When the U.S. When Postmaster General Louis de Joey on Tuesday drew up plans for the future of post office fees, he pointed to postage rates and slow first-class mail as a means to offset postal service losses, which he said could reach 160 160 billion.
But there were economists of two ideas missing from his new 10-year plan, with members of Congress and consumer advocates saying the patient could generate billions of dollars for the service and bring the post office into the 21st century: a return to postal banking and entry of post office fees. In the business of delivering profitable liquor.
“We don’t expect the 21st century post office to be the same as the 20th century post office fee,” said Rakim Brooks, senior campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “People use mail less, and we think the organization will have to provide new services.”
He said 21st Century Post should pay – and can afford – new postal services include postal banking. These include basic backing services, including check caching, providing low or no-fee checking accounts, installing low-fee ATM machines and providing wire transfer and bill payment services.
“Postal banking is a win-win solution: it can help lower the line of post office fees and serve millions of Americans who are currently underbanked and unbanked,” Brooks said, referring to the more than 100 million Americans who do not have access to the mainstream. Financial services or those who do not have a bank account, often due to the fees associated with traditional commercial banking.
Postal banking is not a new concept. Banking has been part of the menu of services provided by the post office for decades, when a postal savings system was established by Congress in 1910 to encourage people to put money into their finances. By 1947, deposits in the postal banking system were $ 3.4 billion. But interest in the program waned in the 1960s, when commercial banks began offering higher interest rates, and in 1967 postal banking was phased out.
Porter McCall, who runs the Save Post Office Fee Coalition, says now is the time to make a comeback to post-banking.
It points out in the Inspector General’s 2014 report on postal service office fees that postal banking could generate new revenue of 9 9 billion for post office fees.
“I’ve been working on postal banking for three years,” McConnell said. “The idea is definitely exciting. Now the conversation with the officials has a significant impact on whether postal banking will work, how it will work and how we can design it. ”
The postal service has been losing money in recent years as a result of a combination of factors, primarily the cost of fulfilling an order to pay decades in advance of retirement benefits, as well as a reduction in first-class mail volume, increased competition and increased returns and benefits.
McConnell said while postal banking can help generate serious revenue and serve the public, consumer advocates will be particularly appealing for post appeal fees that will provide customers with digital wallets, low-fee ATM machines and the ability to make cash checks without paying. Mostly અતિ the exorbitant fees that take check-establishing shing instruments.
In favor of postal banking: A growing number of economists, including Melanie Long, an assistant professor of economics at The College of Worcester in Worcester, Ohio.
He said that postal banking has been used in other parts of the world to democratize services, adding that postal services in 139 countries provide some economic services.
Long said post-fees mean doubling for banks, especially in the U.S. In a community where there are no commercial banks, a growing number of “bank deserts” are provided.
According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, between 2008 and 2020, U.S. More than 13,000 bank branches closed in the year, representing 14 per cent of all branches.
Many of these bank dams have been built in rural and socio-economically challenged communities, he said.
“Many commercial banks argue that it is not profitable to operate branches in those areas.
Congress is taking note of postal banking. Sen last year. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VTA, introduced the Postal Banking Act for the purpose of providing bank accounts and mobile banking services to customers.
In a statement, Gillibrand noted that “postal banking is an excellent way to provide USPS with a revenue of 9 9 billion a year and eliminate the cost of being poor in the United States, such as payday loans, check cashing and other predatory economic money.” Products.
“Instead of trying to intrude on the USPS … DeJoy should recognize the unique opportunity to reach millions of working Americans.”
According to David Partnerheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, it is open to exploring the potential of postal banking. “Our research suggests that we can make a positive contribution to our finances and provide additional services legally and without distracting us. . The main business or occupation. “
The American Postal Workers Union supports postal banking, calling it a “win-win proposal.”
Taking advantage of the skills of postal workers and their place of trust in communities and adding additional financial services will create much-needed new revenue for USPS, a statement said.
In 2019, the union vowed to launch a pilot program in which postal banking services can be verified at four locations. Suggested locations include the Bronx borough of Cleveland and New York City.
Just as McConnell believes that postal banking can provide additional revenue for the postal service, she notes that carrying alcohol can also earn money for it.
FedEx and UPS are currently allowed to send wine, beer and spirits, but due to the ban-era law, the postal service is not.
The postal service could earn $ 50 million a year if it is able to transport alcohol, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Alcohol Sales of naline alcohol have seen significant growth in recent years. According to a report by IBIS World, the beer, beer, wine and liquor industry in the United States is a 1.5 billion business, growing at a rate of one percent per year.
In 2019, Rep. Jackie Spear, D-California., Bilateral USPS. Introduces the Shipping Equity Act, which would enable the Bill Postal Service to carry alcohol.
“In most states, private carriers such as FedEx and UPS already deliver alcoholic beverages.” “There is no point in raising a competitive advantage by excluding them from this type of shipment, especially given the dire financial situation of the postal service for USPS.”
McConnell added that “owners of microbreweries in particular are really optimistic that Post Office Fees will be able to start shipping their products in the near future.”
In a statement, the American Postal Workers’ Union said it supported the agency’s expansion of services to include the distribution of alcohol. “Allowing USPS to send beer and wine is a common sense step that allows consumers to better access this evolving trend … beer and wine cannot be included with other mail and packages. There is no good reason. “
With post office fees in sight for the future, postal advocates like McConnell hope to be allowed to offer new services and play new roles in the community in which they serve.
“The government has a history of messing with post office fees and saying, ‘Look – it’s broken, you have to fix it.’ Post office fees are not broken. It can be fixed. Allowing post office fees to develop and expand its services can help fix it. ”
