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Could the post office offer simple financial services?
There is discussion in Washington about letting post offices offer simple financial services:
They say the move would be a victory for both the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service and for low-income communities that are often underserved by the major banks.
The idea gained steam after the Postal Service’s inspector general said in a report last week that the USPS could likely add billions of dollars a year to its coffers by offering prepaid cards or loans to the 68 millions adults who currently get little or no services from banks.
If the Postal Service partnered with banks to offer more services, those customers would then have an alternative to the often hefty fees charged by payday lenders and other banking alternatives, the inspector general said.
TAGGED: post office
Please…no,,,, this post office has trouble selling a stamp let alone adding more to their plate. They would benefit from getting their core services right before taking on additional products/services.
This would be the worst of both worlds. A bloated beauracracy performing financial services that the free market says are unwise to perform.
In principle this sounds like a good idea. But for those of us who unfortunately have to conduct postal business at the USPS location on 25th st, I think we can safely say that location needs a LOT of help before any big plans are made or implemented. They are already terribly inefficient at the limited range of services they do offer, they are always understaffed and those who are there are very unprofessional. The place probably can’t handle expanding services when its performance is mediocre at best now
Great idea.
Other countries do it very successfully.
In fact, our own country did it until the mid-60’s.
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_18/us-postal-service-should-offer-loans-bank-products-agency-says-1065214-1.html
Please, I can’t even get my mail delivered on a regular basis. Took a month to receive a certified letter from downtown Richmond to Church Hill and they lied numerous timed about attempts to deliver it. When I do get a month’s worth of mail at one time, half of it belongs to other people. It’s pathetic.
Just the thought of going into the location on 25th made me cringe…
The mail service to my house is terrible. That said if USPS needs to make money to operate. I think I’d support this if it keeps them in business and keeps the cost of mail down. Especially if they are serving the unserved with this new service. Will the service be bad? Heck yes! But it might be better than no service.
Does anyone remember the mortgage crisis? Caused by tinkering with the market to extend housing mortgage loans to people who previously wouldnt qualify? Or bigger than wise loans to people who would?
I can easily see the post office duplicating this mistake by issuing loans, that might be needed, but unwise to lend.
and why is the USPS bying up huge amounts of ammo? A buddy sent me links to stories about that.
The 25th street post office has only one person there who can read (and she is dyslexic)
Headlines a year post-inception will read:
Mail-service loans worse than Car-title loans! Why direct-deposit is an ABSOLUTE must.
The line would go all the way to Alamo BBQ.
So if the payday lending stores are broadly considered villains who charge usurious rates to the poor, why is it suddenly acceptable if the government now wants part of the action via the Post Office? Same goes for state controlled alcohol sales and Virginia lottery/controlled gambling. Certain activities that are deemed to “prey on the poor” aren’t kosher unless the government profits from it as well. Hypocrisy knows no bounds.
This is laughable, simple answer is no. Taxpayers paying for tax services?
@15 – so are you implying that Democrats are excited about this? I think it’s more likely a matter of who has had their head in the sand and who hasn’t than a partisan split. Even folks who ordinarily aren’t “small government” types can tell that the post office can barely do their day job right now.
Charlie, so I’m guessing you democrats will take credit for the poor service at this facility, si?
I went there a few weeks ago to buy stamps. They were out of stamps. Yes, you read that right. The post office did not have any stamps to sell.
#21 – the post office near Chesterfield Towne Center was also out of $.01 stamps this week. Who would think that after a price increase, there’d be a pressing need for small denomination stamps? You can’t make this stuff up!
This office has been on a list of locations slated to be closed for 6 or more years. It’s understaffed and no money has been allocated for physical improvements. It’s too bad because many customers depend on this location for services and mailboxes. A comment was made about the sidewalk not being swept, I could say the same about many properties north and south of Broad that are unkempt as I walk around the neighborhood. We all need to read detailed articles about the proposal to offer simple financial services before we condemn it outright. My mail service isn’t what it used to be because of pressure do away with the USPS for over a decade. I hope this location can be saved, staffed, and renovated and become an asset instead of the butt of jokes and scorn.
@23 SueWho
I assure you these are no jokes but simple statements of truth. The reality of this office is:
The place is a filthy mess
The employees are rude and somewhat incompetent
The service is dreadfully slow
I think what you’re reading in these comments is the frustration that these behaviors have been allowed and continue to be tolerated after years of complaints.
The problems plaguing this office are leadership issues–there isn’t any.
Any business that was committed to service would hire a new staff and train them appropriately and then clean house. The existing managers, supervisors and staff would be walked out the door. These are easy problems to fix…yet, apparently, it’s nobody’s problem. Things like this would absolutely not be tolerated at FEDEX or UPS. Do you realize that people are willing to pay a bit more for services just to avoid the USPS? That is a sad state of affairs.
This office is the classic example of the “tail wagging the dog” where the employees have been allowed to set the standard at the lowest common denominator. It’s an easy fix…fire them!
Laura,
I’ve actually found the branch employees here to be pretty decent in customer service. They do occasionally get a little crabby when they’ve had three lost mail complaints in a row or have spent 30 minutes looking for a package in the back that isn’t there but are above average in my experience.
The leadership is a different story – we’ve started not getting our mail roughly one out five days in recent months. (Our neighbors have also not gotten so I know it’s not just a no mail came to us day) I was kind of surprised to hear that the supervisor for this office doesn’t even work in the office. We went to meet with her three times now and while she says the right things when we talk to her, her follow up is awful. The first time, her investigation consisted of calling the mail carrier and asking whether they delivered it. They said yes (predictably) so the case was closed as far as she was concerned.
I agree with Alex in that I’ve found the employees at the customer service windows to be very pleasant.
As far as mail delivery goes, I’ve had problems as well. I believe, however, that mail delivery for the 23223 substation (on 25th street) actually comes from the 23231 substation which is on Klockner Drive off Williamsburg Rd. before you hit Laburnum.
Ray, it does indeed come from there. That’s also where our local “supervisor” works. Despite being shinier and cleaner, that office is even more mismanaged and has a couple of truly surly workers at the counter.
I’ve had all kinds of issues with the 25th Street PO but my favorite, by far, was receiving returned mail from them saying 23223 was not a valid zip code.
Ok, so now that everyone is hopefully done complaining about or lauding the staff at the local PO branch, do you have anything to say about the actual post topic: the USPS offering simple financial services such as payday loans?
They need to close this place once and for all. They can’t even provide basic, competent and timely postal services to the CH community. How are they suppose to add on a completely unrelated service, particularly one as critical and sensitive as financial services?
I absolutely dread having to go the P.O. on 25th. They’re always understaffed with unbearably long wait times. The building looks like it’s in a time warp; it’s in total disrepair, completely run down, dirty and smelly. Even the ceiling is crumbling.
So, today I had the misfortune of having to mail a package. I went there after the lunch time rush but well before closing time. And, like every other time I’ve gone there, it took nearly 30 minutes to get in and out because, like every other time I’ve gone there, they had only ONE person waiting on customers. I also needed to purchase some small denomination stamps since I had a bunch of .41 and .44 cent stamps. Oops, sorry, NOT POSSIBLE. They didn’t have any. They were out. They’ve been out for a while and they didn’t know when or if they would get any more! No joke.
Also, as I waited in line, an elderly lady came in behind me. She had a stack of mail that was incorrectly delivered to her home. She didn’t even know where the delivery address was located. There was noone besides the one clerk that could help the poor woman who was only trying be a good citizen. The lady told me that she had bundled the mail and put a note on it so her mail carrier could take it back and get it to its rightful owner. However, her mail carrier wouldn’t take it and so she had to hoof it down to the P.O. I finally said something to her because the wait was going to be too long for her to stand in line. I suggested she put the mail in the mail box and leave it for the post office to take care of, like they should have in the first place.
The problems with the 25th Street P.O. have lingered and worsened to the point of being a joke. I’m still getting mail addressed to someone who hasn’t lived at my address in 15 years. If the main post office is deliberately neglecting this outpost, waiting for it to crumble and get condemned, the wait is over. Should this (or any) post office take on offering “simple financial services?” I’m going to have to say NO.
Last time I was there, I stood in line for 30 minutes, listening to a thug raving about “Going on probation for buying a stolen TV”. Will be taking my business to the office up on Main for the foreseeable future.