U.S. Postal Service Considers Offering Bitcoin Exchanges
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Soon, your local post office could be more than just a place where they park those cool right-handed steering Grumman LLVs. It could be a high-tech bitcoin exchange. Imagine the convenience of buying a pack of Forever Stamps and making a $1,000 bitcoin wallet withdrawal, all with the help of your friendly postal clerk.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is looking to provide non-bank financial services as a means of generating additional revenue. Last week, the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) held a webinar on bitcoin and other digital currencies to "explore the possibilities" of providing bitcoin exchange services at post offices. The event was attended by representatives from the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the World Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Booz Allen Hamilton and George Mason University, among others.
The bitcoin webinar discussed the possibility of exchanging digital currencies for other currencies as well as establishing a USPS digital currency of its own, a "postcoin."
"There were suggestions like if someone made 'postcoin,' 'What would that be?' 'How could that help?' If we were to employ the technology to support post office operations around the world, internationally, how could crypto currency help post offices do their business?" Darrell Duane, a Washington, D.C.-based bitcoin consultant who helped organize the event, told CoinDesk.
Read more: http://business-news.thestreet.com/philly/story/us-postal-service-considers-offering-bitcoin-exchanges/1
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)busterbrown
(8,515 posts)People who want to set up bitcoin exchanges, hate the Fed.. and are using this bitcoin currency concept as a way of working around our monetary system in order to destroy the Fed..
Thats the way I read it... The people who are involved with it, probably hate Postal Services and their Unions...
Orrex
(63,261 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I have no idea what this is but I do know that once it is open to the public like it seems to be lately, money to be made is over and the only winners are the original investors and the rest get screwed typically.
gerogie2
(450 posts)The post office needs to be phased out. Private companies need to take over all package delivery. The Internet has eliminated the need for delivery of physical correspondence. We can all pay our bills online. We could set up a lifeline type service for Internet connections for the poor.
mac56
(17,575 posts)Did you take a wrong turn somewhere?
Or was your Big Wheel run over by a USPS truck when you were a child?
The Wielding Truth
(11,415 posts)gerogie2
(450 posts)The postal service is no longer needed. The Internet can handle all correspondence and private companies can take over all package delivery. The USPS is going the way of the buggy whip.
mac56
(17,575 posts)I'm guessing you live in a major metropolitan area with a UPS or FedEx box on every street corner.
mac56
(17,575 posts)$6.95.
Actually UPS and FedEx contract with the USPS for non-urban deliveries.
gerogie2
(450 posts)For others I just post a note on their Facebook page. I haven't sent a greeting card in ten years. I haven't paid a bill through the mail in ten years either. 99% of my family, co-workers and friends do all their correspondence and bill payment online also. Have you ever heard of a smart phone?
mac56
(17,575 posts)Whereas, we here on Earth need to deal with the real world.
gerogie2
(450 posts)You are aware that over the next 15 yrs tens of millions of jobs will be replaced by computer and robotics. They are even developing robots that will be able to pick crops. The robots will work 24 hours a day for no pay and little maintenance.
mac56
(17,575 posts)How's Mr. Spacely treating you at the office?
"Little maintenance"?! Seriously?!
gerogie2
(450 posts)If someone had told you that passenger ships would no longer be used by 99% of travellers you would have had the same reaction. You can't stop progress. Now don't confuse today's cruise ships for leisure with passenger ships of old that were the only way to get to lands between large oceans.
mac56
(17,575 posts)False analogy, but interesting.
Glad you're not a ship's captain, dude. You've steered this thread WAAAAY off course. Watch out for icebergs.
Kingofalldems
(38,503 posts)obxhead
(8,434 posts)I do not agree with your "fuck the poor" attitude.
BTW, UPS and Fedex both failed miserably over the holidays while the USPS delivered exceptional service.
gerogie2
(450 posts)What does the USPS have to do with the poor? We can set up DSL service for millions of Americans for $10 a month. A book of stamps cost $9.80.
Package delivery can be handled by the private sector which will employ people also. We don't need hand delivered correspondence any more.
obxhead
(8,434 posts)Who is gling to supply the pcs that you need for use with that cheap internet?
I'm getting you hate just about all things government, so what company is going to give all this stuff away?
You dream of magic and unicorns with your eliminate the post office ideals.
USPS is far cheaper and more reliable than private competitors. Eliminating the USPS would be a serious burden on the poor.
I take it you didn't notice Christmas 2013, when the only parcel delivery service that DIDN'T totally blow it out their ass is the USPS.
The Internet cannot handle all correspondence - try scenting an e-mail to your lover with your perfume and see how far you get - the private sector cannot take over all package deliveries, and buggy whips are made today by six different companies. (Google "carriage driving whips."
on every count.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)You should rethink your position. This is a democratic forum. Most of us would like to save the post office, not destroy it. It's an American institution with a rich history and it needs to be preserved.
Hating the post office is like hating America.
mac56
(17,575 posts)and maintains the largest fleet of automobiles and trucks in the world.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)Even better. It needs to be preserved, and Issa and his gang need to back the fuck off.
mac56
(17,575 posts)if Congress would just get the hell out of their own way.
gerogie2
(450 posts)I just recognize that the need for the physical delivery of correspondence is no longer needed. The USPS could set up a secure email service on the Internet, but we don't need to have tens of thousands of people driving auto-mobiles to deliver written correspondence to homes everyday when we can do so very the Internet. All package delivery can be done by the private sector.
I ask you, do you order things over the Internet? Do you pay bills over the Internet? We can set up a lifeline type system for Internet access for people with low income. In my area we provide second hand computers via non-profits and private vendors to low income people and sign them up for $10 a month for DSL. In fact the laptop I am typing this on I bought for $50 with Linux Installed and have the $10 per month DSL service.
Another item that is going to be phased out over the next few years is the wired plain old telephone service with an Internet system.
viodi.com/2014/02/02/fccs-all-ip-network-transitions-trials-what-to-expect/
mac56
(17,575 posts)Thinking the loss of the USPS would not affect anyone, simply because it MIGHT not affect you (directly), is the very definition of "privilege."
eggplant
(3,917 posts)No, sorry, try again.
AT&T has approval to implement "trials" for replacing POTS with IP-based service. You can be sure that this will be only in places with heavy infrastructure already in place. Rural IP service? Think more like 20-30 years. And the FCC is but one of the many regulatory agencies what control infrastructure rules. State level PUCs have widely differing opinions of the merit of eliminating POTS.
There are still places where you can get party-line service. Broadband simply does not exist in many, many places.
You continue to view the world as if it works exactly like what you personally experience. It's sad, really.
As for POTS, despite my household having three cell phones and my home office having an IP phone, I still keep *two* POTS lines. They are the only ones that provide true emergency service and consistent call clarity. Hell, my cell service is so bad here, I have to use a microcell and push the traffic over my low bandwidth DSL line, which runs on... wait for it... my POTS copper wires.
So, do you have any other bad analogies to try to convince us that USPS is dying?
gerogie2
(450 posts)The time for hand delivered correspondence is past. The second amendment and the USPS need to fade away.
Troll much?
mac56
(17,575 posts)Both together? All of a sudden?
Hold on, I think I just got whiplash.
eggplant
(3,917 posts)The USPS works just fine, employs tons of people, and ensures fairness in legal document delivery. "The internet" hasn't eliminated the need for physical paper, nor its delivery from place to place.
As for private companies, this past Xmas demonstrated that the USPS kicked ass over the private sector delivery companies.
And for all of your "we" comments, there are plenty of citizens in this country who don't bank online (or at all), don't have computers, and can't get online. Just because "you" can do everything you need online (and good luck with those documents requiring original signatures) doesn't mean everyone is like you.
gerogie2
(450 posts)but 90% of the USPS package deliver from city to city is handled by private companies.
mac56
(17,575 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)He's talking about trucking contractors and airlines.
mac56
(17,575 posts)but they don't deliver it.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)The usps never operated or owned the railroads which carried mail as well, but contracted for those services.
Our new friend is mixing apples and oranges.
eggplant
(3,917 posts)How they choose to handle their infrastructure is irrelevant to the unfounded points you keep making. All of the private companies do it too. Hell, UPS, FedEx, and DHL all contract *with* the USPS for last-mile delivery. So what's your (incredibly weak) point?
But keep throwing shit out there hoping something will stick.
thesquanderer
(11,998 posts)they would need the computers (or tablets). And, based on where many of the poor live, a way to make them theft-proof.
Paying bills and such online also requires a certain amount of literacy, which not everyone has.
There's also the matter of the elderly (I'm sure many of us here still have parents or grandparents who, realistically, are never going to pay bills online), the distantly rural, and the remaining luddites (like my sister).
And has been pointed out, UPS and Fedex even use the USPS for the "last mile" in many areas. And those large package carriers are not cost-effective for very small items. To many people, an e-card is not the same as sending a real handwritten card. An online payment or Amazon coupon code is not the same as sending someone a check or a gift card. An emailed JPEG is not the same as sending someone a quality printed photo. etc. etc.
There are also communications that people don't want to send because of potential privacy concerns. The government or your boss might be able to monitor or access your emails, but it's still illegal for anyone to open a letter and read your physical mail without court authority.
So yeah, I'd say we still need the post office.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)And good luck with that.
You know, I couldn't help being reminded of how your arguments sounded like the typical totally oblivious American who has no idea that there are poor people in this country who depend on the post office. Literally. People pay premium prices at convenience stores and these check-cashing robbery joints. The post office is pennies on the dollar. And I read recently that a family making around $15,000 per year would pay an average of $2400 on check cashing charges and fees.
- Government ain't about efficiency, per se. It's about keeping the playing field level because those fat bastards with all the money in their pockets keep tilting it......
progressoid
(50,011 posts)JI7
(89,283 posts)i don't think you are in the right place
tridim
(45,358 posts)Since both are pyramid schemes.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)I find it hard to believe they are seriously considering it. Betting on Bitcoin is a disaster in the making.
But banking/financial services otherwise unavailable to the poor and disenfranchised? YES, YES, YES.
They have the infrastructure to do it. They do it in other countries. It would be a godsend to the poor and a thumb in the eye to the Banksters who rob them (and the rest of us).
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It is risky to allow money that is not regulated by our government to be used within the US.
We have enough problems with the Federal Reserve, but it is at least controlled to some extent and authorized by Congress to regulate our money supply. We don't need bitcoins unless Congress takes some responsibility for them.
jmowreader
(50,580 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I agree with you on both counts. The post office can't afford to get tied up in something like bitcoin. If they could find additional revenue streams and get Congress to reverse the crappy law they passed about having to hold 75 years worth of benefits, it would be in really good shape. Probably could save rural post offices too.
Hestia
(3,818 posts)Mr. President: Let Us Put OUR Money Where YOUR Mouth Is: Post Office Banks
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Article I, section 8
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei#section8
Did Congress regulate the value of bitcoins?
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)it would be ironic if alternative currencies put them out of business.
Arkana
(24,347 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)"the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) held a webinar"
"Darrell Duane, a Washington, D.C.-based bitcoin consultant who helped organize the event"
Okay, what was this event, exactly?