| Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| $$$USPS$$$ | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 25 2018, 06:33 PM (249 Views) | |
| Jolly | Apr 25 2018, 06:33 PM Post #1 |
![]()
Geaux Tigers!
|
You know, I don't really have a problem with this one... https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/senator-gillibrand-wants-the-u-s-postal-service-to-offer-retail-banking.html |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
![]() |
|
| Mikhailoh | Apr 26 2018, 03:32 AM Post #2 |
|
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
|
Never a supporter of payday lenders, I am still not much interested in subsidizing high risk loans with my tax dollars. I'd be interested to see how this business model works. Certainly the network is there. The devil is in the details. It would require a large investment in software, increased staffing, 30,000 ATMs perhaps, and the bureaucratic infrastructure to administer and collect these loans. It seems to me if the government is to resolve predatory lending the place to do this in Congress not the taxpayer's pocket. |
|
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
![]() |
|
| jon-nyc | Apr 26 2018, 04:05 AM Post #3 |
|
Cheers
|
I don’t even need to click on the link to know this is a bad idea. People in favor of this idea typically envision the post office providing services that existing retail banks don’t, or don’t at a price they like. But the reason the services aren’t provided, or aren’t provided at the price they’d prefer, is because to do so would lose money. So these proposals are basically “let’s saddle the USPS with yet another money-losing mandate and then continue to berate them when they lose money”. It’s just another way for a politician to propose a new program without paying for it. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
![]() |
|
| jon-nyc | Apr 26 2018, 04:08 AM Post #4 |
|
Cheers
|
(I was going to make a joke about Jolly morphing into his avatar) |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
![]() |
|
| Axtremus | Apr 26 2018, 04:39 AM Post #5 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
I don’t think it’s automatically a “bad idea” just because it’s a money losing proposition. There are legitimate needs that cannot be met profitably, and that’s where people pool together and socialize the loss, be it through government or through non-profit NGOs (charities, churches, etc.). Services for the poor and the rural usually fall into this category. I see merit for the USPS to offer retail banking in the rural areas where commercial banks see as too remote to open up branches. |
![]() |
|
| Jolly | Apr 26 2018, 04:53 AM Post #6 |
![]()
Geaux Tigers!
|
Send up a rocket, I agree with much of what Ax is saying. If the post office can offer minimum banking services and just break even, it's a win. And I don't think it hurts the banks, as this isn't their customer base. |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
![]() |
|
| Axtremus | Apr 26 2018, 05:01 AM Post #7 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
Sadly I don’t think rural banking can break even. Commercial banks would have done it for good will and for boasting right of having big/comprehensive networks if they can break even in rural areas. May be the USPS can do a bi better because of existing infrastructure, fleet, and employees already in rural areas, but I think we have to go in expecting losses even for USPS. It’s only the magnitude of the loss that’s in debate. |
![]() |
|
| George K | Apr 26 2018, 05:02 AM Post #8 |
|
Finally
|
It's my understanding that the post offices in Britain do more than just handle mail. Is that true? |
|
A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
![]() |
|
| John Galt | Apr 26 2018, 05:13 AM Post #9 |
|
Fulla-Carp
|
Royal Mail was privatized a few years back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mail Not sure what services they offer. |
| Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness. | |
![]() |
|
| Larry | Apr 26 2018, 05:34 AM Post #10 |
![]()
Mmmmmmm, pie!
|
Ax, youve never been out of the city apparently, given your ignorance about "rural" America. You lump rural in with poor, as if there is a connection. I live in "rural". Within less than 10 minutes I can walk in the doors of any one of a dozen different banks. Within 30 minutes it increases to literally hundreds of different banks. It's a 20 minute drive to the nearest country club, and all over the place are multimillion dollar estates, the marinas are lined with yachts and houseboats, many worth several hundred thousand each. Literally hundreds upon hundreds of top notch restaurants. I can be in the Bentley dealer's showroom in 30 minutes, or the Ferarri dealer. There are just as many poor people in your city as there are in any given rural area. So you can stop looking down your nose at "rural". |
|
Of the Pokatwat Tribe | |
![]() |
|
| Axtremus | Apr 26 2018, 05:51 AM Post #11 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
1. I did not equate rural with poor. I referenced rural and poor as two different characteristics. 2. It’s likely that there are more poor people in any given urban area than in any given rural area. Being rural is neither shame nor sin. Rest assured that I’m not looking down at rural areas in general. |
![]() |
|
| Jolly | Apr 26 2018, 11:36 AM Post #12 |
![]()
Geaux Tigers!
|
I had a nice talk with the Postmaster today about this subject. Interesting when you talk with somebody who has a bit of knowledge. The Post Office is laboring under a 2006 bill: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr6407/text Which requires them to pre-fund their healthcare and retirement at a much higher rate than private industry or other government agencies. As such, the USPS often operates in the red. If not for the bill, and operating under the same auspices as many businesses, they would be in the black...Or so I'm told. The banking stuff is something they have been pushing for several years. Their reason is A) To serve the poor and people in severely underserved areas. The post office is the only agency that goes everywhere. When FedEx, UPS or other carrier will not deliver to your home, USPS will, even if it has to deliver by boat or by horse (yes, they still do). Because of that, they tend to have a post office in even the most remote communities, I know of one post office down here in a small community, that is 20 miles from the next smallest town, and most of that is driving on gravel roads through beanfields. B) The employees, especially in rural areas, are already in place. Once the morning mail is sorted out for the rural carrier, the Postmaster has little to do the rest of the day. Adding some banking functions would not impact his primary job and would provide a service for rural residents. C) As for the urban poor...Many of these people do not have a bank. They are charged dearly to cash a government or work check. They pay exorbitant amounts of interest for micro-business loans or for payday loans. Yes, the USPS would have to hire extra clerks in many cities to take care of these people, but it's not a service that needs to be offered at every post office in the city, only where there is need. We talked about a city the size of Baton Rouge and the postmaster told me he thought it would only take about six more employees to handle all of the work, and those would be postal clerks, the lowest paid employees of the workforce. Lastly, when talking about the USPS being in the red...I've seen what happens when essential services are privatized. Usually, the initial bid is a low-ball, where a private company is willing to lose money on an initial contract. After the public sector service people are dismissed and the department is shut down, the company contracted to provide the service will balk at the renewal...Can't do it for that, they say. Must have more money...And they get it, because the government has no other alternative, as the service must be provided. Shut down the USPS tomorrow, give the contract to Amazon and see what happens... |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic » |








4:35 PM Jul 10