[dusty places]: Poste, télégraphe, téléphone, caisse d’épargne

Postal services combined with telegraphs and telephone is a classic association.

However the alliance of a post office with a savings bank is neither rare and can be found in Europe and the United States starting in the 19th century ¹.

As we can read in this article giving a large overview of the american and european concept of integrating a bank into the postal service. For France we read:

On the ninth of May, 1881, M. Arthur Le Grand introduced a resolution in the Chamber of Deputies of France for the introduction of postal savings banks. The bill was passed and went into operation April 9, 1881. Prior to this date the business of savings banks had been left to private enterprise. Such banks were consequently established only in important centres, where the conditions were sure to insure success. By the establishment of postal savings banks 7ooo post oflices in France and Algiers became agencies of the postal department.

So an important advantage of associating a savings bank to the post office was the omnipresence of the latter. We read further that a large percentage of the clients were therefore farmers. We can imagine that our example in rural Burgundy showed a very similar customer base.

location: Massilly, France

Time:10/08/2015

Psychogeography (Chtcheglov): useful