Postal Service Lines Up New Cities Where It Will Allow Card Payment

As it moves to become the nation's largest accepter of credit and debit cards, the U.S. Postal Service has mapped out which cities are going live, and when.

Within the past two weeks major metropolitan offices in California have begun accepting cards, including 300 in Los Angeles, 60 in San Diego, and 225 in San Francisco.

Post offices in Baltimore will accept cards for payment Sept. 6, followed by Providence, R.I., in mid-September.

Currently, customers in Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Atlantic City, and Washington, D.C., can pay with credit or debit.

In February, NationsBank Corp. and Nabanco, the nation's top merchant processor, won the contract to install and provide processing support for 50,000 card-accepting terminals in 33,000 U.S. post offices.

Under terms of the three-year, $45.8 million Postal Service contract, Nabanco will handle all transaction services, while NationsBank will be the relationship manager and banking provider.

The Postal Service said it is installing card authorization terminals at the rate of 300 a day. And it said within a year, larger post offices in most metropolitan areas will be equipped to accept credit and debit cards.

Among those will be larger post offices in Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

By 1997, it said every post office in the country will accept cards, including bank cards, American Express, and Discover.

Postal Service treasurer Stephen M. Kearney said adding convenience for customers was the main reason for accepting new payment options.

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