{"id":9775,"date":"2015-01-20T09:27:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T14:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=9775"},"modified":"2015-01-20T09:27:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T14:27:14","slug":"apwu-postal-unions-allies-launch-campaign-for-postal-banking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2015\/01\/20\/apwu-postal-unions-allies-launch-campaign-for-postal-banking\/","title":{"rendered":"APWU: Postal Unions, Allies Launch \u2018Campaign for Postal Banking\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

01\/19\/2015<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span><\/span>A coalition of consumer organizations, financial reform groups, faith-based organizations and workers’ representatives \u2013 including the APWU and the other postal unions \u2013 announced the formation of the Campaign for Postal Banking on Jan. 19. The coalition is calling on the U.S. Postal Service to expand access to affordable financial services through its 31,000 neighborhood retail offices.<\/p>\n

The launch of the campaign is timed to coincide with the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the release of a report titled\u00a0<\/span>State of the Dream 2015: Underbanked and Overcharged<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nearly 50 years ago, King said, \u201cMost people feel that all of the poverty-stricken people are people who are out of jobs. The fact is that more than half of poverty stricken people in our country are working every day, but earning so little that they cannot function meaningfully in society, and cannot purchase the basic necessities of life.\u201d His words still ring true today. \"1aa-APWU-small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The State of the Dream 2015: Underbanked and Overcharged<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>reports that millions of working people \u2013\u00a0disproportionately people of color \u2013 lack access to quality, affordable banking services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis forces them to rely on costly, predatory check-cashing companies and payday lenders, trapping many in a cycle of debt” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “The average household that patronizes these \u2018legal loan sharks\u2019 has an annual income of about $25,500 and spends $2,412 each year just on interest and fees \u2013 nearly 10 percent of their income!\u201d<\/p>\n

The USPS is in a unique position to provide basic, affordable, consumer-driven financial services to underserved individuals and communities in neighborhoods that are often called \u201cbank deserts,\u201d Dimondstein pointed out. One-third of the nation\u2019s zip codes have a post office but lack a traditional bank. The USPS has more storefronts than any other retailer.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Postal Service is not a newcomer to banking services. From 1911 to 1967, the U.S. Post Office offered savings accounts. Today the USPS sells more money orders than any other institution. And anyone who pays for services at a postal window with a debit card is offered the option of getting cash back.<\/p>\n

Postal systems around the world \u2013 including France, Italy, Japan, China, Brazil, India, and New Zealand \u2013 offer financial services and play an important role in advancing financial inclusion and literacy.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Campaign for Postal Banking<\/a>\u00a0is dedicated to mobilizing the public to call on the Postal Service to take the necessary steps to expand postal banking at its branches across the country. Founding members include:<\/p>\n

Alliance for Retired Americans<\/strong>
\nAmericans for Financial Reform<\/strong>
\nAmerican Postal Workers Union<\/strong>
\nCenter for Study of Responsive Law<\/strong>
\nCoalition of Black Trade Unionists<\/strong>
\nCommonomics USA<\/strong>
\nEssential Information<\/strong>
\nInterfaith Worker Justice<\/strong>
\nNational Association of Letter Carriers<\/strong>
\nNational People\u2019s Action<\/strong>
\nNational Postal Mail Handlers Union<\/strong>
\nNational Rural Letter Carriers Association<\/strong>
\nPublic Citizen<\/strong>
\nUnited for a Fair Economy<\/strong>
\nUSAction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to read the press release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

01\/19\/2015\u00a0–\u00a0A coalition of consumer organizations, financial reform groups, faith-based organizations and workers’ representatives \u2013 including the APWU and the other postal unions \u2013 announced the formation of the Campaign for Postal Banking on Jan. 19. The coalition is calling on the U.S. Postal Service to expand access to affordable financial services through its 31,000 neighborhood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9776,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9775\/revisions\/9776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}