

Revive the Postal Service by making it a bank - jameswilsterman
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116374/postal-service-banking-how-usps-can-save-itself-and-help-poor?utm_content=bufferca014&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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vidarh
Most European postal services operate various degrees of banking services, and
many operate full banks.

European postal services also have their own payment system - post giro. In
some countries, post giro is or have been (being gradually supplanted by
electronic payments) one of the most common ways of paying bills.

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onion2k
The UK Post Office used to operate a bank -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girobank](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girobank)
\- it was reasonably good to start with (apparently, it was estabilished well
before I was born) but a lack of investment and a terrible brand image sank it
eventually and it was sold.

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holograham
As with most policies...sounds great on paper. Let's think about
implementation....

1\. Who runs this bank? Ever deal with USPS workers? Yea...not great. What
about the senior USPS leadership's management abilities? Oh yea that track
record is borderline criminal. So we give them more responsibility and budget?

2\. Loans for reasonable amounts to high risk people. Why dont larger banks or
startups setup operations to serve loans to the folks who rely on payday
loans. Do you _really_ think that smart entrepreneurs have not thought about
the $89B dollar payday loan industry? Of course they have and guess what --
they cant beat payday loan rates. Why are they so high? It's not gouging as
much as it is matching the risk of non-payment to the loan. Low income folks
already taking loans on their current paycheck are not the most reliable to
repay the loan (for a larger amount) at a later date.

Overall, I am not against banking services to under served. I just have no
confidence that the government can effectively become a (rather large) bank.
Other government banking forays have not done too well (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac
anyone?)

Comparing other countries is hard as well...different cultures, scale, and
needs muddy the water to do a real apples to apples comparison

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wavefunction
I'd rather we turn some banks into postal services, personally.

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phlo
This is working quite well for the swiss postal system. Amongst other services
(notably: public transport and a business solutions division), PostFinance
provides financial services. Out of 6 divisions, the financial one accounts
for about a tenth of manpower, a quarter of revenue and 60 percent of profit.

Such a combination opens up awesome opportunities for supply chain and working
capital management: merchants in e-commerce can offload great parts of their
business: Goods are received and shipped by mail anways. If you throw payment
in the mix, as a merchant, all you have to do is guide customers to your
electronic checkout. Let the postal service worry about payment, storage and
fullfillment.

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nmc
Same thing happened to the French postal service in 2006, with high hopes for
_" a bank with the ethics of public service"_, but it quickly became exactly
like any other bank: profit, profit, profit.

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stangeek
Completely disagree with nmc. They offer only basic (useful) services, don't
touch investment banking at all, and in terms of success already contribute to
a fair share of La Poste's overall revenues. Which doesn't mean they don't
have room for improvement, to the contrary. To me, pegging a bank to postal
services is a no brainer given synergies etc.

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nmc
_> They [...] don't touch investment banking at all_

Disagree all you want, but please get your facts right. Yes, La Banque Postale
is technically forbidden from directly speculating on the open market.
However:

\- they can buy and own banks which are, in turn, allowed to speculate (cf.
the Dexia bailout)

\- they offer revolving credits at extremely high rates (more than 15%), which
is known to push people further into poverty

\- they can speculate on markets like the covered bond market (and actually
need to, because the deposits are currently not enough to provide all
services)

\- they can speculate on side-effects (eg shift by one day the payment date
for social benefits)

(This list is not exhaustive. If you are too clumsy to find references by
yourself, just ask, I will add some.)

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koevet
Italy has also slowly morphed its Postal Service into a financial institution.
The Italian Postal Service allows to open accounts and issues credit and debit
cards.

I can't judge the quality of the service as I do not live in Italy any longer,
but I know that they have an advantage over 'normal banks': they stay open on
Saturdays!

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davidw
I live in Italy, and I would avoid anything and everything to do with Le Poste
Italiane. I don't think their financial services are all that great either -
the same long lines and unmotivated employees from what I can tell.

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varjag
There used to be Postbanken in Norway too, absorbed into DnB with all
operations shut down just a few years ago. Started in the times when it made
sense, but rendered obsolete in online banking era.

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defcon84
The Belgian Postal Bank is like that too:
[http://www.bpost.be/en/index.html](http://www.bpost.be/en/index.html)

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eli_gottlieb
We have a Postal Bank here in Israel. It's generally considered the most
honest, but simplistic, bank in the entire country.

