Garon: A savings account at the post office
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January 12th, 2012
08:38 AM ET

Garon: A savings account at the post office

Editor’s Note: Sheldon Garon is the Nissan Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University. He is the author of Beyond Our Means:  Why America Spends While the World Saves.

By Sheldon Garon – Special to CNN

To pass the time over the holidays, my daughter and I vied to come up with the longest list of things that “Americans say are impossible, yet exist everywhere else in the First World.”  Top on both lists was national health insurance, followed by a nationwide network of fast, attractive trains.  But the next item would surprise most Americans: A postal savings system.

In nearly every country in Europe and East Asia, one can open a savings account at the post office.  These accounts typically carry no fees and require no minimum balance or a low one.  To avoid competing with banks for larger depositors, postal savings accounts are capped at an amount that serves families of modest means.  Even the United States had its own postal savings system from 1911 to 1966.

Were the United States to revive postal savings, we would kill two birds with one stone.  Elsewhere, postal savings have proven effective at improving the access of lower-income individuals and youth to savings institutions.

Americans are notoriously poor savers.  The personal savings rate dropped to nearly zero before the 2008 crisis; it briefly rose, but has recently fallen below 4 percent.  By contrast, Germans, French, Austrians, and Belgians have saved more than 10 percent over the past 30 years.  A big problem is that one-fourth of low-income Americans are “unbanked.”  They have no savings or checking accounts. 

Banks tend to drive small savers away by imposing onerous fees and high minimum balances, forcing many to pay even higher fees at check-cashing services.  Because it’s unlikely most banks will suddenly discover their social conscience and introduce no-fee small savers’ accounts, postal savings would be an excellent way of encouraging saving.  A century ago when American banks faced competition from the government-run postal savings bank, they promptly opened their doors to small savers.

Second, postal savings offers the best shot for “saving” the Post Office itself.  The U.S. Post Office is not unique in suffering declining revenues from delivery services as customers shift to online communication and shipping companies.  Yet in many other countries, from France to Japan, post offices have discovered that the key to continued profitability lies in postal financial services.  Indeed, the recent global financial crisis prompted savers to return in droves to state-guaranteed postal deposits.

The revival of postal savings is one of several policy recommendations in my new book, Beyond Our Means:  Why America Spends While the World Saves.  I tell the global story of how nations in Europe and East Asia encouraged ordinary people to save over the past two centuries.  They did so by establishing various small savers’ institutions - including savings banks, postal savings systems, and school savings programs.  In America today, it has become painfully clear that millions lack the savings to cope with medical emergencies, job loss, foreclosures, and retirement.  Worse, many families are hopelessly indebted.  What might we learn from the rest of the world in our efforts to restore some balance between household saving and debt?

In addition to postal savings accounts, the book recommends other means of promoting saving.  The government should incentivize banks to offer small savers’ accounts.  In France, the state subsidizes the popular no-fee "Livret A" an account available at post offices and all banks.  Also, the U.S. government should take the lead in promoting financial education in every school, so to increase youth literacy about saving, investment, mortgages, credit cards, and student loans.  This is the norm in German schools; in Japan, an agency within the central bank helps standardize financial education curriculum.  The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could play such a role here.

Moreover, this is a good time to revise tax laws to encourage low- and middle-income people to save.  While granting paltry incentives to the vast majority, the U.S. tax code does a great job of encouraging affluent Americans to save in retirement accounts - as if they needed the extra push.  Perversely, the system grants the lion’s share of tax benefits to savers and homebuyers in the highest tax brackets, promotes overinvestment in housing, and fosters indebtedness by making interest on home equity loans tax-deductible.

Two thirds of wage-earners do not itemize deductions, and thus, they do not benefit from the vaunted mortgage deduction.  Politics aside, we could easily redesign the tax code to balance saving and borrowing.  One way to universalize retirement savings accounts would be to offer working people a substantial tax credit, rather than a deduction.  We might also consider the tax-free treatment of small savings as in France and Germany.

For the last several decades, America has been preoccupied with democratizing credit.  Surely, the time has come to democratize saving. It should be as easy for any American to open a savings account as it is to get a credit card.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of Sheldon Garon.

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Topics: United States

soundoff (91 Responses)
  1. Tuula

    A great idea! At the age of 10, I opened a savings account at the Postal Bank in Finland and started life-long savings habit. At 73, I still save...

    January 12, 2012 at 9:28 am | Reply
    • David Dial

      i should've did what u did!

      January 12, 2012 at 10:49 am | Reply
    • Aldo

      US is not Finland, I also have an account at the post office in Europe. I think it's time that they start hiring people who actually wants to work.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:17 am | Reply
    • Mei

      It IS a great idea!

      January 15, 2012 at 10:11 am | Reply
  2. David Dial

    I think that that is a very good idea. I really need to start thinking about getting a job and savig up. Thanks for the advice:). I'm only 15, but will be 16 on May 21.

    January 12, 2012 at 10:46 am | Reply
    • j. von hettlingen

      Go ahead David, it's important to save. You'd have something for the rainy days.
      In many European countries the postal financial services have gained more customers, who turn their backs on big banks. They were disgusted by the losses some reckless traders made and had to bail these banks out (with taxpayers' money), which paid exorbitant bonuses to their top shots.

      January 12, 2012 at 11:53 am | Reply
      • Ferrum Equus

        Herr von Hettlingen, you sound very much German to me...:), you are 100% correct. The postal service should provide this kind of service to the public. A bank only looks only at interest of its shareholders. A postal bank is owned by the government. A postal bank may offer less choice, but is far more secure managing a customers money then any bank.
        A postal bank has a far more conservative view how to manage money.
        As a child I had a saving accounts with the Deutsche Post. Staff was always friendly and knew how to take care of its customers. A postal bank does not build high rise glass palaces to show of their wealth. No high salaries and big bonuses either. I would say, support your local postal bank.

        January 15, 2012 at 10:52 pm |
    • RabiaDiluvio

      Get a savings and add a set percentage to it every time you get paid and BEFORE you pay anyone else. Once the money is in savings, it is sacred–DO NOT TOUCH even if you are late with rent or etc. Pretend that it does not exist unless you encounter some dire, life-threatening emergency which hopefully will not happen.

      January 15, 2012 at 8:50 am | Reply
  3. Robert O.

    It is a great idea. Unfortunately, it has no chance with the Republican Party because the people it helps are the poor and middle class – the electorate that the GOP hates with a passion.

    January 12, 2012 at 11:18 am | Reply
    • Kevin H

      Somewhere along the line the GOP has created an intense hatred of government – probably to differentiate themselves from Democrats – not that Democrats are without their warts. I remember postal banks in Germany 20 some years ago and had myself a little account there. Simple concept that works beautifully. The Europeans are savers instead of investors. Starting under Reagan we massively shifted this construct and it has been our undoing as savers became investors who wanted quick returns on investment driving people I think into even riskier schemes like derivatives markets. Oh what a "communist" idea – capitalism bridled.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:12 am | Reply
    • badidea

      This is a great idea and all, but in the end it's a bad idea. Banks charge fees on accounts because there are costs to run the bank and someone has to pay those costs. Having Postal Savings Accounts with no fees is misleading because there ARE costs, but in the case of PSA they get passed on to the tax payer. In the end, you and your neighbors are STILL paying for fees associated with the savings account-except now it's through tax dollars as opposed to a line item on you monthly bank statement. Furthermore, saying the PSA's are backed and federally guaranteed is, like many other government programs, one more way for people to rely on government and thereby shrug your own duties of personal responsibility. And with the Postal Service bleeding money to the tune of billions of dollars each year, how in the world are they going to manage the money you deposit with them? Again, when they lose the money you deposited in a PSA you'll get your money because it's federally guaranteed, but it won't be YOUR money you get back, rather it will be the tax dollars of the rest of us who pay you when you want to make a withdrawal. Do what Americans have done for hundreds years and go open a bank account...and start saving.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:38 am | Reply
      • Floretta

        The Post Office is bleeding money largely due to a Congressional requirement that no other organization is required to follow. "Because of the way the law is written, the Postal Service must make more than $8 billion per year in pension and retiree health benefit payments, despite pension overpayments of up to $75 billion. While the Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year since the recession started, if the overpayments were officially recognized and credited towards the retiree health benefit obligation, and current payments stopped, it would be running in the black,” said Robert Brinkmann, the LEAGUE’s Legislative Counsel. This “crisis” is a crisis that, while precipitated by the recession, has been created by Congress, and it is a crisis that only Congress can resolve."

        I do wish they would bring back school savings programs. We had them when I was in elementary school. Once a week a representative from a local bank would arrive to take our quarters, dimes, niickels and even pennies, total them up and add the amount to our passbook, with interest accrued quarterly. If you want people to value saving, start very young. I did, had enough for a downpayment on a house when I got married.

        January 15, 2012 at 10:25 am |
  4. Mayur

    Great Idea to improve savings and provide banking access to poor! but do you really think that the tea party "patriots" and party of "true American patriots" (i.e. the Republicans) will ever allow any government "takeover" of the banking industry?

    January 12, 2012 at 12:02 pm | Reply
    • DMajor

      Last time I checked the Democrats are in control. Guess what? No postal savings. Stop playing the blame game.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:31 am | Reply
      • Carolyn

        When was the last time you checked? The Republicans have a majority in the House and use that to block every darn thing that comes down the pike. Meanwhile, the Republicans in the Senate threaten to filibuster every darn thing that comes down the pike. (I wish the Dems would let them filibuster–show the American people how they obstruct and obstruct and obstruct.)

        January 16, 2012 at 7:23 pm |
  5. Vicky

    A very good suggestion. Postal service in USA has been badly hit by Internet. This will provide a much needed prop to Postal Depptt.

    January 12, 2012 at 12:11 pm | Reply
    • Soylent

      The Internet is a drop in the bucket. What's killing the postal service is a law passed by Republicans going out of control of Congress in 2006 that requires the postal service to pre-fund pensions for its employees for 75 years. Go back and read that again and let it sink in. The USPS is being required to fully fund pesions for future employees who haven't been born yet. It was a GOP to sink the USOS monetarily so that postal delivery can be privatized.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:22 am | Reply
  6. Eddie

    This is a great idea.

    January 12, 2012 at 1:46 pm | Reply
  7. stamp licker

    Nearly all my life i collected stamps by the sheet of 50 or 100. now the self stick ones are not worth collecting. if the post office went back to sheets of glued stamps they could sell them like printing money because collector never actully use them for postage.... free cash

    January 12, 2012 at 3:25 pm | Reply
    • RabiaDiluvio

      People still collect them. They stick with the first day covers and etc. But you are right in that plate blocks and sheets are not pretty.

      January 15, 2012 at 8:56 am | Reply
  8. Postal Savings already exhists

    The answer isnt a Postal Savings program. The question should be, what does the postal service do with the millions upon millions of dollars it gets in money orders. That money can be used as a float until it is cashed. Who is controling or investing that cash? Give any company that amount of cash for a short period of time and look what investers can do with it.....

    January 12, 2012 at 7:22 pm | Reply
  9. Jenn

    A much needed alternative. I think as more Americans find themselves in, let's say, financial situations that leave them in less desirable credit situations, they'll find it impossible to even have a bank account again. Six years after personal bankruptcy I was not allowed to even open a simple savings account.

    January 13, 2012 at 1:23 pm | Reply
  10. m

    Someone should get this article to Senator Carper! Of course, the GOP = GREEDY OPPOSITION PARTY will fight this because it means more government in your lives.

    January 13, 2012 at 3:47 pm | Reply
  11. Meredith Waltman

    Dumb idea. There are FAR many more bank branches around than there are post offices these days. If someone wants a savings account, open a savings account at a bank. If someone just has small change to toss in a big jar, then get a big jar. If someone is motivated to do something - such as save money - they will find the way that works for them. Setting up elaborate bureaucracies IN CASE a small group of people MIGHT want to take advantage of it is a waste of time and money. Where there is a will, there is a way.

    January 14, 2012 at 11:09 am | Reply
    • Rick

      He is talking about a way for the low income people to open a savings account who can't afford to pay the fees that large bank charge. You can't get credit if you don't have enough money in the bank. Most people who have lost their homes or filed for bankruptcy can't open an account or pay these high fees that the banks charge. When was the last time you looked at just how much interest you get in a savings account, 1 1/2% is a joke. It's pretty obvious you have never been broke.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:03 am | Reply
      • badidea

        So in reality the PSA is another way for government to subsidize low-income families with other people's money. A PSA account has all the same costs involved with it that regular bank accounts have, but it merely shifts the costs to the tax payer as opposed to the customer at a regular bank. Furthermore, the post office can't manage itself to break even each year (let alone earn a profit), so how in the world are they going to manage your deposits??? If you want to save without paying a bank, stash it between your mattresses. You don't need a back to save!!!!!!!!!!!

        January 15, 2012 at 9:43 am |
      • olcranky

        @badidea – how is this a subsidy? The big banks charge onerus fees to pay for their bad investments, a postal savings account wouldn't have these fees because the post office will not be spending all of the ridiculous (and, sometimes, redundant) fees to pay for mergers/acquisitions of other banks and other bad investments.

        January 15, 2012 at 10:32 am |
  12. Joe Citizen

    No thanks. Savings Bonds were a scam. Besides, why should I move $19,000 in a zero interest checking account. Afterall, I'm getting "free" checking !!! The bigger issue here is why the Amercian saver can't get a 3 to 4 percent interest on their money? We already know those expert economists who advise venal politicians, aka our elected leaders, don't know which end is up.

    January 14, 2012 at 4:41 pm | Reply
    • Never amazed at the stupidity of others

      Savings bonds financed two word wars. Savings bonds helped me buy my first automobile. Since you did not read or comprehend the article, I will explain. The author is referring to getting POOR people to start saving. If you have 19k in checking then you obviously do not fall in that category Einstein.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:19 am | Reply
    • Floretta

      My savings bonds, bought in the 1980s and 1990s, are currently yielding between 3.41% and 5.39% and I intended to hold them until maturity, beginning in 2014. Meanwhile I'll enjoy checking how the balance grows each month.

      January 15, 2012 at 10:33 am | Reply
  13. amose

    hmm i pray god help us..

    January 14, 2012 at 6:59 pm | Reply
  14. Cuervo Jones

    The more I save the more I want. Being able to say I have 2 grand feels better than I have a 60 inch TV.

    January 15, 2012 at 1:00 am | Reply
  15. Biff

    B-B-B-But..socialism!!!

    January 15, 2012 at 8:37 am | Reply
  16. RabiaDiluvio

    Unfortunately, the post office exists as a quasi-private/quasi-government run enterprise and it has hamstrung them. Much of what they can do to diversify services and be able to compete has been quashed.

    January 15, 2012 at 8:54 am | Reply
  17. George

    Yea, because I would willingly give the government access to my money at absolutely no interest when they are essentially broke and will soon be going after 401k plans and anything else they can get their hands on. And since when is opening up a savings account a difficult proposition? But of course, anything for an expensive new bureaucracy to solve a problem that does not exist. Pure genius!

    January 15, 2012 at 8:56 am | Reply
  18. KBNJ

    So, this is how Libtards spend their holidays? We're already in debt up to our eyeballs, and they want to invent MORE ways to spend the Chinese loans. Brilliant! But hey, if the Europeans have it, we must NEED it, right?

    January 15, 2012 at 8:59 am | Reply
    • Never amazed at the stupidity of others

      "Even the United States had its own postal savings system from 1911 to 1966." So it's not a new invention but rather a return to something that obviously worked in the past and is still working in other countries around the world.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:27 am | Reply
  19. Rancher

    What happens to your savings when the Post Office spends all of your savings and then goes broke? At least in a bank it is insured up to a certain amount , hopefully. With our government being financially broke how good is the bank insurance? Putting money in a shoe box may not pay any interest but with all of the fees and risk with banks you may be money ahead.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:15 am | Reply
    • Never amazed at the stupidity of others

      "Indeed, the recent global financial crisis prompted savers to return in droves to state-guaranteed postal deposits." Next time try reading the entire article before spouting off.

      January 15, 2012 at 9:24 am | Reply
    • teru

      Rancher wrote: "What happens to your savings when the Post Office spends all of your savings and then goes broke? At least in a bank it is insured up to a certain amount , hopefully."

      Two things, it's a savings account not a donation. They can't just spend it. Secondly, money in the bank is insured by the FDIC which is an agency of the federal government. It's fairly safe to assume that a savings account through the government would be covered by the FDIC.

      January 15, 2012 at 10:18 am | Reply
    • Floretta

      From wikipedia: The United States Postal Savings System was a postal savings system operated by the United States Postal Service from January 1, 1911 until July 1, 1967. The system paid depositors 2 percent annual interest. Depositors in the system were initially limited to hold a balance of $500, but this was raised to $1,000 in 1916 and to $2,500 in 1918. At its peak in 1947, the system held almost $3.4 billion in deposits. The system originally had a natural advantage over deposit-taking private banks because the deposits were always backed by "the full faith and credit of the United States Government." However, because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave the same guarantee to depositors in private banks, the Postal Savings System lost its natural advantage in trust."

      One advantage of having a PSA is that, unlike banks, they do not turn away small savers.

      January 15, 2012 at 10:37 am | Reply
  20. The_Mick

    Great Idea. There should also be a standard, easy way to change the bank account from which you pay bills or to which you deposit checks. I switched from M&T Bank to SECU, a credit union, to get triple the interest and end the awful fees. I switched accounts with just a phone call to most businesses including State Farm, but with some I needed to get a specific form and then fax or mail it. I can see some precautions in regard to people who send you money, but there shouldn't be any problem with things you pay as long as they can easily verify the new bank account belongs to the same person at the same address as the old one from which bills were paid.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:18 am | Reply
  21. The FNA Man

    The real problem is the capital gains tax! Americans should use a bank for what's it's meant for, and it's NOT meant for savings! As soon as that is eliminated, equity ownership will soar, and so will net worth! We do need the healthcare system and the cross-country trains.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:23 am | Reply
  22. Dina

    The poor are "unbanked??" Seriously? I'd say the problem is that they don't have a dime to put into savings, they're too busy trying to feed themselves. With less manufacturing and unskilled labor there will be no hope for those less motivated/ambitious/intelligent/educated. As long as the Bain Capitals of the country are able to lot and plunder, as long as the outsourcing continues unabated, there is no answer. Even the middle class has not an extra dime when, for example MY health insurance is 19k a year for a self-employed, healthy family of four.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:33 am | Reply
  23. Josiah

    This is a complete surprise to me. I've had a free savings account since I was 14, at my local credit union. I've had free checking with them since I was 18, as long as I kept $20 in the savings account. And, since 21, I've had free debit card service with them.

    Why anyone would keep their money in a national chain bank is beyond comprehension when you can get better service in your own neighborhood.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:33 am | Reply
  24. 12mchen

    This is a great idea, but in order for it to work someone in the Postal Office would have to take this as his personal responsibility to setup. Ideas with no backers end up as lost potential.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:33 am | Reply
  25. Conservativeme

    Great, another "expert", a history professor, knows how to fix the post office, another government function we don't need anymore. I am sure he also supports the bloated California high speed rail, no matter what the cost.

    The fact is small savers have a great option, credit unions, with no fees.

    The author fails to mention or support privatizing the post office, which has been done successfully in most European countries.

    I don't think anyone wants to wait in a 20 minute line, only to being treated rudely, to deposit $10 into a savings account that pays no interest.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:44 am | Reply
  26. think

    All anyone has to do is read the opening paragraph to know this author has NO IDEA what he's talking about. Quick, name a first world country that's even a tenth the size of the united states with a functioning high speed rail system and universal health care. Thought so.

    January 15, 2012 at 9:52 am | Reply
  27. Jeff

    This is a horrible idea. The Post Office has enough problems just trying to deliver the mail (which they are failing misserably at), and the poor are more than familiar with banking now. Welfare/unemployment doesn't even come cash or check form in most places I've lived in recent years. You have to use a debit card and have a bank account.

    I live in Tampa, currently the poor trash news capital of the US it seems. There are banks and credit unions every mile and a half accross the entire town, including in the poorer sides of town. There is no shortage of banks. This is just another program to give the Feds an excuse to keep supporting the currrently failing Postal System.

    They have no excuse other than their own ignorance/laziness/lack of fiscal discipline for not saving, and besides what idiot in this day and age would be willing to "save money" at .05 % interest when the Feds are printing money so fast that it causes it to loose 5-7% of it's value every year?

    January 15, 2012 at 10:00 am | Reply
  28. Wrong

    A taxpayer funded savings program? No! All you are doing is shifting the costs of administering the accounts from the private sector to the American taxpayer. When will we learn that the public sector delivers services less efficiently and at a higher cost than the private sector. Please spend some time studying the cause of Europe's current problems before suggesting misguided solutions to tough problems.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:04 am | Reply
    • Mike

      exactly.

      January 15, 2012 at 10:34 am | Reply
  29. Sagebrush Shorty

    Why bother? At an APR of less than 1% there is no incentive to save.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:10 am | Reply
  30. Jason T.

    You know, putting "expert" in "quotation marks" doesn't "prove" anything; it just makes you look "dismissive" and "flippant." The "same" goes for "using" the "phrase" "so-called."

    There are many credit unions that do, in fact, charge fees. They are smaller than those of banks, but they exist.

    Nobody waits in line to deposit $10. However, it's better to wait in line 20 minutes, be treated rudely, and deposit a paycheck for little or no interest than it is to wait 20 minutes in line, be treated rudely, and CASH a paycheck, then be CHARGED 5% for the privilege at a for-profit check-cashing place.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:15 am | Reply
  31. Ed

    A few questions. First what is to be done with the money? Will it be sucked off into wasteful government projects and replaced with IOU's like the Social Security money. Secondly, The USPS is already broke, how will they be able to pay interest. Thirdly, will the USPS have to follow the laws of banking - reporting, cash reserves, etc? Finally, how will this money be guarenteed? FDIC? If the government spends it won't it eventually add to the debt when we have to borrow money to pay it back. I can remember as a kid in the 50's/60's buying savings stamps. Maybe a better way to go.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:16 am | Reply
  32. jon

    Nice thought... but having spent 20 years in banking I can tell you that some people simply don't have the skills or dicipline to have a savings or checking account. These are the people who used to visit the bank with a shoe box full of checks and receipts trying to get someone to balance their account for them. The same people who thought their current balance was their actual balance, having no concept of checks being outstanding and not cleared yet.
    The other major issue is the fact that government will just spend the money invested at the post office and then borrow when the money is all spent.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:16 am | Reply
    • Floretta

      Possibly if those people had been started in savings as very small children – and financial literacy made as much a part of the curriculum as reading and math – there would be fewer individuals with the lack of "skills or discipline" you observed. I don't have the skills to repair a car motor but it's not because I'm dumb but because I was never taught how. You need more than a once a year bank-hosted finance fair to expose children and their parents to money matters, from the basic idea of compounding to overdrafts, interest, lines of credit and on up to borrowing versus lending, mortgages and investing basics.

      January 15, 2012 at 10:45 am | Reply
  33. astroboi

    Postal savings would not help many poor people. They don't trust the govt and for good reason. Imagine a person checking his postal savings balance only to find it zero'd out because some govt agency confiscated his money to pay a student loan, some court fine, maybe even a parking ticket. And of course he would now owe a variety of fees, fines and service charges for being in that position. Look, they confiscate tax refunds and they cancel welfare payments to those who win govt sponsored lotteries. And don't forget, a lot of poverty level people have "cash only" income, payments that just don't get reported to the IRS. You can insist that these people are all petty crooks, freeloaders or whatever and deserve to have their money confiscated but this is the world they find themselves in and if the only way to buy food or pay the rent is to stiff the taxman, well, that's what they will do. For these people, saving will probably mean hiding money under a loose floorboard and I wonder if more money is saved in this manner than anybody knows.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:22 am | Reply
  34. Mike

    Just what we need. Another 10,000 government workers with big pensions.

    January 15, 2012 at 10:32 am | Reply
  35. Andre

    With mail volume plummeting, this idea is too late. Any side ventures the Post Office gets involved in will be jeopardized as it will need to keep shutting down facilities. None of them, including this, require anywhere near the current number of workers, plus it's a totally different type of work requiring training from scratch. Better for people to open an account with an existing bank rather than at a post office with a good chance of closing soon.

    January 15, 2012 at 4:06 pm | Reply
  36. humblewatchman

    That is a good idea. Key Bank is charging me monthly for a paper statement. I am angry!!!! I have been with them for over 20 years, and now because I don't want to risk my personal and bank account information by banking on line, I am being charged for what they have provided me for over 20 years.....a statement!!! Will the electric company start charging me for their billing statements and stamps too now??? I let Key Bank them use my money for free....for years!!!! I don't have an interest bearing checking account. I should send them a damn bill. I want them to know how unfair this is and how angry I am. I already sent them a letter of protest and they sent me back a robo letter explaining to me that they are charging the monthly fee from now on....like I didn't know that.....jerks. My only hope is that this protest spreads around the country via cyber space...specially since they trust its safety so much.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    January 15, 2012 at 7:06 pm | Reply
  37. rightospeak

    The US Post Office 'problem ' was really well addressed by a comment from Floretta that most people are not familiar with. The Post Office crisis was created by CORRUPT politicians in Congress to force the public opinion in the direction of PRIVATIZATION. Some powerful people who want to destroy the U.S. Post Office in order to benefit from its demise , stuffed the pockets of our Congressmen with money to make the USPO appear in crisis.
    The idea of a post office saving bank may have some merit, but probably would not work. People in Europe pay their utility bills at post offices , but it is changing. As far as young people saving money or anyone for that matter -you can bring a horse to water, but you can not make him drink it.

    January 16, 2012 at 11:40 am | Reply
  38. lavenderlady.63

    I am old enough to remember when my teacher would take our class once a week to the Post Office to put money into a savings account. That was a great lesson. I continued to put money into that account until the post office ended postal savings. It taught me how to save. Bringing back Postal Savings is a great idea.

    January 16, 2012 at 7:17 pm | Reply
  39. Dan Robinson

    The USPS could make a mint selling ad space as is done on city buss's and taxi cabs. Only the mail jeeps leave the main thoroughfares to travel (and be viewed on) every street in the US. While they're at it, those big blue boxes could carry ads, too. And if you really want to rake in the cash, how much would the big companies pay to have "Colgate" or "Ford" on postage stamps.

    January 17, 2012 at 4:05 pm | Reply
  40. Todd

    Politicians tie the post office's hands, they can never do anything unless the boys in Washington give their approval, by the time approval is given ITS TOO LATE. Mr Obama, please help the post office

    January 17, 2012 at 9:05 pm | Reply
  41. kamana

    Lemme see if I’ve got this right: the money put into postal savings earns no interest, right? So what the postal service has there amounts to an interest-free loan, right? the postal service than puts the money into a bank account that earns, say 3% right? the postal service than uses the money earned to run the service, right? Hell, it seems to me the postal service got a winner there without it costing the taxpayers anything. What’s all the nay saying about?

    January 17, 2012 at 10:57 pm | Reply
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    Now a days kids need to learn savings steetagirs very early on otherwise it's easy to get carried away and waste all $$ in unecessary things. Tips: 1) Give kids a small allowance/week as long as they earn it with good behavior, chores, grades, etc. 2) Have the kids pay for things with their own allowance so they don't get used to credit cards or freebies (particularly from the parents') 3) Get them a prepaid cell phone. For safety reasons, all kids should have a cell phone but should also know how to use it wisely. A prepaid plan teaches kids that there are limits to the time they have available for calls (minutes) and are likely to limit their calls to necessary ones. 4) Have the kids give you a few $$ of their allowance each month to pay for their prepaid card. Helps learn to budget and will appreciate their minutes even more. 5) Have the kids set aside some $$ every month for gift-giving for b-days, holidays, grandparents, teachers, charity, etc. Teaches them the importance of sharing and giving back.

    March 12, 2012 at 8:34 am | Reply
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