> it bugged me for a long time why a person can't store facts about themselves

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_savings_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S...

Hypothetically, you could have sent 0.01 to a friend and use the memo field as a poor man's postcard with free postage, provided in-system transactions were free, which they arguably ought to be, but likely never were or would be in actuality.