The USPS considers offering banking services

[CountDeMoney]

Whoa.  What was it like, living in a film noir?

Actually, the thought of slowly bleeding out behind a shitty second-hand industrial office desk in the 'hood at 1am, surrounded by empty speed-loaders as I load the last couple rounds into the revolver in my lap with one hand, wondering how long it's going to take before somebody feeds my cats, sounds pretty fucking attractive right about now.

Certainly a more romantic fate than
http://youtu.be/6R03BVIyAdY

Of course, you'd probably give my death a B-, for its Tarantino-esque unoriginality.

[Ideologue]

UPS keeps making me go to their fucking hub.  It's like a 40 minute round trip.

#zeroth world problems

I dunno.  I think you can legitimately complain about having to take an hour out of work, wear your car down by another 20 miles, plus the cost of gasoline.

[Ideologue]

Whoa.  What was it like, living in a film noir?

Actually, the thought of slowly bleeding out behind a shitty second-hand industrial office desk in the 'hood at 1am, surrounded by empty speed-loaders as I load the last couple rounds into the revolver in my lap with one hand, wondering how long it's going to take before somebody feeds my cats, sounds pretty fucking attractive right about now.

Certainly a more romantic fate than
http://youtu.be/6R03BVIyAdY

Of course, you'd probably give my death a B-, for its Tarantino-esque unoriginality.

I don't have minuses.  Maybe I should.  Maybe I will.

[Razgovory]

Whoa.  What was it like, living in a film noir?

Actually, the thought of slowly bleeding out behind a shitty second-hand industrial office desk in the 'hood at 1am, surrounded by empty speed-loaders as I load the last couple rounds into the revolver in my lap with one hand, wondering how long it's going to take before somebody feeds my cats, sounds pretty fucking attractive right about now.

Certainly a more romantic fate than
http://youtu.be/6R03BVIyAdY

Of course, you'd probably give my death a B-, for its Tarantino-esque unoriginality.

Well, at least you have your hair.

[fhdz]

UPS keeps making me go to their fucking hub.  It's like a 40 minute round trip.

#zeroth world problems

I dunno.  I think you can legitimately complain about having to take an hour out of work, wear your car down by another 20 miles, plus the cost of gasoline.

I think the notion is that you can complain about pretty much anything.

EDIT: "You" meaning "one", not you specifically.

[Admiral Yi]

could they really make money offering only these basic services?  If they aren't as competitive as private banks, why bother?  If they generate losses, you'll want it shut down (I would too). 

If they make money, then, they'd have found a revolutionary new way for a government office to make money in the absence of a monopoly.  I can't see that happening, can you?

They don't need to make money, they just need to break even.

After a little investigation, payroll check cashing seems to be a pretty competitive industry.  My supermarket offers it, as does Walgreen's, both for around 5% it seems.

[grumbler]

could they really make money offering only these basic services?  If they aren't as competitive as private banks, why bother?  If they generate losses, you'll want it shut down (I would too). 

Post Offices already generate massive losses.  The alternative to shutting them down is to have them adopt another revenue stream, that doesn't cost much more (because you already have the employees in place and they have a lot of excess time on their hands), so that the losses are staunched.

If they make money, then, they'd have found a revolutionary new way for a government office to make money in the absence of a monopoly.  I can't see that happening, can you?

There are many government offices that make money in the absence of a monopoly.  The Sheriff's Office makes money writing traffic tickets, even though it doesn't have a monopoly on writing tickets.  The post offices could take in more money by offering more services, whether you can see it it not. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

I know a fair number of people who work or have worked at the Post Office. Before they can start that they'll have to change the whole workplace ethos they have there. Its very much a dog eat dog kinda place.

[dps]

could they really make money offering only these basic services?  If they aren't as competitive as private banks, why bother?  If they generate losses, you'll want it shut down (I would too). 

If they make money, then, they'd have found a revolutionary new way for a government office to make money in the absence of a monopoly.  I can't see that happening, can you?

They don't need to make money, they just need to break even.

If the goal is simply to offer low-cost check cashing services to low-income citizens, yeah, that's true.

However, if the goal is to try to offset the USPS's operating losses, then it's not true.

[Admiral Yi]

Fair enough.

Although I suppose if you wanted to get extra pointy headed about it, we could say that any business line that helps cover existing fixed costs will decrease operating losses.