NPR reports that the Post Office inspector general is suggesting that the government agency replace the revenue it has lost from the decline of old-fashioned letters (because of email and electronic payments, among other things) by getting into the banking business: "The Inspector General's report estimates the Postal Service could make $8.9 billion annually in new revenue by offering banking services."
From the NPR report:
Consumer Bankers Association CEO Richard Hunt calls the idea "the typical Washington, D.C., mentality. You've got an agency of the government losing money, so what do they say? 'Well, maybe we should go to a field that we know nothing about 'cause there's possibly money there.'"
I think Mr. Hunt has this one just about right.