Readers React: Can a vastly diminished Postal Service provide the basic banking services that people would use?

To the editor: Yes, allowing the U.S. Postal Service to offer basic banking services is a genius idea, as David Lazarus writes, except for one minor thing: Post offices have slowly disappeared, so there is no more “vast network” of these places.

The banking that people would welcome should be a neighborhood experience, but under the current circumstances, it cannot happen. Here is another “genius” idea: Forcing the Postal Service to fully self-fund is not beneficial and it should be treated and properly funded as a government service.

Electronic services and companies are blamed for the demise of the Postal Service. Their impact is undeniable, but again, not everything can be handled from a computer. Frankly, for many of us, the human interaction is equally important.

Peter Hantos, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I lived in France for 12 years and loved the post office banking services. They had lower fees than any bank (especially for international transfers) and had won numerous awards for their investment products. Customers who wished to invest could consult with one of their financial advisors.

In the early 2000s, I went camping with my three kids on the coast of southwest France. Shortly after arriving, I realized there was no ATM and the vendors on site only took cash. The beach town didn’t have an ATM either.

Since I banked at the post office, the postman simply provided me with a withdrawal slip one day, which I returned the next, allowing me to withdraw cash. Brilliant!

Indeed, I have been told that the French postal service was the way in which persons in remote areas have been able to stay connected with the rest of the country. If postal banks came to be in the U.S., I’d be the first to sign up.

Deborah Wendt, Pacheco, Calif.

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To the editor: Would the savings and checking accounts in post office banks be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.? And how would individuals with poor credit who currently must borrow from predatory pay-day loan companies qualify for loans from these post office banks?

The points are mutually exclusive. Clients will not place their savings in banks that are not FDIC insured, and FDIC-insured banks cannot make high-risk loans to individuals targeted by predatory loan companies.

By not addressing these issues, Lazarus’ advocacy of post office banks and their societal functions becomes much weaker.

Richard Luftig, Pomona

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