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by razakel 968 days ago
The obvious solution is for the banking industry to partner with the post office and offer basic services through them. It's win-win - the post office gets a new revenue stream, and the banks get to close branches. Nowhereville doesn't need a Bank of America, but it'll always have a post office.
1 comments
ethbr1 968 days ago
Example: afaik, Japan essentially does this
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omginternets 968 days ago
Example 2: France
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Kalium 968 days ago
Example 3: The USA.

It was subsequently shut down because it couldn't compete with private banks.

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omginternets 967 days ago
Why does a public service need to be competitive with private banks? I think much of the point is to collectively pay for a safety-net service. That service is: minimal banking functionality for all citizens, so that they can contribute to society.

(Edited for tone. Sorry about that!)

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Kalium 967 days ago
It cost money to run and the customer base pulled its funds in favor of better choices.

The goal of a postal bank is often framed in terms of a source of revenue for the USPS. Examples include in this very thread. If there's no expectation of net-positive revenue, then there needs to be a different justification for why the post office should spend money to offer everyone banking service inevitably inferior to the private sector. Plus, now you have all the politics that come with a subsidized service and paying for it. If it can pay for itself, it's much simpler.

Postal banking is often advanced as an idea for a public service that will eat Wall Street's lunch to the benefit of all. We should be at least a bit skeptical of the unvarnished optimism of that. Further, I think that if we're going to seriously discuss the topic we need to grapple seriously with why the US doesn't have one anymore.

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omginternets 967 days ago
>It cost money to run and the customer base pulled its funds in favor of better choices.

Again, you're presenting things in commercial terms, but this was never meant to be a commercial enterprise.

>Postal banking is often advanced as an idea for a public service that will eat Wall Street's lunch to the benefit of all.

That is a silly idea, but it seems you're ignoring the good idea. Again, this idea is: pay for a service that ensures Americans always have minimum viable banking. Upshots include: poor people can participate in the economy and in some cases, pull themselves out of poverty.

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