Post Office Latest Credit Card "Merchants"

By April, 1995, Seattle, Denver and San Diego post offices will be able to accept credit cards at its service counters. All 33,000 post offices will have that capability by the end of 1996, and will make the U.S. Postal Service the number one card accepting merchant in terms of locations. With an anticipated $25 billion worth of business, according to MasterCard International estimates, it will also be one of the top five in sales.

Credit cards will only be accepted at over-the-window transactions, although vending machine use may be approved at a later date. Both methods have been successful in pilot tests in Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, and Washington, D.C.

The postal service expects customers who use credit cards will buy more at each trip, and so cut down on crowds in the post offices. This reasoning was part of the decision-making process. Use of credit cards is also expected to save time and control costs in processing the more than $300 million per day that moves through the post offices.

Eight states accept credit card payments for motor vehicle fees, and many major cities will accept them for parking violations. But the post office is the first major government agency to recognize the convenience of credit cards.

Copyright © 1994 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 5, No. 3, 11/94