New bank teller at my local branch

[OldFeller]

My credit union branch has replaced the bank tellers with a machine that enables you to call a teller who is at some central location and converse over video chat. Any document like drivers license is scanned. Personal checks get inserted into a slot.
Receipts are printed out.

It wasn't offered as an option but instead I was told to process my transaction (pay my credit card balance) at the machine.

 

[CallMeKate]

I don't think I'll ever get used to things like this. I know a lot of people think it's wonderful, but I'd still rather deal with a person for most things... and especially at a bank. Technology is great, but I have my limits.

 

[OldFeller]

I don't think I'll ever get used to things like this. I know a lot of people think it's wonderful, but I'd still rather deal with a person for most things... and especially at a bank. Technology is great, but I have my limits.

Right now, it is a person. You talk in real time.

There were two people in the branch along with a couple managers in offices in case you need to talk to someone there in the branch.

But yes, it was weird. The live people there directed me to the machine and had to explain how I use it.

 

[dilettante]

Just don't ask what she's wearing.

 

[OldFeller]

Is it just a matter of time before there's just a self checkout at the bank with a machine that has no other intelligence to it but to yell at you when you do something wrong?

"Unexplained item in the slot"!

 

[Jules]

This whole idea is terrible. I hate the thought of having to use a public phone receiver to talk to someone.

 

[OldFeller]

This whole idea is terrible. I hate the thought of having to use a public phone receiver to talk to someone.

If you don't use the phone, it defaults to a speaker with a volume control on screen.

The machine I used was in an alcove so privacy was maintained.

 

[debodun]

I like to deal with people in person, but this is likely becoming obsolete. Pretty soon we'll become a non face-to-face society. Everyone is so scared of diseases and crime.

 

[RadishRose]

My credit union branch has replaced the bank tellers with a machine that enables you to call a teller who is at some central location and converse over video chat. Any document like drivers license is scanned. Personal checks get inserted into a slot.
Receipts are printed out.

It wasn't offered as an option but instead I was told to process my transaction (pay my credit card balance) at the machine.View attachment 322496

Too germy for me.

 

[jimintoronto]

Here in Toronto the bank branches have signs at the entrance doors advertising how many languages that branch offers to customers. My CIBC branch has 8 languages that the staff collectively speak as well as English and French. Hindi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Punjabi.

There are 4 instant teller machines in the entrance lobby and 4 human tellers as well. I do 90 percent of my banking online, but if I need to I can go in and talk to someone. Hours are 9 am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday. I invest and trade stocks on the TSX using the CIBC app.

There is a new Canadian bank called Tangerine, that has no physical locations. It is all virtual and they offer a better rate of interest on GIC"s because of lower operating costs. Banks in Canada are national, meaning they must have locations in all parts of our vast nation. JimB.

 

[OldFeller]

Too germy for me.

There is the option to use a speaker interface instead of a phone. I didn't use the phone so it was like talking to a teller normally.

 

[RadishRose]

There is the option to use a speaker interface instead of a phone. I didn't use the phone so it was like talking to a teller normally.

Thanks, OF. I missed that.

 

[JeeperDon]

I haven't been to my bank's office in years. They even cancelled my ATM card due to non use. I don't think I have needed to use cash for anything in over a year. I do everything online or with their phone app.

 

[LoveTulips]

My credit union branch has replaced the bank tellers with a machine that enables you to call a teller who is at some central location and converse over video chat. Any document like drivers license is scanned. Personal checks get inserted into a slot.
Receipts are printed out.

It wasn't offered as an option but instead I was told to process my transaction (pay my credit card balance) at the machine.View attachment 322496

Well, I would not like that.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Is it just a matter of time before there's just a self checkout at the bank with a machine that has no other intelligence to it but to yell at you when you do something wrong?

"Unexplained item in the slot"!

I think if you're sent to Hell, the first words you'll hear is " Place your item in the bagging area".

 

[DaveA]

Right now, it is a person. You talk in real time.

There were two people in the branch along with a couple managers in offices in case you need to talk to someone there in the branch.

But yes, it was weird. The live people there directed me to the machine and had to explain how I use it.

And that's fine for most but in my case, they can explain it and I'll probably get the drift but a week later (and I'm not joking) I'll have forgotten most of what I was told.

More often than not, now-a-days, I'll give my credit card to my grand-daughter or daughter and let them make my deposits/withdrawals. And before some folks start the "you can't trust them with your info", save that for your situation. All families are not alike !

 

[Nathan]

Eliminating live employees increases corporate profit.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I rarely enter a bank. I deposit checks using the mobile app.

 

[OldFeller]

Eliminating live employees increases corporate profit.

Yes. By having a small handful of tellers in one place who handle all the traffic for a number of branch locations, it insures that they aren't paying people to just stand around for most of the day at all the different branch locations if less and less people are coming in at each.

 

[dilettante]

Yes. By having a small handful of tellers in one place who handle all the traffic for a number of branch locations, it insures that they aren't paying people to just stand around for most of the day at all the different branch locations if less and less people are coming in at each.

You may have nailed it. Once they didn't need the level of staffing, it was probably inevitable.

 

[jujube]

I think if you're sent to Hell, the first words you'll hear is " Place your item in the bagging area".

Oh, then I'm already in Hell.....but they've changed the name to WalMart.

 

[VaughanJB]

This is all for your benefit. Somehow. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe. Probably not.

Then they use AI generated "humans" for you to converse with, and hey, you don't need humans at all. Other than the pesky customers.

 

[debodun]

In days gone by, we got used to the same tellers being in the same places in their cages and you developed a relationship with certain ones. Now it seems that every time I go to the bank, there are different people. I asked the branch manager about it once and he said that the bank likes to "rotate" their personnel throughout the branch offices. It just seems so impersonal now. Some don't even know how to cash a paper savings bond.