The Post Office wants to be a bank — but that might not be a good idea

In light of a recently released white paper that suggested the Post Office (USPS) get into the banking business, the banks are pushing back hard against the idea, which would involve USPS using its ubiquitous outposts to offer a limited selection of banking services.

While supporters of the idea, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), argue that USPS could provide low-income customers an alternative to payday loan and check-cashing businesses, critics have pointed out that the Post Office has no experience in banking and is perceived by many as being incompetent in the responsibilities it already has.

“It seems crazy," Francis Creighton, executive vice president of government relations, said at the Financial Services Roundtable. "These people are not that good at managing how to deliver the mail and they want to get into this business?"

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Perhaps a more significant long-term consideration is that a USPS bank could well be classified as "too big to fail," meaning Post Office bailouts —which are regularly suggested given the organization's steady record of losses — could potentially balloon in scale.