That's why it makes sense in a way.
syshum 5y ago
Few reasons (US Centric) 1. Court Houses are not everywhere like Postal offices 2. Court houses are not part of the Executive Branch, where as a Service like the Postal Service or banking would need to be part of the Executive Branch, not Judicial. A Better counter would be DMV or some other government service. 3. Court Houses are not nearly as accessible and are much harder to get in and out of due to their nature. Not consumer friendly 4. Court Houses by the nature have alot of criminals going in and out of them all the time, probably a bad idea to put money services in the same place.... for the record I do not support the idea of USPS being a bank either.
steelframe 5y ago
Post offices have to be able to handle money orders paid for in cash, so I guess they already have the infrastructure to do a significant subset of bank-like things. At least with respect to document authentication and cash management. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Money-Orders-The-Basics https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Money-Orders-The-Basics