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USPS should get into at-cost banking. There's no reason there should be any underbanked persons without a no-fee ATM/debit card, savings account, and check cash

USPS should get into at-cost banking. There's no reason there should be any underbanked persons without a no-fee ATM/debit card, savings account, and check cashing services.

phone8675309 3y ago
Funny you should mention that - they used to do that until the late sixties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S...
davchana 3y ago
Yeah. It has a last mile reach to every address & city & village in US Plus network of foot employees. In India, postman sells n pays money order (upto a certain amount) on the go on a bicycle. Bicycle because mostly its letters. Packages go through private courier only.
- balderdash 3y ago
  I’m not lack of access, the top two reasons Americans say they are not banked is fees/minz balance requirements and that they don’t trust banks…
KennyBlanken 3y ago
It 100% should, but dems are too moderate and vested in corporate interests to want to even try for it. Even if they did, the banking industry is far too accustomed to its massively inflated ATM and overdraft fees.
loeg 3y ago
You can still get money orders at the post office, right?
balderdash 3y ago
Completely agree with the sentiment, just not optimistic about the proposed solution. Also only ~4.5% of households are unbanked, and and that’s actually a lower number than adults that don’t use the internet… https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-bro...
refurb 3y ago
Let's say I get a USPS account and attempt to cash a bunch of fake checks. Now what?
- j16sdiz 3y ago
  Electronic payment is ubiquitous outside US. Where cheque are still used, they verify and clear them the same day. There are little reason to cash a check when everyone have a bank account
- Grimblewald 3y ago
  get rid of checks. They are a terrible system which are horrifically out dated, with far better alternatives available.
- PeterStuer 3y ago
  Just curious. Europeans under 60 most probably only know about checks from US movies, and would never have seen one irl. Are checks still used over there and if so why?
  - kpw94 3y ago
    Care to precise which country in Europe? Checks to pay for a kid's school trip, or a soccer club membership, etc are very much a thing in many of the EU countries with 50+ million inhabitants.
    - PeterStuer 3y ago
      There are only 3 EU countries with 50M+ inhabitants. Germany, France and Italy. Only in France is the concept of checks still a thing, but mostly amongst the elderly in the countryside.
    - bramblerose 3y ago
      Your comment is technically correct, as there are only three such countries (Germany, France and Italy), and two of them (FR and IT) indeed still use checks to some amount. But the biggest county in the EU certainly doesn't use checks, nor do numbers 4-18 (Ireland is #19).
hayst4ck 3y ago
If you start with the 5 why's, then it's clear that this could never ever happen until our corruption problem is addressed. We can't have this because people won't unionize and exercise collective bargaining outside the bounds of the law. Why can't we have this? Big banks don't want it. Why does that matter? Big blanks have too much influence over the government. Why do banks have too much influence? Because money votes on politicians before people do (politicians fundraise before the primary which means that money votes on candidates before people do) and money contributions are unbound (thanks to citizens united). Why can't we make our politicians work for us? Because we have less power than the our plutocrats. Why do we have less power? Because the law prevents us from exercising it via unions (or other means) and those in power are able to keep us fighting eachother rather than exercising collective power. Why don't we put justice above law? Because that puts ourselves at risk and most people would rather live a slave than risk death or otherwise when the powerful defend themselves from having their power reduced. So if you want a government that works for you, you have to unionize, until people have credible power, we will not be able to influence the government to work on our behalf.
- than3 3y ago
  You are mistaken in outcome, but you are not wrong that we do have a corruption problem. Unfortunately, corruption is endemic in any political system. Socialism also isn't a solution. Someone has to pay and be held accountable. As long as it remained manageable its not necessarily a negative. What we are seeing is the debt fueled rage of two selfish generations piling up unchecked and snowballing; leaving us with the check, or more appropriately bag of flaming poo rolling down on us.
  - hayst4ck 3y ago
    I sat down with a Chinese person who was willing to have a political conversation with me. They talked about the idea of "planned corruption" in China. What became pretty clear is that corruption does not grow linearly it grows exponentially. It grows exponentially because corruption frequently requires multiple parties. Corruption is often expressed in the form of loyalty. Corruption is social in nature and therefore subject to network effects. The less manageable the corruption is, the more it costs to manage it less effectively. So the idea of manageable corruption seems farcicle to me. In your political model of reality, who is doing that managing? > Socialism also isn't a solution. Someone has to pay and be held accountable. I think I disagree. In order to hold someone accountable, you must have power. You cannot expect the powerful to hold themselves accountable. So in your political model of reality, where does the power to hold someone accountable come from? > What we are seeing... I don't buy this at all as a key factor.
missedthecue 3y ago
There are a million banks out there with no fee checking accounts, ATM access, check deposit, and debit cards. This is not a rare offering. I personally have four accounts at different banks and all four offer this. They don't even charge overdraft fees anymore. I don't see the point in forcing the USPS into the banking market unless your goal is to invent new ways for them to incinerate money.

USPS should get into at-cost banking. There's no reason there should be any underbanked persons without a no-fee ATM/debit card, savings account, and check cashing services.

phone8675309 3y ago

Funny you should mention that - they used to do that until the late sixties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S...

davchana 3y ago

Yeah. It has a last mile reach to every address & city & village in US Plus network of foot employees. In India, postman sells n pays money order (upto a certain amount) on the go on a bicycle. Bicycle because mostly its letters. Packages go through private courier only.

balderdash 3y ago
I’m not lack of access, the top two reasons Americans say they are not banked is fees/minz balance requirements and that they don’t trust banks…

KennyBlanken 3y ago

It 100% should, but dems are too moderate and vested in corporate interests to want to even try for it. Even if they did, the banking industry is far too accustomed to its massively inflated ATM and overdraft fees.

loeg 3y ago

You can still get money orders at the post office, right?

balderdash 3y ago

Completely agree with the sentiment, just not optimistic about the proposed solution. Also only ~4.5% of households are unbanked, and and that’s actually a lower number than adults that don’t use the internet… https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-bro...

refurb 3y ago

Let's say I get a USPS account and attempt to cash a bunch of fake checks. Now what?

j16sdiz 3y ago
Electronic payment is ubiquitous outside US. Where cheque are still used, they verify and clear them the same day. There are little reason to cash a check when everyone have a bank account
Grimblewald 3y ago
get rid of checks. They are a terrible system which are horrifically out dated, with far better alternatives available.
PeterStuer 3y ago
Just curious. Europeans under 60 most probably only know about checks from US movies, and would never have seen one irl. Are checks still used over there and if so why?
- kpw94 3y ago
  Care to precise which country in Europe? Checks to pay for a kid's school trip, or a soccer club membership, etc are very much a thing in many of the EU countries with 50+ million inhabitants.
  - PeterStuer 3y ago
    There are only 3 EU countries with 50M+ inhabitants. Germany, France and Italy. Only in France is the concept of checks still a thing, but mostly amongst the elderly in the countryside.
  - bramblerose 3y ago
    Your comment is technically correct, as there are only three such countries (Germany, France and Italy), and two of them (FR and IT) indeed still use checks to some amount. But the biggest county in the EU certainly doesn't use checks, nor do numbers 4-18 (Ireland is #19).

hayst4ck 3y ago

If you start with the 5 why's, then it's clear that this could never ever happen until our corruption problem is addressed. We can't have this because people won't unionize and exercise collective bargaining outside the bounds of the law. Why can't we have this? Big banks don't want it. Why does that matter? Big blanks have too much influence over the government. Why do banks have too much influence? Because money votes on politicians before people do (politicians fundraise before the primary which means that money votes on candidates before people do) and money contributions are unbound (thanks to citizens united). Why can't we make our politicians work for us? Because we have less power than the our plutocrats. Why do we have less power? Because the law prevents us from exercising it via unions (or other means) and those in power are able to keep us fighting eachother rather than exercising collective power. Why don't we put justice above law? Because that puts ourselves at risk and most people would rather live a slave than risk death or otherwise when the powerful defend themselves from having their power reduced. So if you want a government that works for you, you have to unionize, until people have credible power, we will not be able to influence the government to work on our behalf.

than3 3y ago
You are mistaken in outcome, but you are not wrong that we do have a corruption problem. Unfortunately, corruption is endemic in any political system. Socialism also isn't a solution. Someone has to pay and be held accountable. As long as it remained manageable its not necessarily a negative. What we are seeing is the debt fueled rage of two selfish generations piling up unchecked and snowballing; leaving us with the check, or more appropriately bag of flaming poo rolling down on us.
- hayst4ck 3y ago
  I sat down with a Chinese person who was willing to have a political conversation with me. They talked about the idea of "planned corruption" in China. What became pretty clear is that corruption does not grow linearly it grows exponentially. It grows exponentially because corruption frequently requires multiple parties. Corruption is often expressed in the form of loyalty. Corruption is social in nature and therefore subject to network effects. The less manageable the corruption is, the more it costs to manage it less effectively. So the idea of manageable corruption seems farcicle to me. In your political model of reality, who is doing that managing? > Socialism also isn't a solution. Someone has to pay and be held accountable. I think I disagree. In order to hold someone accountable, you must have power. You cannot expect the powerful to hold themselves accountable. So in your political model of reality, where does the power to hold someone accountable come from? > What we are seeing... I don't buy this at all as a key factor.

missedthecue 3y ago

There are a million banks out there with no fee checking accounts, ATM access, check deposit, and debit cards. This is not a rare offering. I personally have four accounts at different banks and all four offer this. They don't even charge overdraft fees anymore. I don't see the point in forcing the USPS into the banking market unless your goal is to invent new ways for them to incinerate money.