In the US, it was possible to do banking at the Post Office until the 1960s. Given the crappy reputation of the 'Payday Lending' type services, there've been many suggestions in recent years to make it possible to bank at Post Offices again.<p>This would end one part of the deliberate gutting of public services (and the sorry outcomes which usually result). And it would give the PO another source of revenue for services ... which in my estimation would a terrific thing. Once the USPO is gone, watch out.<p>ADDED: According to Bloomberg (in 2013), "Banks have shut 1,826 branches since late 2008, and 93 percent of closings were in postal codes where the household income is below the national median, according to census and federal banking data compiled by Bloomberg." <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-05-02/post-crash-branch-closings-hit-hardest-in-poor-u-s-areas" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-05-02/post-cras...</a>
One of the most annoying things is that some US government agencies still require payment via money order. For example, we were not able to get our daughter’s birth certificate without paying via MO. That turned out to be the most inconvenient $20 I’ve ever scrounged up.
What's really weird is that I don't know anyone who's ever bought one. It must be really confined to specific cultures or economic classes.
In other words, $20B is untraceable to origin. Not bad, considering how much physical currency in circulation
$20B/330M population = $60 per capita. Uncle Sam must be happy.
I for one am glad that the postal service sells money orders especially if I'm out at strip mall sushi place with a broken credit card machine and I don't have cash, but there's a post office nearby to get a money order to pay the bill. (This actually happened).
I would hope that the Fed is investigating (along with FBI/SS/etc), but there is a whole lot of shady shit happening through money orders and gift cards these days...