What's going on with Banks?

[dottypotter]

Had to go into the bank today and went to the counter to wait my turn.

Was approached by a man with an I pad and when I told him what I wanted to do, he told me one of the staff who floats around with an ipad would have to do it. I couldn't do it at the counter.
Why wait till your in the queue to tell you?
Where are the signs telling you where you must wait for different things?

Anyway told me to take a seat and someone would come along but nobody did.

He took me out of a queue I was in, just to sit and wait for longer.

Eventually got seen and business done on I pad.
Have no switched bank accounts.
What is it now
with staff now with I pads?
Why aren't they behind the counter?

Shambles.

i dont mind but i must admit last time i went in to a bank and queued, a check i had tried to put in online had failed.
a lady came over and dealt with it in the queue,
so not exactly confidential

Banks don’t want your business. At least not for current accounts. They don’t want the hassle of running accounts for the little people. Where’s the fun in processing transactions for someone who has £3.24 left in their account before payday. They would rather sell you a mortgage or a loan or take a load of cash in savings account for crappy interest rate. But general current account banking, forget it.

Because the data on all the transactions that take place in the U.K. disagree. A number of places are now card only.

3/4 of transactions where you work might well be cash, but that isn’t the case in most other retail.

I rarely go into a bank but Nationwide are still a bit backward and won't let you pay in cheques on their app. They do at least still have branches though and I have one within walking distance (which is one reason I put up with their making you use card readers all the time too). The other week I went in when my son was at work to pay in the cheque his student landlord had sent him for his deposit (was a bit surprised the landlord didn't just transfer it!)

Same here. My Natwest branch said I had to go home and do it online.

You say that, but the last time I tried to open a savings account in a branch that wasn't my own bank, they told me to go away and make an appointment.

So although the interest rate wasn't quite as good, I went next door to Nationwide and opened a savings account with them as I was able to do it there and then. Now I just do it online anyway.

One other thing I was able to do in Nationwide (this was in the last year) was I found £50 in old £10 notes in one of ds' drawers (he was obviously too rich a a younger teen if he forgot about them!)

Anyway, Nationwide took them without a problem in my local branch and I paid them into his account for him when he was away at university.

Just stating a point that there is a need for cash.
And yes this is true about 3/4 transactions being cash.

I work across 2 branches, one in a town and the other in a city centre. It's about the same for both branches.

You might be surprised that other retailers could well be the same.

Nope, you're so wrong. I definitely wasn't visiting banks frequently 20 years ago. I started telephone banking in the mid 90s when it first started, using a little tone generating handheld device which meant I could transfer money between accounts, pay bills, etc by phone. Even before then, I'd rarely go into a bank. I started work in the mid 80s and got bank cards, so I could withdraw cash from the machine, credit cards to buy stuff, and wages were paid in by BACs (or whatever it was called back then). I had a cheque book which I used to pay bills by post. Yes, maybe Christmas and birthdays I'd get cheques to pay in, but that was, what, twice per year!! Havn't had cheques for birthdays for a couple of decades now. Honestly can't remember when I last set foot in a bank, must be maybe 25 years, wouldn't even know whether there was even a branch in our town as I never go into town either. Thinking about it, I must have gone into the bank 27 years ago because that's when we bought our house and I assume I must have gone in for a consultation with their mortgage advisor, but obviously that wasn't anything to do with their "counter". I suppose I must have gone in 40 years ago when I first opened the current account, but back in the 80s, it certainly wasn't a regular thing for me to go to the bank weekly nor even monthly, as I say, maybe once or twice per year.

I opened an account for DS in Metro last weekend. They did it at the counter and we left with the debit card. We possibly could have done online but wouldn't have had the debit card instantly

But they aren’t. They really aren’t. Your experience of two shops is not the same as the data from all the rest of the country.

Statistics show only 15% of retail sales were in case in 2021. Yes, there may be some special cases (like yours) where cash is still the main form of payment, but it's the exception, not the norm, presumably you're either in low value/high volume retail or an unusual geographic location, or unusual type of retail.

I'm an accountant, and monitor this kind of thing with my clients. I can certainly say most small retail (convenience stores, sandwich shops, post office shop tills, etc), are closer to the 85% average statistic - typically 60-75% and still growing. A few are 100% as they've already stopped taking cash because they were already at 85% or above.

I won't spend or bank on my phone as I have no idea how secure it is. I have no time or energy to care or look into it.

Laptop is different, that has property security on it. But I still use the bank every so often.

Are you working in any retailer currently?

If you actually work day in day out, you'll see for yourself.

I cannot speak for any other retailer but to make an assumption based on statistics when you do not have recent first hand experience... You shouldn't.

It's a well known retailer.
I'm near a major city (hence working in a city centre store too), so not that of an unusual geographic location.

The previous shop I worked in (in the same city centre) was actually the same too regarding cash. This was during covid times too.

Just going off my experiences here.

My local Barclays used to be great - all the staff were knowledgeable and smartly dressed in their uniforms most of them had been in banking since leaving school and it was very rare that they could not assist with any questions that customers had. There was always a really nice atmosphere and staff looked happy to be there and proud to be giving customers great service. The branch is in a busy town and had a full range of services available my premier manager was usually on hand to assist his customers, they had a business manager on site, a mortgage advisor who was happy to speak to anyone with a mortgage query and overseeing everything a manager on site who was seen to be intervening when any staff had an issue with a customer.

Moving to my last visit a couple of weeks ago when I popped in whilst passing to chat to the mortgage advisor very few staff visible and most of those looked as though they had just put on whatever creased uniform that came to hand accessorised with scruffy looking trainers. They was a lack of experienced staff evident by the amount of times the young lad on the enquiry desk had to go and look for someone to help him. There is no longer a premier manager business manager or mortgage advisor at the branch - premier and business are now telephone access and if you want to actually see a mortgage advisor you have to travel over 10 miles as they no longer have one in this branch but they can make you a telephone mortgage appointment next one available was in 3 weeks no use to me when I have just had an offer accepted on a BTL property so my business went to a local broker and he actually found me a better deal than Barclays so guess where I will be going when I buy my next BTL.

Are you honestly saying that you think that your experience of two shops is more valid than the data from all retail across the country?

As said above, your experience might be down to the nature of your business but it doesn’t cover all other retail.

No I don’t work in retail but you only work in two shops. I’m discussing data from all shops, you are talking about two shops. The plural of anecdote is not data.

The only downside of No paper statements is that if you need something for a proof of address some places won’t accept electronic copies.

where I am our regulator says that we can accept a downloaded statement but must be able to independently verify it as genuine. So if for example I bank with hsbc and send my statement to someone for I’d purposes they then need be able to call the bank to confirm that I actually bank there and haven’t doctored a statement. Because of gdpr this isn’t possible.

it’s a pain. My branch of the bank (being in the Channel Islands) also won’t print statements for you without them being stamped with “not to be used for identification purposes” on them.

I keep one account with minimal funds and use that for Id.

@Mademetoxic You might be surprised that other retailers could well be the same.

🤦‍♀️ but they couldn’t! There is literally so much data showing that cash transactions are a minority across all retail spending in the uk and you’re still insisting on disagreeing.

The statistics are fact based on national data not "assumptions". You are the one making assumptions based on very limited data. The volume of cash transactions has plummed over the last 10 years. Bank branches are now falling into 2 camps. Very heavy footfall with large cash transactions in a few places and lots of branches where before 20 and after lunch you'll have 1 person on the counter twiddling their thumb and 3 people is a big queue. Nothing seems to fall in the in-between any more.
There are a lot of parts of the country where I wouldn't take out more cash than I could afford to lose due to pickpockets targeting people leaving banks.

There isn't even a desk to queue at anymore in my bank. A member of staff approaches when you go in and tries to direct you to one of multiple machines. If you need an actual human, you are shown to a booth to sit down with one of the bank staff. There are always a few people hovering near the door waiting to be told where to go, so the queue has simply shifted from a desk to the front door, where there may or may not be a member of staff. Often not, as they are showing someone how to use their stupid machines. I realise it sounds as though I go to the bank a lot, but I don't. There were suddenly a few reasons to go post pandemic, after years of online and telephone banking.

In saying that, the coin machine is awesome. I arrived with a big tin of coins we had been saving for the kids. I had them all sorted into little bags and the man at the bank laughed at this and started removing the bags and dumping all the coins into a metal box on a machine. The machine weighed the coins which were now all mixed up, calculated the amount (which happily tallied with our calculations) and the money was transferred into my account. I know I have probably been living under a rock, but I was ridiculously excited by all this😆

I cannot speak for any other retailer but to make an assumption based on statistics when you do not have recent first hand experience... You shouldn't.

Omg stop, I think my ears are bleeding reading such moronic statements.

Sounds like Metro Bank. I have an account with them and occasionally have to go in (sometimes to pay in cash - yep, I too have some customers who like to pay cash). All human life is in there - the last time I was pulled out of the queue by the iPad person while I waited I watched a woman paint her nails and a man tuck into a box of KFC.

I last went into a bank was almost 23 years ago when I needed to change my name after getting married. Prior to that it had been several years since I'd been in one. Telephone banking has been around since the 90s, cheques and cash could be paid in through the ATM machine around that time too. I opened my first online-only account in 2002.

@Tessisme

I know I have probably been living under a rock, but I was ridiculously excited by all this

Must admit, I get a little excited when I use an ATM machine to pay in cash once or twice a year, and just pop the cash into the slot. Don't know why, but I actually get a little buzz from doing it. Far better than having to go in, wait in a queue, and far better than the old way of stuffing it in an envelope to "post" it into the machine to be counted by a cashier later. I get the same kind of buzz on the rare occasion I use cash to buy shopping at a supermarket self-serve till. It must be the feeling of progress and seeing good tech work in action.