A report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Postal Service shows a shocking number of Americans don't have a bank account:
“...about 68 million Americans — more than a quarter of all households — have no checking or savings account and are underserved by the banking system. Collectively, these households spent about $89 billion in 2012 on interest and fees for non-bank financial services like payday loans and check cashing, which works out to an average of $2,412 per household. That means the average underserved household spends roughly 10 percent of its annual income on interest and fees — about the same amount they spend on food.”
There's talk of the Post Office providing basic banking services. It has real estate everywhere, their mail service is fast becoming obsolete, and many postal workers might otherwise be out of a job. Some countries have a combined mail and basic banking in the past - but banking culture does not easily sit with postal culture. You would think there is some better, cheaper technology-based solution that can borrowed from developing countries. The Feds should call up the World Bank for ideas.