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The US Postal Service did serve as a bank from 1910-1966. It should simply restart.



We'll probably see people get demailed then too. They'll probably go for inmates first.


Ask the homeless about their mail address.

Not having a physical address is a huge problem.


Post office should offer free services for receiving and holding mail for up to 30 days. Not necessarily a P.O. box, as there's limited space for that, but something they can get for you during business hours. Would significantly help the homeless and van-lifers.



Exactly, that's a non-starter for a whole pile of essential services. Which makes homelessness very easy to fall into but extremely hard to work your way back out of.


In New Zealand the government added a bank (kiwibank) to the postal offices in 2001.

However the postal offices are now being closed.

I expect the same problem would occur with The US Postal Service shutting down branches?

Also see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38158144

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwibank


What problem? What are you talking about?

Specifically, what problem do post office banks have that private banks do not?

Private banks close branches all the time.


In 2018: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/376881/new-zealand-post-...

  New Zealand Post wants to shut its last 79 shops, but will not say when the last branch will close its doors

  New Zealand Post said the move from stand-alone stores was old news and 801 of its 880 stores were already franchised.
Franchised means the branch has closed as a dedicated Post Office.

Kiwibank originally had branches at the Post Offices.

Kiwibank is left with much less branches than there were Post Offices - branches often replaced by ATMs in the wall: it has "325 Kiwibank Limited Branch and ATM Locations" https://kiwibank.banklocationmaps.co.nz/en/nzl

I presume it will take much longer in the USA for the Post Offices to close. There is no reason something similar won't happen there - the same economic forces occur in the USA.

Note that most franchises are an in-store counter or small area set aside for the Post Office supplies. I can think of franchises in book-stores, stationery shops, pharmacies, and even a public library. I know of one Post Office branch of that 79 that remains open, however it is mostly run by unpaid volunteers including a friend of mine (no banking counter).




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